Links I Liked [Public Procurement - UK edition]

1. Wales will have its own regulatory powers in public procurement. I do not know how this will pan out since the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 cover Welsh contracting authorities for the most part. Maybe their powers will be restricted to regulate the areas that are not already regulated by the PCR2015, ie contracts below-thresholds whose provisions do not apply to devolved contracting authorities. Either way I would expect the Welsh Government to push some of their policies, particularly SQuiD and community benefits.

2. Central Government wants to mandate apprenticeships in large construction contracts. Now that was quick. There was a rumour flying around for the last few years that Francis Maude was really not keen on social clauses in procurement. My opinion on this is clear: no one knows the costs involved by introducing social clauses (which raise complexity and imply transaction and opportunity costs). the impact on SMEs and that these are the gateway drug to offsets as they exist in defense. There are no free lunches, but at least the Central Government will apparently limit this obligation to contracts above £10M. For now.

3. What would a 'Brexit' mean for public procurement in the UK? Not much in the short run, particularly if the UK decided to join the GPA. A useful scapegoat would be lost however (oh those damn, pesky Directives, source of all evil..).

4. More mystery shopper results. This time for July/August 2015.

5. Data in Whitehall: which UK departments are the least and most open? It is so much easier to get on the high horse of claiming transparency than actually delivering it.

6. Edinburgh drops BT for CGI, claims to save £45M over 15 years. If it is true, another sign it pays to go to the market regularly for large projects.