UK Government Blog

The decision by the High Court in the Good Law Project’s challenge against the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in relation to his failure to comply with transparency obligations has received vast amounts of media attention over the last month. Whilst it has been widely publicised that the Secretary of State was …

Publish or be damned: Transparency Obligations – What Contracting Authorities need to know Read More »

At the Transforming UK Public Procurement webinar we hosted earlier this month, a panel of lawyers and industry experts discussed the Government’s Green Paper on Procurement Reform.  One of the key themes explored during the webinar was the panel’s views on the current procedures for procurement challenges and the fact that the current one-size-fits-all full …

More flexible dispute resolution in procurement challenges – the case for reform Read More »

Last week, there was much media fanfare over the 18 February 2021 decision of the High Court in favour of the Good Law Project (GLP) in the case brought by them challenging the Health Secretary  (SoS) over the transparency requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.  At the centre of this media storm was the …

Who can challenge a procurement decision by way of judicial review? Read More »

For anyone interested or involved in the way the UK spends £290bn of public money each year, the Cabinet Office’s Green Paper on Public Procurement which can be found here will make interesting reading. Even the most curmudgeonly Remainer would have to admit that the Paper is bristling with innovation and presents an opportunity to …

Consultation on Reform of the UK’s Public Procurement Rules:  Some Christmas Food for Thought from the UK Cabinet Office Read More »

The Strategic Road Network (SRN) comprises the UK’s motorways and major A roads and is an integral piece of UK infrastructure.  With traffic forecast to grow by as much as 59% on the SRN by 2050, it seems inevitable that further expansion of the SRN and local road network will be required to accommodate this. …

Decarbonising the Strategic Road Network and local roads to create a new ‘normal’ Read More »

Never have there been more direct contract awards than in the last nine months. If you are aware of an impending direct award and believe it is not justified (under Regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR) can you stop it?  Most obviously this can arise under frameworks but in practice it could …

Can you pre-empt an unlawful direct contract award? Read More »

Artificial Intelligence and the Public Sector Introduction The potential benefits of implementing artificial intelligence (AI) within a government department or agency can be significant and even transformative for the efficiency and effectiveness of that organisation – so long as it is set up to succeed. The use of AI, particularly in outsourcing deals, can give …

Artificial Intelligence and the Public Sector Read More »

Following the UK’s departure from the European Union, on 1 January 2021 the transition period will come to an end. From that date onwards, the UK will have severed its direct ties with the EU procurement law regime and the UK will, as a consequence, have far greater autonomy to regulate its own domestic procurement …

Procurement Law Reform Post-Brexit Read More »

The 2020 party conference season will perhaps be even more remarkable than last year’s. Twelve months ago, delegates took their seats against a backdrop of party infighting and prorogation. Fast forward one year and the conference halls are empty whilst Brexit may not even make it to the top of the agenda. This autumn, politicians …

Build Back Better: how Government purchases is as crucial as what it chooses to invest in Read More »

DLA Piper’s Technology and Strategic Sourcing team recently completed a c. £275 m transformative networks and telephony deal for one of the UK’s largest financial institutions, which used an innovative negotiation method known as ‘applied game theory’ in order to carry out the final negotiation stage of the procurement process. The resultant outcome was a …

Applied Game Theory – the future of IT procurement? Looking at it through a government lens Read More »

As we noted in our first article, on 17 June 2020 Mr Justice Stuart-Smith handed down judgment in the 2019 Rail Franchising Litigation, one of the largest and most complex procurement and commercial judicial review claims litigated to date in the UK. DLA Piper acted for the Secretary of State for Transport (the “SoS”) and …

The 2019 rail franchising litigation – procurement: Legal privilege and a duty to give sufficient reasons Read More »

The Government has published the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Coronavirus, Calculation of a Week’s Pay) Regulations 2020 which come into force on 31 July. The Regulations ensure that employees who have been furloughed receive statutory redundancy pay, statutory notice pay, unfair dismissal compensation and certain other statutory payments based on their normal wages, rather than …

Be Aware UK: Furloughed employees to receive redundancy and notice pay at full not furloughed rate Read More »

The Government has today (31 July 2020) published a policy paper setting out more detailed guidance on the Job Retention Bonus announced as part of the ‘Plan for Jobs’ on 8 July. The Job Retention Bonus is intended to provide additional support to employers who keep on their furloughed employees after the Coronavirus Job Retention …

Be Aware UK: Job Retention Bonus – New guidance just released Read More »

This is the fourth in our short series of bitesize feedback notes following on from DLA Piper’s Panel Discussion Webinar held on 1 July 2020 when we launched our paper – “Procurement Law Reform – Let’s Start a Discussion”. This feedback note looks at the panel’s response to the range of procurement procedures set out …

Procurement Law Reform – Let’s Start a Discussion. Reform of purchasing procedures Read More »