
The Academies Financial Handbook is updated annually by the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency; it contains a number of governance requirements for academy trusts.
For anyone hoping that Brexit will give us greater control over our own public procurement destiny, the recent publication of a Procurement Policy Note (PPN) reminds us of exactly how quickly our very own Crown Commercial Services (CCS) can change the status quo without consultation or prior warning.
The PPN (which can be found here) replaces the CCS’s standard pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ), used when selecting contractors or suppliers to invite to tender, with a new standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ). Accompanying the SQ is guidance mandating its use for all contracting authorities for “above threshold” procurements under Part 2 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015). This is statutory guidance that contracting authorities must “have regard to” or else be in breach of Regulation 107. Case law says that statutory guidance must not be deviated from without “good reason”. If it is, the guidance says that any deviation and the reasons for it must be reported to CCS.
Here are our initial thoughts on the good, the bad, and the ugly in the new SQ and guidance.
The Good
The Bad
The Ugly
The bottom line is that the SQ (for goods and services contracts) and PAS91 (for works and related contracts) must be used for all new procurements under Part 2 PCR 2015 and it must be complied with strictly, as was the case for the old PQQ.
What remains the same is the importance that carefully-considered, project-specific questions play so as to ensure that only the most appropriate suppliers are invited to tender. The PPN reminds contracting authorities that these project-specific questions should relate to the “list of possible topics”. This is a reference to Regulations 58(15)-(18) PCR 2015 (covering skills, efficiency, experience and reliability) and Regulation 60(9) PCR 2015 (setting out the “means of proof” by reference to previous contracts, resources, people and procedures).
If you would like advice on the use of selection questionnaires when procuring public contracts or any aspect of the new statutory guidance, please contact Beulah Allaway.
The Academies Financial Handbook is updated annually by the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency; it contains a number of governance requirements for academy trusts.
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