UK Government Blog

Following the ICO’s public consultation, launched in August last year, the final version of the international data transfer agreement (IDTA), as well as the international data transfer addendum to the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses for international data transfers (Addendum), has been laid before Parliament. In this post, we look at the practical implications of the …

International Data Transfer Agreement and Addendum set to come into force Read More »

The introduction of the new investment screening regime will mark a watershed moment for the UK Government’s powers to intervene in corporate transactions. DLA Piper’s podcast series Understanding the UK National Security & Investment Regime guides listeners though what is driving the new regime, how it will operate in practice and its particular impact on …

What is the impact of the UK National Security & Investment Regime on the Public Sector? Read More »

Public procurement reform – ‘Crisis? what crisis’ On 6 December 2021, the Cabinet Office published the Government’s response to its consultation on proposed reforms to English procurement law. In our most recent blog (“Procurement Challenges – the future”), we considered the Government’s proposals to reform the procurement remedies regime. In this blog, we consider an …

Public procurement reform – ‘Crisis? what crisis’ Read More »

Procurement Challenges – the future On 6 December 2021, the Cabinet Office published its response to its consultation on proposals for reform to English procurement law as first described in its 2020 Green Paper “Transforming Public Procurement”. Over the coming weeks, and as we noted in a blog published on 8 December 2021 (“Public procurement …

Procurement Challenges – the future Read More »

On 6 December 2021, the Cabinet Office published its much-anticipated response to its consultation on the 2020 green paper, “Transforming Public Procurement”. Over the next few weeks, DLA Piper will publish a series of posts considering in detail the proposed changes to procurement. In this post, we summarise the response and give our initial views …

Public procurement reform … the times they are a-changin’ Read More »

The Government’s Green Paper, Transforming Public Procurement, published in December 2020, promised a significant shakeup for government procurement. Certainly, industry and public bodies thought so. Together, they made over 600 written submissions to the Cabinet Office.   (You can find DLA Piper’s consultation comments on the reforms here.)   Since the end of the submission deadline in March 2021, there has been …

Transforming Public Procurement – an update on potential reforms Read More »

In our first article we considered the legal lessons to be learned by the public sector from the failed transformational IT project considered by the High Court in the CISGIL v IBM case.  The focus of our analysis was on the terms of the agreement between CISGIL and IBM signed in May 2015 and the …

What can the public sector learn from CISGIL v IBM? Part Two – The Practical Lessons Read More »

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 »