PPN 01/23: what it means for you

PPN 01/23: what it means for you

Posted by James Piggott Picture of James Piggott on Feb 8, 2023 4:27:44 PM
Who are the UK government's 39 'Strategic Suppliers'?
Get the report

Back in January, the Cabinet Office published its latest Procurement Policy Note (PPN): PPN 01/23, Requirements to publish on Contracts Finder.

This PPN affects which contracts you and your contracting authority need to make publicly available, so it's key you're up-to-speed on what you need to do.

This quick blog runs through all the key changes the PPN looks to bring through, and highlights what it means for you as a contracting authority.

💡 PPN 01/23: what's new?

This PPN updates the thresholds - last set out in PPN 09/21 - at which contracting authorities are required to publish new contracts on Contracts Finder (the "Below Threshold Regime"). It also seeks to clarify exactly which contracting bodies fall under which threshold.

This main changes include:

  • Central Government bodies' threshold has been raised from £10,000 to £12,000 (inc. VAT)

  • Local Government bodies' threshold has been raised from £25,000 to £30,000 (inc. VAT)

  • NHS Foundation Trusts and NHS Trusts now abide by the same threshold as Local Government - £30,000 (inc. VAT)

  • When doing so, NHS Foundation Trusts and NHS Trusts now only need to follow the minimum publishing guidelines as established by PCR 2015, and must publish within 90 days.

Central Government and Local Government bodies must still publish new contracts within 30 and 90 days respectively.

✔️ Why has the guidance changed?

PPN 01/23 seeks to address the consequences of a prior PPN, PPN 10/21.

PPN 10/21 required that all contracting authorities include VAT when calculating the estimated value of contracts. This increased the average value of all contracts, meaning more contracts passed the prior threshold requirements to be published on Contracts Finder.

By increasing the publication threshold, PPN 01/23 seeks to mitigate this.

PPN 01/23 also seeks to address an ambiguity as to whether NHS Foundation Trusts should publish at the Central or Local Government threshold, establishing that they should follow the £30,000 threshold like NHS Trusts.

LinkedInLink

🚨 What does this mean for me?

By increasing contract publication thresholds, PPN 01/23 essentially seeks to lessen the unintended pressure on procurement teams caused by PPN 10/21.

This doesn't mean the government are giving you and your authority a break, though: the fact the Cabinet Office is proactively amending minimum thresholds shows they want to encourage the timely publication of contracts, and not overwhelm procurement teams.

As a contracting authority, you have a statutory obligation to publish your above-threshold contracts in a timely manner. Though it may sometimes feel like a bureaucratic hurdle, publishing your ongoing contractual work on time is key to:

  • Maintaining public trust and transparency with regards to who you're spending public money with, and on what

  • Show that you're a proactive, well-run contracting authority

  • Providing the information potential suppliers need to produce more compelling, data-led bids for your future procurement processes

Don't neglect the importance of publishing your procurement data on time - it can soon come back to bite you.

Tussell's procurement intelligence platform can show you how effectively your contracting authority are meeting its publication deadlines, and how this compares to your neighbours. To see how, book in a quick demo of Tussell.

*

You can read our summaries of other PPNs here:

If you found this summary useful, we've got lots more in store: see our other insights for procurement professionals, and sign-up to our public sector newsletter to get our latest how-to guides, summaries and more sent straight to your inbox.