Public Procurement Transparency Policy Paper Alert

• Published date: 16 August 2022
• Subject Matter: Government, Public Sector, Government Contracts, Procurement & PPP
• Law Firm: Gowling WLG
• Author: Ms Alison Richards, Simon Harris and Philipp Borisov

On 30 June 2022, the Cabinet Office published a policy paper, "Transforming Public Procurement - our transparency ambition" ("Paper"). The Paper introduced a number of public procurement transparency reforms in furtherance of the new transparency agenda, as set out in the Transforming Public Procurement Green Paper and the recent Procurement Bill. Please see our Transforming Public Procurement Webinar from February 2021 for a detailed review of the proposed changes in the Green Paper.

The Paper explains how information will be made more accessible by the public sector through the use of centralised information systems, additional disclosure and reporting obligations.

The transparency reforms

The Paper sets out three central reforms that aim to increase transparency in public procurement:

1. New procurement notices which cover the entirety of the procurement process from planning to contract expiry. As it stands, transparency obligations only bite at the tender and contract award stages of the procurement cycle. Under the new rules, information produced at every stage, such as information on potential future procurements at the planning stage, will be required to be published. Suppliers will be better positioned to engage with the procurement process, identify and plan for contracting opportunities. The media and the general public will also be more informed about how taxpayers' money is spent, with the intention to increase accountability in the system.
2. A streamlined registration service to enable suppliers to input information about their businesses and answers to frequently asked questions across different procurements known as a 'Tell-us-once' system. A Register of Suppliers will be designed to create a centralised register into which suppliers can feed information using organisational identifiers The intention is that this system will make the bidding process more efficient across all public organisations by reducing duplication of work for suppliers.
3. A centralised digital platform that will display all information from the notices (and some information from the Register of Suppliers) and, over time, incorporate data analysis tools to analyse commercial procurement data. Contracting authorities, suppliers and...