Issue - meetings

Purpose of Report

1.    To seek Executive approval of the new Procurement Act 2023 and the subsequent revision of the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules, and in doing so to note any comments from Audit Committee and Policy Scrutiny Committee.

2.    To recommend the changes to the contract procedure rules to Council.

Decision

That the new Procurement Act and revision to the Contract Procedure Rules be noted, and the Contract Procedure Rules be referred to Council for approval.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

None. If the Council did not implement the Act properly or did not update the Contract Procedure Rules as necessary, there would be a risk of challenge to the procurement process.

Reasons for the Decision

The Procurement Act 2023 received Royal Assent in October 2023 and was due to come into force in February 2025. The Act would supersede existing legislation governing public procurement, including the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

The Procurement Act 2023 had been designed to create a simpler, more flexible commercial system which met the UK’s needs. The aim of the Act was to provide a number of benefits to suppliers and buyers.

This transformation of public procurement represented a huge change for all public bodies and was seen as a significant opportunity to make procurement processes better to deliver outcomes for the taxpayer.

In order to comply with the Procurement Act 2023, the Procurement Manager had updated and refreshed the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules. These Council’s Contract Procedure Rules, as required by the Local Government Act 1972, set out the rules by which the Council spent money on the goods, services and works needed to deliver services to the residents of Lincoln.

The revised Council’s Contract Procedure Rules adopted the whole procurement lifecycle approach, with the intention that they were easier to read, made clear the requirements linked to contract values and gave clarification to the limited circumstances where an exception to the normal route would be applied. The Council’s Contract Procedure Rules set out the Council’s own rules for contracts and procurement, and were the layer below procurement legislation.

Members thanked officers for all their hard work in relation to the new Procurement Act 2023, and making the changes to Council Procedure Rules as accessible as possible for all to understand.