Welsh Procurement Policy Note (WPPN) 002: Wales Procurement Specific Questionnaire (WPSQ) and its use for Goods, Services and Works Contracts

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• A prosperous Wales
• A resilient Wales
• A more equal Wales
• A globally responsible Wales

• This Welsh Procurement Policy Note (WPPN) is effective from the date of commencement of the Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024.
• Any policy should be read in conjunction with the Wales Procurement Policy Statement, the Procurement Act 2023, the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024 and the Social Partnership & Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023.
• It should not be treated as legal advice and is not intended to be exhaustive – contracting parties should seek their own independent advice as appropriate. Please also note that the law is subject to constant change and advice should be sought in individual cases.
• The note assumes a certain level of knowledge of public procurement. It is available via the Welsh Government website GOV.WALES and any queries should be directed to CommercialPolicy@gov.wales or via the Welsh Governments’ customer services.
• References to the ‘Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024’ will be expressed herein as “the Procurement Regime”.

1.1 The Single Procurement Document (SPD) used under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR) will be retired following the coming into force of the new Procurement Regime.

1.2 This note concerns the new Wales Procurement Specific Questionnaire (WPSQ), which has been designed to support devolved Welsh Authorities (DWAs) to comply with and operate effectively under the new Procurement Regime.

Note: WPPN 001: Standard Selection Questionnaire for Works Contracts has been published concerning how DWAs should use the Common Assessment Standard (CAS) for Works contracts from 24 February 2025.

2.1 This WPPN has been published to assist all DWAs in Wales, including Welsh Government departments, NHS Wales bodies, Welsh Government Sponsored Bodies, local authorities and the wider public sector.

2.2 Please circulate this WPPN across your organisation and to other relevant organisations that you are responsible for, drawing it to the specific attention of those in procurement, commercial and finance roles.

3.1 Supplier selection is a key stage in public procurement where you must gather information on, and make assessments of, potential suppliers’ technical and professional abilities, economic and financial standing and whether any of the exclusion grounds apply.

3.2 The Procurement Act 2023 (the Act) replaces supplier selection and exclusion requirements with new rules on conditions of participation and exclusions. The Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024, made under the Act, also change the way suppliers share certain information. This includes the requirements on DWAs to obtain confirmation from suppliers that they have registered, submitted and shared up-to-date core supplier information via the central digital platform (CDP).

3.3 The Wales Procurement Specific Questionnaire (WPSQ) has been designed to support DWAs to comply with and operate effectively under the new regime. It fulfils a similar role to the SPD. It complements existing guidance for the Procurement Act 2023 and also best practice, including Welsh Procurement Policy Notes.

3.4 Unlike the SPD, the WPSQ is not mandated by legislation and the guidance accompanying it is not statutory guidance.

3.5 Please see Annex A for information on how to access the WPSQ.

4.1 We recommend that contracting authorities (as defined in section 2 of the Act) that are DWAs (as defined in section 111 of the Act) review the WPSQ and incorporate it into their procurements at their discretion.

4.2 The questions in the WPSQ may be added to, adapted, or omitted. However, since the WPSQ includes content (mainly in Parts 1 and 2) to help ensure compliance with requirements in the Act, if DWAs choose not to use the WPSQ, they must ensure their procurement processes comply with the relevant parts of the legislation.

4.3 Part 3B includes central government-specific questions relating to WPPNs. These are typically applicable to central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies but may also be relevant to other DWAs.

4.4 The WPSQ helps DWAs to:

• ensure that suppliers have registered with, submitted and shared their core supplier information via the CDP
• receive exclusion information for a supplier’s associated persons
• receive a list of intended sub-contractors, to enable DWAs to check this against the debarment list
• obtain information in order to assess conditions of participation that are standard and likely to be relevant in most procurements
• obtain further information in order to assess additional conditions of participation to enable central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies to fulfil policy requirements

4.5 The WPSQ will be relevant for above threshold procurements (for works contracts - see the relevant heading below) under the Act, which commenced on or after 24 February 2025 (when the new regime commences).

4.6 For more detail on the meaning of ‘commenced’ please refer to the Guidance on transitional and savings arrangements. Furthermore, please refer to wider Procurement Act guidance which includes details on:

• conditions of participation
• central digital platform and publication of information
• Welsh digital platform (Sell2Wales)
• exclusions
• debarment

4.7 The Act does not apply to procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 or to contracts awarded prior to this date. Similarly, the Act does not apply to contracts awarded via frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems or qualification systems established under the previous legislation.

5.1 The CDP currently captures generalised procurement related information, whilst the WPSQ provides a template for collecting information specific to individual procurement exercises.

5.2 Notwithstanding the changes outlined in this note and the WPSQ, the main principles and good practice of considering if a supplier has met conditions of participation will continue under the Act (for example, establishing proportionate conditions, outlining what would satisfy the conditions/what constitutes a pass or fail, and any appropriate supporting evidence). Similarly, DWAs will continue to consider exclusion requirements, though these have been strengthened under the Act.

WPSQ Parts

The WPSQ is made up of 3 parts:

Part 1 – confirmation that the supplier has registered on, submitted and shared their core supplier information via the CDP

Part 2 – additional exclusions information, including:

• Part 2A – identification of the supplier’s associated person(s); and confirmation that each associated person’s: basic information, connected person(s), and exclusion grounds information has also been shared (via the CDP)
• Part 2B – confirmation of the supplier’s intended sub-contractors

Part 3 – questions relating to conditions of participation, including:

• Part 3A – standard questions
• Part 3B – central government-specific questions (relating to WPPNs)

WPSQ Actions

5.4 We recommend that when DWAs prepare their procurements and develop their requirements, they should make use of the WPSQ to carry out the following actions:

Action 1 – request that prime/main suppliers complete the following steps prior to the earliest submission deadline:

• register on the CDP
• submit their most up to date core supplier information on the CDP, this includes the supplier’s:
  1. basic information
  2. economic and financial standing information (depending on the procurement, contracting authorities may require additional economic and financial information to make an assessment on their financial capacity.)
  3. connected person information
  4. exclusion grounds information (this includes exclusion information about the supplier and its connected persons)
• provide that information to the DWA via the CDP

Action 2 – request that prime/main suppliers, where they intend to rely on other suppliers to meet a condition of participation, ensure that these other suppliers submit and share their basic, connected person and exclusion ground information via the CDP prior to the earliest submission deadline.

Note: These suppliers might be consortium members or sub-contractors and, so long as they are not guarantors, they are associated persons. DWAs need to determine if a prime/main supplier is an excluded or excludable supplier by virtue of an associated person being an excluded or excludable supplier (see section 57 of the Procurement Act). Collecting an associated person’s relevant information via the CDP will support DWAs in determining this.

Action 3 – require prime/main suppliers, where they intend to sub-contract the performance of all or part of the contract, to provide a list of all these sub-contractors, which can be checked against the published debarment list.

Note: This is so the DWA, under an open or competitive flexible procedure, can determine whether any intended sub-contractor is on the debarment list (see section 28 of the Procurement Act). Sub-contractors, unless they are associated persons, do not need to register or submit core supplier information on the CDP.

Action 4 – where appropriate, set conditions of participation consulting the questions in Part 3.

Note:

Part 3A: DWAs may set conditions of participation in a procurement only if they are satisfied that these are a proportionate means of ensuring that a supplier has the legal and financial capacity or technical ability to perform the contract. Where they do so, the WPSQ sets out a list of standard questions in Part 3A which may be used. The questions can be adapted, added or omitted where there is a good commercial reason for doing so and where this complies with the Act. DWAs must ensure that they set out their conditions of participation in the relevant notice or associated tender documents, and how suppliers’ ability to satisfy them will be assessed.

Part 3B: This includes central government procurement specific questions, such as those set out in a WPPN. These should not be edited or removed by central government departments, their executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies, unless a relevant condition of participation would not be proportionate in a particular procurement or does not apply to the value of the contract.

WPSQ Part 1: Confirmation of Core Supplier Information

5.5 The Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024, made pursuant to the Act, require certain information to be shared via the CDP. The CDP facilitates a streamlined collection of core supplier information and avoids the need for suppliers to re-enter the same information repeatedly for different procurements.

5.6 Regulation 6 of the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024 requires that, where suppliers give core supplier information to DWAs with a view to the award of a public contract, DWAs must obtain confirmation from suppliers that the supplier has:

• registered on the CDP
• submitted up-to-date core supplier information on the CDP, and
• provided that information to the DWA via the CDP

before the end of the tendering period in competitive tendering procedures (i.e. open procedures and competitive flexible procedures) or before the award of the contract in direct awards and competitive selection processes for framework call-offs.

5.7 In most cases, the core supplier information will be needed by DWAs from the outset of a procurement because, for example, DWAs must determine whether a supplier is an excluded or excludable supplier before permitting them to participate in a competitive flexible procedure (section 27). Therefore, as good practice, DWAs should make clear that suppliers are required to register on the CDP and share their core supplier information, and when this should be done by (which in most cases should be by the earliest submission deadline). Part 1 of the WPSQ helps provide for this.

5.8 Core supplier information comprises basic information about the supplier (as listed in regulation 10 of the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024), economic and financial standing information about the supplier (as listed in regulation 11), information about the supplier’s connected persons (as listed in regulation 12) and exclusions information about the supplier and its connected persons (as listed in regulation 13).

5.9 Connected persons are persons who exercise (or have a right to exercise) significant influence or control over the supplier and those over which the supplier exercises (or has the right to exercise) significant influence or control. This includes majority shareholders, directors and shadow directors, parent and subsidiary companies and predecessor companies. The majority of the exclusion grounds apply to a supplier where either the supplier or a connected person of the supplier meets the criteria set out in the exclusion ground.

5.10 The Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024 require DWAs to ensure the supplier’s connected person information is provided via the CDP, as this enables them to assess whether the supplier is an excluded or excludable supplier by virtue of a connected person. Therefore, this information should be evaluated in relation to the exclusions regime in the Act. For example, if an exclusion ground applies to one of the supplier’s connected persons, and the circumstances giving rise to the ground are continuing or likely to occur again, the supplier may be an excluded or excludable supplier. Furthermore, DWAs should note, and potentially inform suppliers, that for any suppliers awarded a contract, certain details about their connected person information must be published in the contract award notice (regulation 28).

5.11 The CDP does not assess or validate any of the core supplier information. The information is to be used by DWAs to assess conditions of participation, which they have set and included in the tender notice. Exclusions information about the supplier and its connected persons should be used by DWAs to determine whether the supplier is an excluded or excludable supplier.

On the CDP, suppliers will need to complete self-declarations as to whether any mandatory or discretionary exclusion grounds apply to them and/or their connected persons; and, if an exclusion ground applies, related details including the steps that have or will be taken to prevent the circumstances giving rise to the ground occurring again. Contracting authorities will need to review this information. It is for the supplier to demonstrate it has self-cleaned and this must be to the satisfaction of the contracting authority.

WPSQ Part 2: Additional Exclusions Information

Associated persons

5.12 Associated persons are sub-contractors or consortium members who are being relied on by the prime/main supplier to satisfy the conditions of participation in the particular procurement. This does not include guarantors, even if they are relied on to meet conditions of participation. The main supplier may be an excluded or excludable supplier by virtue of an exclusion ground applying to an associated person (see section 57 of the Act). A supplier can also be an excluded or excludable supplier by virtue of an exclusion ground applying to a connected person of an associated person, for example, a director of an associated person of the supplier.

5.13 This means that DWAs must consider whether an exclusion ground applies to any associated person of the supplier, as well as any connected persons of an associated person. While the CDP will capture prime/main suppliers’ (and their connected persons’) self-declarations against the exclusion grounds, it will not capture the details of their associated persons.

5.14 Therefore, to ensure that DWAs receive this information, Part 2 of the WPSQ includes questions on whether the prime/main supplier will rely on any associated persons in the procurement and requests the main supplier to ensure their associated persons also register, submit and share their core supplier information via the CDP. Associated persons will need to input certain information into the CDP which may not be needed for the specific procurement, such as their economic and financial standing information. In this case, the associated person may choose not to share this with the contracting authority. In practice, they may need to manually redact this from the download of the core supplier information from the CDP.

Intended sub-contractors

5.15 Where a supplier intends to use sub-contractors, not all of these sub-contractors will be associated persons. Only if a sub-contractor is relied on to meet conditions of participation, will they be both an associated person and an intended sub-contractor.

Example

A cleaning supplier bidding for an integrated facilities management contract which includes both soft (e.g. cleaning) and hard (e.g. buildings maintenance) services, might need to rely on a specialist buildings maintenance supplier in order to meet conditions of participation relating to that aspect of the service.

The cleaning supplier could structure its bid either as a consortium, jointly bidding with the buildings maintenance supplier, or with the cleaning supplier as the prime supplier using the buildings maintenance supplier as a sub-contractor.

In either case, the buildings maintenance supplier would be an associated person.

Depending on the conditions of participation set by the contracting authority, an ‘other sub-contractor’ might be a security services supplier that provides security staff, but not necessarily an associated person.

5.16 The Act requires that contracting authorities have greater visibility of all sub-contractors proposed to be involved in the delivery of the contract. Contracting authorities must seek to determine whether any intended sub-contractor is on the debarment list. Therefore, as part of the procurement, DWAs must ask for details of all sub-contractors in the supply chain that a supplier intends to use to deliver the contract. This is not restricted to sub-contractors that the supplier is relying on to meet conditions of participation (who will also be associated persons) but applies to all sub-contractors (of all tiers) the supplier intends to sub-contract the performance of all or part of the contract to. This means the supplier must provide an exhaustive list of all their intended sub-contractors in the supply chain that are known about at the relevant point in the procurement. This does not include every supplier with whom the supplier has a commercial relationship (for example an existing supply contract where there is no intention to specifically sub-contract all or part of the contract to that supplier).

Example of a Prime supplier, their Associated Persons and intended Sub contractors

5.17 Figure 1 helps illustrate who might be an associated person and/or sub-contractor for a prime/main supplier. In a procurement DWAs must:

• request and review the connected persons and exclusion grounds information for both the main/prime supplier and associated persons, tagged with the number 1 in Figure 1. This information should be submitted and shared by suppliers with the DWA via the CDP
• clarify if the main/prime supplier intends to sub-contract the performance of all or part of the public contract and determine if any intended sub-contractors are on the debarment list, tagged with the number 2 in Figure 1 – these suppliers are not required to be registered on the CDP (and their connected persons information does not need to be requested)

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Requesting intended sub-contractors to provide exclusions information

5.18 DWAs can decide whether to ask suppliers for further information to determine whether any of their intended sub-contractors are excluded or excludable suppliers. This is in addition to considering the relevant information pertaining to associated persons and checking whether any intended sub-contractor is on the debarment list. For example, a DWA may decide to seek further information from all first-tier sub-contractors or from sub-contractors providing particular elements of the public contract (for example, the DWA may consider certain sectors to have particular risks of an exclusion ground applying).

5.19 Where a DWA has decided to seek further information about intended sub-contractors, those sub-contractors should be asked to complete self-declarations against the exclusion grounds and to provide any relevant/necessary additional information, such as details of self-cleaning. Where this information has already been provided by a sub-contractor who is an associated person, it is not necessary to request it again.

5.20 For further information, please refer to the guidance on exclusions.

Unique identifiers

5.21 As part of the information captured in Part 1, suppliers should provide the unique identifier that has been accepted or allocated by the CDP (in most cases this is likely to be their Companies House number).

5.22 DWAs should, as good practice, request a unique identifier for any associated persons, which will be allocated by the CDP when they first register (Part 2).

5.23 Sub-contractors do not need to be requested to register on the CDP, unless they are associated persons. However, if they are registered on the CDP, the unique identifiers for any intended sub-contractors should be requested. Where they are not registered on the CDP, some form of organisation identifier or registration number should still be requested instead – such as a Companies House number, charity number, VAT number or equivalent.

WPSQ Part 3: questions relating to conditions of participation

5.24 The Act allows DWAs to set conditions of participation that a supplier must satisfy in order to participate in a procurement. Conditions of participation must be a proportionate means of ensuring that a supplier has the legal and financial capacity, or technical ability, to perform the contract.

5.25 In order to retain a level of standardisation and consistency for DWAs and for suppliers bidding for public contracts, in addition to questions about the supplier’s economic and financial standing provided as part of the core supplier information, Part 3A of the WPSQ includes a list of standard questions. This is in a questionnaire format and can be used by DWAs to enable receipt of information related to conditions of participation.

5.26 Where these questions are used, adapted, or added to in any particular procurement, DWAs must ensure that they set out in the relevant notice or associated tender documents their conditions of participation and how these will be assessed.

5.27 The WPSQ provides questions to facilitate the provision of information, but leaves it to DWAs to determine the conditions of participation to which the information relates. All conditions of participation must comply with the requirements of the Act, including the requirement in section 22 that conditions of participation must be a proportionate means of ensuring suppliers have the relevant capacity or ability to perform the contract, having regard to the nature, complexity and cost of the contract. In all cases, DWAs should bear in mind their duties to have regard to the fact that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may face particular barriers to participation and to consider whether such barriers can be removed or reduced (as set out in section 12(4) of the Act).

5.28 Welsh Government will periodically review use of the questions and update the WPSQ as required.

5.29 Part 3B includes central government procurement specific questions, such as those set out in a Welsh Procurement Policy Note. These should not be edited or removed by central government departments, their executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies, unless a relevant condition of participation would not be proportionate in a particular procurement or otherwise in accordance with the relevant policy guidance.

Evaluating responses

5.30 When DWAs set their conditions of participation, they should as a matter of good practice, consider and outline to suppliers how they might meet the conditions (for example, a pass/fail or threshold mechanism).

5.31 If, in a competitive flexible procedure, any of the conditions of participation are used as part of a process to limit the number of participating suppliers (for example inviting the five suppliers that submitted the highest scoring responses), DWA must ensure they have also outlined this criteria in their tender notice (section 20(4)(a) of the Act and regulation 20(2)(d) of the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024).

Economic and financial standing (EFS)

5.32 Financial accounts will be part of the core supplier submission. However, it may be necessary to supplement this with additional economic and financial information from suppliers (either the prime/main supplier or others relevant to the procurement, or both). DWAs should note the Act includes certain prohibitions related to requesting audited accounts. DWAs must not require the provision of audited annual accounts from suppliers who are not required to have their accounts audited in accordance with Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 (or an overseas equivalent). In this scenario the supplier must be allowed to submit equivalent accounts or other information, so far as that can be reasonably given.

5.33 The Act also prohibits DWAs from requiring insurance relating to the performance of the contract to be in place before award of the contract. This is to prevent suppliers from being expected to incur unnecessary costs for insurance when they have no guarantee of being awarded the contract. However DWAs may still, when setting conditions of participation, require commitments or evidence that a supplier will be able to obtain the necessary insurance on contract award. Like any condition of participation, insurance requirements must be proportionate.

Works contracts

5.34 Public contracts for Works (which include the procurement of mixed contracts which include supplies and services but which, due to their Works content, are subject to the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015) should continue to use the questions set out in the Common Assessment Standard (see WPPN 001).

5.35 If it is necessary to ask any additional questions relevant to the contract being procured, (for example due to WPPN requirements relating to steel which are included in the WPSQ), these should be made clear. In all cases, the questions used should be proportionate.

5.36 Part 2 questions must still be asked to ensure the necessary associated person and sub-contract information is retrieved.

Below-threshold procurements

5.37 Regulated below-threshold contracts are defined in section 84(1) of the Act as below-threshold contracts which are not an exempted contract, a concession contract or a utilities contract.

5.38 The questions in the WPSQ (or, for Works contracts, the Common Assessment Standard questions) may be used as a guide in developing appropriate and proportionate questions.

Note: If a DWA intends to use a reserved procurement arrangement in relation to a below-threshold contract, the restrictions within section 85 of the Act should be noted. See the UK government’s PSQ for information.

6.1 Welsh Government may:

• publish future WPPNs with additional questions in the WPSQ
• work with the Cabinet Office to develop the CDP in order to retrieve information via the online system rather than the WPSQ.
   

7.1 Please see Annex B for a glossary of terms.

Including, but not limited to:

• The Wales Procurement Policy Statement
• The Procurement Act 2023
• The Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024
• The Social Partnership & Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023
• The Well Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015

9.1 This WPPN applies to procurements commenced under the Procurement Regime and is therefore effective from the commencement of the Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024 until it is superseded or cancelled.

10.1 This WPPN aligns with the following WPPS principles:

Principle 1

We will leverage collaborative procurement activity in Wales to maximise long-term sustainable social and economic value outcomes from public spend.

Principle 3

We will progress long-term sustainable procurement, which builds on and scales best practice and sets clear steps that show how procurement is supporting the delivery of organisational well-being objectives.

Principle 5

We will support Welsh Government policy objectives relating to progressive procurement, such as the Foundational and Circular Economy, through collaborative, place-based (whether national, regional or local) procurement activity which nurtures resilient local supply chains.

Principle 7

We will align our ways of working and increase stakeholder involvement to support innovative and sustainable solutions through procurement.

Principle 10

We will promote value-based procurement which delivers optimum long-term outcomes for Wales.

11.1 If you have any questions about this WPPN, please contact; Commercial Policy – Polisi Masnachol: CommercialPolicy@gov.wales.

12.1 Welsh Government is pleased to acknowledge that it has drawn upon the following publications and organisations to supplement its own research to produce this guidance:

• Government Procurement Function - (PA 2023) Procurement specific questionnaire

The WPSQ with Buyer guidance is available within the Help & Resources section in the Buyer Control Panel in Sell2Wales.

Buyers: Document Download Request - Sell2Wales

Suppliers: Wales Procurement Specific Questionnaire (WPSQ)

Associated person

A supplier may be an excluded supplier or an excludable supplier if any exclusion ground applies to either the supplier or an associated person (see the references to ‘associated person’ in section 57 of the Act) and if the circumstances giving rise to the ground are continuing or likely to occur again.

An associated person for these purposes is defined in section 26(4) as a person the supplier is relying on in order to satisfy the conditions of participation (other than a guarantor).

Associated persons are likely to be within the first tier of sub-contractors, but may be further down the supply chain, for example in procurements of contracts with highly technical elements.

Central digital platform

The online system referenced in the Procurement Act 2023 (Act) and defined in the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024 as the central digital platform. It is available at Find high value contracts in the public sector on GOV.UK.

The central digital platform will enable:

• contracting authorities and suppliers to register and receive a unique identifier
• contracting authorities to publish notices and other information as required under the Act for covered and below-threshold procurements
• suppliers to submit and store certain core organisational 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
• anyone to view the notices and access related public procurement data

Conditions of participation

The Procurement Act 2023 includes rules on conditions of participation under a competitive tendering procedure and a competitive selection process under a framework.

Contracting authorities are allowed to set conditions of participation only if they are a proportionate means of ensuring that suppliers have: a. legal and financial capacity; or b. technical ability, to perform the contract. 
Suppliers must satisfy these conditions if they are to be awarded the contract. The conditions must be proportionate having regard to the nature, complexity and cost of the public contract.

Whereas compared with award criteria (section 23) which are used to assess the tender, conditions of participation are used to assess the supplier. Contracting authorities must make these conditions clear in the tender notice, supplemented (where necessary) by the tender documents.

Connected persons

A connected person is defined in paragraph 45 of Schedule 6 to the Act. In summary, it covers:

1. a person with ‘significant control’ over the supplier (within the meaning given by section 790C(2) of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006))
2. a director or shadow director of the supplier
3. a parent undertaking or a subsidiary undertaking of the supplier
4. a predecessor company
5. any other person who it can reasonably be considered stands in an equivalent position in relation to the supplier as a person within paragraph a to d.
6. any person with the right to exercise, or who actually exercises, significant influence or control over the supplier
7. any person over which the supplier has the right to exercise, or actually exercises, significant influence or control

Competitive tendering procedures

There are 2 competitive tendering procedures set out in section 20 of the Procurement Act 2023: the open procedure and the competitive flexible procedure, and both are commenced via publication of a tender notice.

Core supplier information

The core supplier information defined in the regulation 6(9) of the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024 is divided into four key categories of information and covers (in summary):

• basic information – this includes (and is not limited to) the supplier’s name, unique identifier, address, VAT number (if applicable), legal form and date of company registration (if applicable), details of qualifications/trade associations and classification, for example whether the supplier is an SME and/or a public service mutual
• economic and financial standing information – as set out in the supplier’s most recent financial accounts
• connected person information – this includes (but is not limited to) information relating to relevant connected persons such as names, date of birth and nationality, service address and legal form
• exclusion grounds information – this includes information relating to relevant convictions and events that form either a mandatory or discretionary exclusion ground under the Act

Debarment

Debarment is a mechanism under which a Minister of the Crown can put a supplier on the centrally published debarment list. This must be following an investigation, whereby the minister is satisfied that a supplier is an excluded supplier or an excludable supplier and should be added to the debarment list.

Depending on why a supplier is on the debarment list, contracting authorities either must exclude them or may exclude them from procurements. The list will be managed by the Procurement Review Unit (PRU) and published on GOV.UK

Excluded supplier

A supplier is an ‘excluded supplier’ where the contracting authority considers, firstly, that a mandatory exclusion ground applies to the supplier or an associated person and, secondly, that the circumstances giving rise to the exclusion ground are continuing or likely to occur again. A supplier will also be an excluded supplier where a Minister of the Crown has already determined this – i.e. where the supplier or an associated person is on the debarment list because of a mandatory exclusion ground.

Excludable supplier

A supplier is an ‘excludable supplier’ where the contracting authority considers, firstly, that a discretionary exclusion ground applies to the supplier or an associated person and, secondly, that the circumstances giving rise to the exclusion ground are continuing or likely to occur again. A supplier will also be an excludable supplier where a Minister of the Crown has already determined this – i.e. where the supplier or an associated person is on the debarment list because of a discretionary exclusion ground.

Exclusions

The Procurement Act sets out a list of mandatory (Schedule 6) and discretionary (Schedule 7) exclusion grounds and places a duty on contracting authorities to consider both whether any of these apply to suppliers (including by virtue of a connected person), as well as whether the circumstances are continuing or likely to occur again. Contracting authorities must exclude an excluded supplier and may exclude an excludable supplier from procurements.

Intended sub-contractors

As part of a competitive tendering process, contracting authorities must ask for details of all sub-contractors a supplier intends to use as part of the procurement (as required by section 28(1)(a) of the Act). This is not restricted to sub-contractors that the supplier is relying on to meet conditions of participation (who will in any event be associated persons) but applies to all sub-contractors (of all tiers) the supplier intends to sub-contract the performance of all or part of the contract to.

A contracting authority must check whether any of the intended sub-contractors are on the debarment list (as required by section 28(1)(b) of the Act).

A contracting authority may also request information for the purpose of determining whether any intended sub-contractor is an excluded or excludable supplier.

Unique identifier

Unique identifiers are defined in regulation 9 of the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024. In the case of a supplier, it is the unique code which is submitted to the central digital platform and is recognised by that platform or, where no such code is submitted and recognised, it is the unique code which is allocated by that platform when the supplier registers on that platform.