Procurement Bill consideration of amendments is set

As the parliamentary journey of the Procurement Bill winds towards its close, a September sitting of the UK’s House of Lords has been scheduled for the consideration of Commons amendments…

In what is poised to be a final grilling before the Procurement Bill is granted its binding Royal Assent, the incumbents of the Lords will consider the Commons’ amendments on Monday 11th September. The consideration will form part of the opening day of parliament’s second week following its annual summertime recess, which began in earnest on Thursday 20th July and continues throughout August.

Some had hoped the new Procurement Bill would have been rubber-stamped and finalised into the Procurement Act before the six-week hiatus, in which MPs and peers take absence from their seats. However, the importance of appropriate periods of scrutiny from both houses has dictated the Bill’s legislative journey will spill over, at least, into the formative days of parliament’s autumnal sessions.

At CPC, we have covered the progress of the Procurement Bill reform for our members avidly, offering training via the CPL Learning platform and providing regular updates in our CPC Newsletter. Days after its arrival in the Commons in January, we recapped the premise of the Procurement Bill project for our first 2023 edition and drew members’ attention to a series of open-access webinars. Then, in March, we caught up with the Bill’s progress, looking back at its initial pathway through the Lords, then looking forward to its Commons Report Stage, while breaking down some of the process.

In April, we shared news on the possibility of parliamentary ping-pong in relation to the Bill, amidst a host of other information supplied by the UK Government’s ‘Transforming Public Procurement’ team. Meanwhile, our last issue highlighted the extension of the eventual Procurement Act’s grace period for implantation to October 2024, as well as compiling some fresh details and relevant reminders.

Recent information from the Transforming Public Procurement programme, can be found in our latest edition, as published here.

CPC membership allows institutions to benefit from a range of CPL Learning support, guidance and resources, with any members seeking Procurement Bill advice encouraged to make contact via CPL.Group/Learning