PART 8U.K.MISCELLANEOUS

Statistical and other reportsU.K.

46.—(1) Subject to regulation 47, a contracting authority which is not the Secretary of State for Defence shall, not later than 31st July in each year, send to the Cabinet Office or, where paragraph (3) applies, to the Ministry of Defence a report specifying in relation to each contract awarded by it or framework agreement concluded by it during the reporting period—

(a)whether the contract was a services contract, a supply contract or a works contract;

(b)whether the framework agreement was for the provision of services, for the purchase or hire of goods or for the carrying out of work or works;

(c)the value (estimated if necessary) of the consideration payable under the contract or framework agreement;

(d)whether the restricted procedure, the negotiated procedure or the competitive dialogue procedure was used;

(e)if the negotiated procedure was used without the prior publication of a contract notice, under which provision of regulation 16 that procedure was used;

(f)in the case of—

(i)a services contract or a framework agreement for the provision of services, the principal category of service provided or to be provided under the contract or framework agreement according to the nomenclature used in Schedule 2;

(ii)a supply contract or a framework agreement for the purchase or hire of goods, the type of goods purchased or hired or to be purchased or hired under the contract or framework agreement; and

(iii)a works contract or a framework agreement for the carrying out of works, the principal category of works carried out or to be carried out under the contract or framework agreement according to the nomenclature used in Schedule 1; and

(g)the nationality of any economic operator to which the contract was awarded or the framework agreement was concluded and the State in which that economic operator is established.

F1(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[F2(3) This paragraph applies where the contracting authority is—

(a)a “body governed by public law” within the meaning of regulation 2(1) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Secretary of State for Defence is the authority referred to in sub-paragraph (c) of that definition for that body or the financing, supervisory or appointing body,

[F3(b)a “body governed by public law” within the meaning of regulation 2(1) of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and the Secretary of State for Defence is the authority referred to in any of the sub-paragraphs (a) to (c) of that definition for that body or the financing, supervisory or appointing body, or

(c)an associated formed by either the Secretary of State for Defence or one or more bodies governed by public law within the meaning of (a) or (b).]

(4) In this regulation “the reporting period” means the year preceding the year in which the reports referred to in paragraph (1) are to be made.]

Provision of reportsU.K.

47.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), where a contracting authority—

(a)is not a Minister of the Crown or a government department, and

(b)is required in accordance with these Regulations to send a report to the Cabinet Office or the Ministry of Defence,

it shall instead send the report to the Minister responsible for that contracting authority and that Minister shall be responsible for sending the report to the Cabinet Office.

(2) Where a contracting authority is a Scottish public authority it must send the report to the Scottish Ministers, and the Scottish Ministers are responsible for sending the report to the Cabinet Office.

(3) The Minister responsible for a contracting authority shall be the Minister of the Crown whose areas of responsibility are most closely connected with the functions of the contracting authority.

(4) Any questions as to which Minister of the Crown's areas of responsibility are most closely connected with the functions of a contracting authority in accordance with paragraph (3) shall be determined by the Cabinet Office whose determination is final.

(5) The requirement on a contracting authority to send any report in accordance with paragraph (1) or (2) to the Minister of the Crown responsible for that contracting authority shall be enforceable, on the application of the Minister responsible to the High Court or the Court of Session by specific implement, by mandatory order.

(6) In the application of this regulation to Northern Ireland references to the Minister shall include references to the head of a Northern Ireland department.

(7) In this regulation, “Scottish public authority” has the same meaning as in section 126(1) of the Scotland Act 1998 M1.

Publication of noticesU.K.

48.—(1) Any notice required by these Regulations to be [F4submitted to the UK e-notification service] shall be—

(a)in the correct format and contain [F5, in addition to the information required by these Regulations in respect of that notice,] any other information which the contracting authority considers useful; F6...

F6(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F7(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F7(3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(4) The contracting authority shall not place a notice in any publication—

(a)before the date on which the notice is [F8submitted to the UK e-notification service]; or

(b)which contains any additional information to that contained in the notice [F9submitted to the UK e-notification service] or published on the contracting authority's buyer profile in accordance with regulation 14(1).

(5) The contracting authority shall refer in the notice to the date [F10on which that notice was submitted to the UK e-notification service] or the date of its publication on its buyer profile where it publishes a notice in the circumstances referred to in paragraph (4).

(6) The contracting authority shall not publish a prior information notice on its buyer profile before the date on which notice of its publication in that form is [F11submitted to the UK e-notification service] in accordance with regulation 14(3) and the contracting authority shall refer to the date of [F12that submission] on its buyer profile.

(7) The contracting authority shall retain evidence of the date of [F13submission to the UK e-notification service] of each notice.

(8) Where the contracting authority is not required to [F14submit] a contract notice to the [F15UK e-notification service] in respect of a particular contract or framework agreement it may nevertheless publish such a notice in accordance with the provisions of this regulation.

[F16(9) In these Regulations, “the UK e-notification service” has the meaning given by regulation 51(5) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 M2, and regulation 51(6) and (7) of those Regulations apply for the purposes of these Regulations as if the confirmations referred to in regulation 51(6)(b) were confirmations to contracting authorities (within the meaning of these Regulations) that notices submitted by them for publication on the UK e-notification service have been so published and confirming the date of publication in respect of each such notice.]

Means of communicationU.K.

49.—(1) A contracting authority may specify that any communication referred to in these Regulations may be made—

(a)by post;

(b)by facsimile;

(c)by electronic means in accordance with paragraphs (4) and (5);

(d)by telephone in the circumstances referred to in paragraph (8); or

(e)by any combination of those means of communication.

(2) The means of communication specified by a contracting authority shall be generally available and shall not restrict economic operators' access to the contract award procedures specified in these Regulations.

(3) A contracting authority shall ensure that the specified means of communication and the storage of information enables—

(a)the integrity of data provided by economic operators and the confidentiality of tenders and requests to be selected to tender for or to negotiate the contract to be maintained; and

(b)tenders and requests to be selected to tender for or to negotiate the contract to be opened only after the time limit for their submission has expired.

(4) The equipment used for communications made by electronic means shall be—

(a)non-discriminatory;

(b)generally available; and

(c)interoperable with information and communication technology products in general use.

(5) Where a contracting authority requires that tenders and requests to be selected to tender for or to negotiate the contract are to be transmitted by electronic means, it shall ensure that—

(a)details of the equipment including any software which is necessary for the electronic receipt of tenders and requests to be selected to tender for or to negotiate the contract, including encryption, are available to all interested economic operators; and

(b)the equipment for the electronic receipt of tenders and requests to be selected to tender for or to negotiate the contract complies with the requirements of paragraph (6).

(6) The requirements referred to in paragraph (5)(b) are—

(a)electronic signatures relating to tenders and requests to participate comply with national provisions adopted in accordance with [F17Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market];

(b)the exact time and date of the receipt of tenders and requests to participate are capable of being determined precisely;

(c)it may reasonably be considered that—

(i)data is not capable of being accessed before the time limits specified by the contracting authority; and

(ii)any such unauthorised access is clearly detectable;

(d)only authorised persons shall set or change the dates for opening data received from economic operators;

(e)access to any data shall be possible only through simultaneous action by authorised persons and only after the prescribed date; and

(f)data received and opened in accordance with these requirements must remain accessible only to authorised persons.

(7) A contracting authority may require any documents, certificates and declarations referred to in regulations 23, 24, [F1825 and 26] which do not exist in electronic format to be submitted before the time limit has expired for the receipt by it of tenders or requests to be selected to tender for or to negotiate the contract.

(8) Requests to be selected to tender for or to negotiate the contract may be made—

(a)in writing; or

(b)by telephone.

(9) Where a request to be selected to tender for or to negotiate the contract is made by telephone, an economic operator shall confirm the request in writing before the deadline for receipt of such requests has expired.

(10) Where a request to be selected to tender for or to negotiate the contract is made by facsimile, a contracting authority—

(a)may require that the request be confirmed by post or by electronic means where this is necessary for the purposes of legal proof; and

(b)shall specify any requirement for such confirmation and the time limit for sending it in the contract notice.