The public procurement regime in the UK is about to get an overhaul, with the new Procurement Act 2023 (Act) due to come into effect on 24 February 2025.
Regulations recently made under the Act (The Procurement Regulations 2024) will from that date require suppliers to the public sector to register on the central digital platform and to submit – and keep up-to-date – certain core supplier information to that platform.
The core supplier information is:
- the supplier’s basic information:
- name
- unique identifier (which is a code submitted to or allocated by the central digital platform which applies to the supplier only)
- registered or principal office address
- contact postal address
- email address
- nature of establishment (e.g. company limited by shares) and the laws by which it is governed
- VAT registration number
- relevant qualification or trade assurance
- SME status (or similar)
- the supplier’s economic and financial standing information, which includes copies of accounts (where the specific accounts depend on when the supplier was due to be audited)
- the supplier’s connected person information (which includes persons with significant control over the supplier, directors, parent companies and subsidiaries)
- any exclusion grounds which apply to the supplier, for example where the supplier has:
- been found guilty of a certain offence, such as corporate manslaughter or slavery
- had to pay a penalty for a certain event, such as tax fraud or tax abuse
- been subject to a certain event, such as environmental misconduct or breach of contract and poor performance
What do our lawyers say?
Jenny Wade, an associate solicitor in our commercial team, has been advising on public procurement matters for 14 years.
“We recommend that businesses supplying the public sector familiarise themselves with the upcoming changes to procurement legislation”, says Jenny.
“In particular, we would advise those businesses to ensure they have a system in place to keep their core supplier information up-to-date.”
For advice on public procurement matters, contact partner and head of commercial, Antony Hall on ahall@mincoffs.co.uk.
