The procurement landscape in the UK is due to change next year. A draft procurement bill (Bill) seeks to consolidate a number of different procurement regulations that originate from EU legislation, including the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR), into a single revised regime. The aim is to modernise and unify procurement systems and processes into a single piece of legislation and to develop the regime specifically for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In addition to the Bill, a proposed Provider Selection Regime, introduced by regulations made under the Health and Care Act 2022, will create a new set of rules for arranging healthcare services in England, and take NHS healthcare services outside the scope of the Bill. That said, some services of relevance to the NHS may still fall under the Bill, in particular, the procurement of goods and medicines.

The aim of both the proposed Bill and the Provider Selection Regime is to give more flexibility to procurers to adapt the procurement process to the services and goods being procured, and to make it easier for the most suitable bidders to win the bid, while at the same time maintaining transparency. Neither the Bill nor the Provider Selection Regime apply in Scotland given that these are devolved matters and the pre-existing regime will remain in place there. Since the existing procurement regime originated in European law, there is currently little, if any, divergence between Scotland and the rest of the UK. The new changes will bring about the potential for divergence.

In this post, we have set out some key takeaways about the new procurement regime under the Bill and the proposed Provider Selection Regime.
Continue Reading Adoption of New Procurement Regulations in the UK

In February 2018, the Integrated Research Application System (IRAS) issued revised versions of the template model Clinical Trial Agreement (mCTA) and Clinical Research Organisation model Clinical Trial Agreement (CRO-mCTA, used where clinical research organisations undertake site management responsibilities on behalf of the sponsor). The new mCTAs are designed to be used without modification for industry-sponsored trials in the national health service (NHS), and have been updated to reflect current practice and regulations. The new mCTAs should be used from 1 March 2018.

Continue Reading Revised model Clinical Trial Agreements applicable across the UK