PPP Management

It is reported ( http://www.supplymanagement.com/news/2014/new-eu-procurement-rules-to-come-into-force-by-early-2015  ) that the government is moving to introduce the new EU procurement rules in early 2015. Whilst this is highly commendable it does raise the question of why introduce the new rules just ahead of the forthcoming purdah before the UK General Election?  With purdah starting on the 30th March 2015 surely this prevents any OJEU compliant procurement being completed prior to the start of purdah.  On a positive side it provides the opportunity for realistically six to eight weeks more time to become acquainted with the new rules before use after the election.

The case identified via the link ( http://www.supplymanagement.com/news/2014/scottish-government-loses-ferry-procurement-challenge  ) relates to a procurement activity undertaken by the Scottish Government and the notification to challenge the award notice by an unsuccessful bidder. Of particular note is the use of e-mail to make the challenge notification and the timeframe provided by the Authority to raise a challenge. Result: The challenge stands and further hearings are to follow.

The revised thresholds requiring OJEU competition have been published.  Slight differences in the values over the published 2 year rates are due to inflation and currency fluctuations. For more information view the following link: http://www.walkermorris.co.uk/business-insights/new-public-procurement-thresholds-1-january-2014-published The link has some interesting points and especially the question of VAT applicability will be raised.  Hopefully the following link will help in identifying the limits: http://www.ojec.com/Threshholds.aspx