Rebranding of the Mystery Shopper Service and report on trends in poor procurement practice

The Mystery Shopper Service has been rebranded as the Public Procurement Review Service. The name has been rebranded following feedback from suppliers and contracting authorities that the name did not reflect the role of the service.

The Public Procurement Review Service has also updated their scope and remit guidance although essentially the service remains the same, providing a facility for suppliers to raise concerns anonymously about potentially poor public sector procurement practice and for the Public Procurement Review Service team to take a proactive approach through spot checks on procurement documents.

Also this month the Public Procurement Review Service have published their report on the trends identified in 2017/18 which draws some interesting conclusions:

• The wider public sector procurement processes are the subject of the majority of investigations;
• There has been a higher number of problems reported at the evaluation stage with communications and scoring being raised more frequently than other issues.

Should you be unsure of the Procurement Regulations that apply when evaluating tenders or communicating with bidders further support and guidance is available on the Further Education Library of Procurement or by contacting your CPC Regional Procurement Advisor.