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Procurement in a nutshell – final regulations published

The Cabinet Office has confirmed that the new Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Statutory Instrument 2015 102) have been laid before Parliament and are due to come into force later this month.

The announcement can be found on the Cabinet Office website here.

What’s New?
The final version of the regulations is available on the legislation.gov website here.

These confirm that the regulations are now due to come into force on 26 February 2015. For all procurements commenced on or after this date, the new regulations will apply subject to the following exceptions:

The requirement for non-Crown bodies to place certain adverts on Contracts Finder (regulations 106,108, 110 and 112) will come into force on 1 April 2015;

The new regime will apply to the procurement of health care services from 18 April 2016 (regulation 120);

The requirements for Central Purchasing Bodies to comply with e-procurement requirements (regulation 37(7)) and for Contracting Authorities to use an electronic format European Single Procurement Document (“ESPD”) (regulation 59(7)) will come into force on 18 April 2017;

The requirements for Contracting Authorities to have recourse to the e-Certis system (regulation 61) and for all remaining Contracting Authorities to comply with e-procurement requirements (regulation 22) will come into force on 18 October 2018.

Why is it important?
Contracting Authorities and bidders need to be familiar with the regulations and make their final preparations ahead of them coming into force.

How can I find out more?
For guidance on the new regulations and how they will affect your organisation, please contact us via our procurement hotline on 0191 204 4464.

Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.

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