
Dementia currently affects 1 in 14 people in the UK. Many people will either know someone with dementia, have had to support and care for someone with dementia or have been diagnosed themselves.
This is one area where the Crown Commercial Service guidance is correct. As that guidance says,
“Where a contracting authority is satisfied that it is lawful not to advertise an opportunity…and chooses not to advertise the opportunity at all, the requirement to advertise on Contracts Finder does not apply to that contract.”
The question is, therefore, when it is possible to choose not to advertise a contract. The European Commission issued some guidance on this in 2006. This guidance says that there is no need to advertise a contract valued below the applicable tendering threshold (taking account of any “aggregation” of the value of that contract with similar contracts) unless that contract is potentially of interest to contractors outside the UK.
Whether a contract is of interest to contractors outside the UK is for the purchasing organisation to decide, and it is important to keep an audit trail of these decisions. For many lower value services and works contracts the set up and mobilisation costs make it unlikely that contractors from outside the UK would be interested. In fact, we don’t see many non-UK contractors tendering for these kinds of works and services contracts even when their value is above the EU tendering threshold and they are advertised through OJEU.
If there is no obligation to advertise a contract publicly (i.e. you approach one or more contractors privately and ask them to submit tenders) there is no need advertise the opportunity on Contracts Finder. There is, however, a trap to avoid here. The definition of “advertising a contract publicly” is very wide. It could include, for example, publicity on your own website as to how to apply for places on an “approved list”. Technically, these kinds of opportunities must also be advertised on Contracts Finder.
Once you have signed a contract with a value of over £25,000, you must, of course, still put details of this on Contracts Finder, although you can do this on a quarterly basis.
In summary, therefore, there is no need to advertise the tendering of a contract on Contracts Finder with a value between £25,000 and the applicable EU tendering threshold unless:
If you have any questions about this ebriefing or the new Regulations generally, please contact Andrew Millross or any member of our procurement team.
Dementia currently affects 1 in 14 people in the UK. Many people will either know someone with dementia, have had to support and care for someone with dementia or have been diagnosed themselves.
The 2022 Code replaces the NHF Code of Conduct 2012 (the 2012 Code) and sets out the baseline standards that the NHF expects of its member registered providers (RPs).
The High Court has dismissed a challenge by the Police Superintendents’ Association to the closure of legacy public sector pension schemes.
In my recent blog, I said that we would be issuing a series of ebriefings and blogs highlighting issues with the Procurement Bill. This is the first of these.
Contractors and delivery partners are facing a ‘perfect storm’ in many cases with a number of factors directly impacting upon the profitability of their work.
Worker status, like Piers Morgan, is one of those things that we think has gone away and then it pops up again!
We are seeing a steady trickle of decisions focused around the issue of flexible working requests or employer requirements for changes to working patterns (both pre and post the pandemic).
For those of us who have endured a choppy cross channel journey, the mention of P&O Ferries will invoke some nauseous memories.
Successive generations have witnessed seismic shifts in the workplace; post-war it was the return of the soldiers and the impact on working women who had to work in their place.
In this podcast, Puja Desai interviews Kimberley Foster and discusses her experience with counselling. This is a really helpful podcast for anyone who has thought about counselling.