Procurement Act 2023 guidance: Welsh Digital Platform

1. This guidance sets out the differences in publication requirements for Devolved Welsh Authorities (DWAs) with regards to where they must publish or give a notice, document or information required under the Procurement Act 2023 and Welsh Regulations.

2. The WDP is the online system named in the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024 (“the regulations”). The WDP means the online system provided by the Welsh Government for use by DWAs, commonly referred to as Sell2Wales.

3. The WDP is the system which must be used by DWAs to publish or give a notice, document or information required under the Act. This includes instances where the Procurement Act 2023 (“the Act”) requires contracting authorities to publish on the Central Digital Platform (CDP).

4. As required by regulation 5 of the regulations, requirements in the Act to publish or give a notice, document or information on the CDP are met for DWAs where the contracting authority has submitted the notice, document or information to the WDP and either:

1. the Minister for the Cabinet Office has informed the contracting authority that the notice, document or information has successfully been submitted for publication to the CDP, or
2. the notice, document or information is capable of being accessed by suppliers and members of the public on the CDP.

5. It should be noted that the WDP will forward correctly submitted notices to the CDP on behalf of DWAs. Once published on the CDP the notice should almost instantaneously be published on the WDP.

6. The CDP is the online system referenced in the Procurement Act 2023 (Act) and established by the Minister for the Cabinet Office. The CDP will be available at Find a Tender on GOV.UK

7. Under the Act, notices, documents or information will be published by all contracting authorities in one place on the CDP. For DWAs, notices will also be published on the WDP (Sell2Wales).

8. The CDP will enable:

1. contracting authorities and suppliers to register and receive a unique identifier
2. contracting authorities to publish notices, documents and other information as required under the Act and regulations for covered and notifiable below-threshold contracts (though for DWAs this must be achieved by publishing via the WDP)
3. suppliers to submit and store certain core supplier information as required by the regulations to participate in a covered procurement. This information will only be available to those contracting authorities that a supplier chooses to share it with; it cannot be freely accessed
4. anyone to view the notices and access related public procurement data.

9. Further information on contracting authority and supplier registration on the CDP and the submission of core supplier information can be found in the UK government's published guidance titled: Central Digital Platform and Publication of Information.

10. The CDP may also be by used directly by DWAs to publish notices in situations where the WDP is unavailable in accordance with regulation 5(3) of the regulations.

11. DWAs will be required to register on the CDP in order to obtain a unique identifier and an API share code.

12. These 2 pieces of information will then need to be added to the DWAs profile on the WDP in order to ensure that notices submitted to the WDP can be published on the CDP on the authorities behalf. This information should only need to be added once for each DWA.

13. Suppliers will also need to register on the CDP to obtain a unique identifier. They will need to provide core information should they wish to tender for a public contract (as per paragraph 8c above). Please see the UK government published guidance: Central Digital Platform and Publication of Information for more information.

14. Regulation 5 of the regulations sets out that a notice, document or information which is published or given under a provision of the Act must first be published on the CDP. This regulation also sets out that the requirement for the DWA to first publish or give a notice, document or information on the CDP is met where the DWA has submitted the notice, document or information to the WDP and:

1. the Minister for the Cabinet Office has informed the contracting authority that the notice, document or information has successfully been submitted for publication to the CDP, or
2. the notice, document or information is capable of being accessed by suppliers and members of the public on the CDP.

15. Regulation 6 sets out DWAs’ responsibilities concerning supplier information, including confirming that the supplier has shared its core supplier information with the DWA through the CDP when required (see UK Government Guidance on the publication of information and the central digital platform for more information).

16. Sections 94, 98 and 99 of the Act contain provisions on exemptions to information publication, record-keeping and data protection.

• Guidance on notice sequencing and flowcharts
• UK government Guidance on the publication of information and the central digital platform