At the time of writing the COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on the procurement of goods and services within the Council. This has been reflected in national guidance.
The UK will adopt new public procurement regulations in 2022. However, some aspects are being accelerated by Procurement Policy Notes (PPN’s) which are being made mandatory for local government.
PPN 05/21 (released 3 June 2021) – “National Procurement Policy Statement” (NPPS) makes it mandatory for all public sector bodies to include the following within their procurement practices:
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Creating new businesses, new jobs, and new skills in the UK
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Improving supplier diversity, innovation, and resilience
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Tackling climate change and reducing waste
The NPPS also requires authorities to have the relevant policies in place to ensure this happens, together with sufficient procurement resources, a requirement for skills benchmarking (annually from April 2022) and a pipeline of contracts.
PPN 06/21 (released 5 June 2021) – “Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts” requires carbon reduction considerations in procurements over £5m per annum. Whilst this is mandatory for central government, it is recommended for other public bodies to follow. This supports our Climate Emergency objectives and underpins the importance of encouraging our local suppliers to make similar commitments as it will also provide them with commercial advantages in the future when bidding for public sector work.