Purpose

The new Procurement Act 2023
was implemented by the Government on 24 February 2025. The Legal
and Procurement Teams have worked closely with the law firm DLA
Piper to re-write our Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) to ensure the
Council is fully compliant to the new legislation. The new
legislation imposes many changes in the way we do business with our
suppliers for which we have conducted a training regime to ensure
appropriate Council staff are fully aware of their responsibilities
to ensure compliance throughout the procurement cycle.
 
The fully updated version of
the CPRs was not made available until Thursday 20 February 2025 due
to ongoing drafting work as well as the recent publication of
legislative guidance and supporting documents which DLA Piper
subsequently incorporated into the revised CPRs.  Council regulations state the CPRs must be
approved by the Audit and Governance Committee, currently scheduled
for 19 March 2025, followed by the Full Council, currently
scheduled for 24 April 2025. For this reason we are unable to
publish the revised CPRs on all the appropriate web pages, although
the requirement is for the Council to be compliant from 24 February
2025.
 

Decision

Decision(s):
 
The posting of the new CPRs on the Sefton
Council intranet and internet be approved, to ensure the Council is
compliant with the new Procurement Act 2023.  It is proposed the new  CPRs are posted with
a bold header which states “DRAFT COPY AWAITING
APPROVAL”.
 
Reason(s) for the
Decision(s):
 
1)   
A delay of up to two months before we can post the
new CPRs will mean we are not able to guarantee compliance with the
new national regulations.
 
2)   
Procurement activity throughout the Council must be
compliant to the new CPRs which will be difficult to control if
the 
published rules are not up to date.
 
3)   
Due to the higher levels of transparency in the new
legislation, there is a risk that Service Teams will make
non-compliant procurements which may result in challenges to our
procedures and/or commitments to suppliers.
 
4)   
Training of the new Procurement Act 2023 has been
provided to Council staff but this has
not been specific to the new CPRs of which the details have only
been confirmed this week
 
 
Alternative Options
Considered and Rejected
 
Delay the publishing, subject
to approval, of the CPRs on the online services until approval by
the Full Council on 24 April 2025.  The
risks associated with this option are detailed above.