Last month, the Cabinet Office published PPN 03/23. This Procurement Policy Note updates Selection Questionnaires (SQs) and replaces the former PPN 08/16.
Public Sector clients can include these updates from this month but must be in effect by 1st June 2023. The updates include adjustments to terms, wording and gives further clarity to contracting authorities on wording of questions.
More importantly, there are selection of new questions for bidders to respond to. Many of these feature in the ‘optional’ section of the SQ, so next time you download an opportunity, you may see all or some of these updates.
What are the new questions?
Modern Slavery Act. An additional question on Modern Slavery is now captured in the ‘Grounds for Discretionary Exclusion’ section. The usual Modern Slavery question is now expanded to include a guide to what should be in your policies and statements as a minimum.
Economic and financial standing: You can now point the client in the direction of Companies House for electronic financial statements & documentation
Data protection: Introduction of a question asking for bidders to confirm they have resources in place to ensure compliance with GDPR. This requires a write up or link to a policy you have in place, not just a yes/no answer.
Health and Safety: This asks for 500 words on effective safety and risk management and links to the ‘steel in major projects’ question.
Supply chain payments: This question is likely to only be put into SQs where projects are over £5m in value, but authorities many choose to include it anyway. This asks bidders to provide evidence of their commitment to paying their supply chain within contracted terms. This will be 30 days for schemes procured under Public Contract Regulations.
Carbon Reduction: Again, this may only be included in SQs with projects over £5m. This brings PPN 06/21 into the SQ and asks for bidders to provide a link to their Carbon Reduction Plans.
If you are not sure about how to tackle any these additional questions, please do get in touch. I can help guide you through and develop bespoke responses to help you pass this first stage of bidding.
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