The Public Contracts Regulations 2006

2006 No. 5

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, ENGLAND AND WALESPUBLIC PROCUREMENT, NORTHERN IRELAND

The Public Contracts Regulations 2006

Made 9th January 2006

Laid before Parliament 9th January 2006

Coming into force 31th January 2006

The Treasury, being designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to public procurement, in exercise of the powers conferred upon them by the said section 2(2), make the following Regulations—

1 GENERAL

PART 1

GENERAL

S-1 Citation, commencement and extent

Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 and come into force on 31st January 2006.

(2) These Regulations do not extend to Scotland.

S-2 Interpretation

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“to award” means to accept an offer made in relation to a proposed contract;

“buyer profile” means a page on the internet set up by a contracting authority containing one or more of the following: prior information notices, information on ongoing invitations to tender, prospective and concluded contracts, cancelled procedures and useful general information, such as a contact point, a telephone number, a facsimile number, a postal address or an e-mail address;

“carrying out” in relation to a work or works means the construction or the design and construction of that work or those works;

“central purchasing body” means a contracting authority which—

(a) acquires goods or services intended for one or more contracting authorities;

(b) awards public contracts intended for one or more contracting authorities; or

(c) concludes framework agreements for work, works, goods or services intended for one or more contracting authorities;

“the Commission” means the European Commission;

“Commission Regulation (EC) No 1564/2005” means Commission Regulation (EC) No 1564/2005of 7 September 20053;

“Common Procurement Vocabulary” means the reference nomenclature applicable to public contracts as adopted by Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002of 5 November 2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Common Procurement Vocabulary4;

“competitive dialogue procedure” means a procedure—

(a) in which any economic operator may make a request to participate; and

(b) whereby a contracting authority conducts a dialogue with the economic operators admitted to that procedure with the aim of developing one or more suitable alternative solutions capable of meeting its requirements and on the basis of which the economic operators chosen by the contracting authority are invited to tender;

“concessionaire” means a person who has entered into a public works concession contract with a contracting authority;

“contract documents” means the invitation to tender for or to negotiate a contract, the descriptive document (if any), the proposed conditions of contract, the specifications or descriptions of the goods, services, work or works required by the contracting authority and of the materials or goods to be used in or for such work or works, and all documents supplementary thereto;

“contract notice” means, except in regulation 49, a notice sent to the Official Journal in accordance with these Regulations;

“contracting authority” has the meaning given to it by regulation 3;

“contractor” means a person who offers on the market work or works and—

(a) who sought, who seeks, or would have wished, to be the person to whom a public works contract is awarded; and

(b) who is a national of and established in a relevant State;

“CPC” means Central Product Classification of the United Nations5;

“CPV” means Common Procurement Vocabulary;

“design contest” means a competition, particularly in the fields of planning, architecture, civil engineering and data processing—

(a) which is conducted by or on behalf of a contracting authority and in which that contracting authority invites the entry by economic operators of plans and designs;

(b) under the rules of which the plans or designs entered will be judged by a jury;

(c) under which prizes may or may not be awarded; and

(d) which enables the contracting authority to acquire the use or ownership of plans or designs selected by the jury;

“disabled person” means any person recognised as disabled within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 19956and “disabled persons” shall be interpreted accordingly;

“disability” has the same meaning as in that Act;

“dynamic purchasing system” means a completely electronic system of limited duration which is—

(a) established by a contracting authority to purchase commonly used goods, work, works or services; and

(b) open throughout its duration for the admission of economic operators which—

(i) satisfy the selection criteria specified by the contracting authority; and

(ii) submit an indicative tender to the contracting authority or person operating the system on its behalf which complies with the specification required by that contracting authority or person;

“EC Treaty” means the Treaty establishing the European Community signed on 25 March 1957 as amended by the Community Treaties;

“economic operator” has the meaning given to it by regulation 4;

“electronic auction” means a repetitive electronic process for the presentation of prices to be revised downwards or of new and improved values of quantifiable elements of tenders, including price, which—

(a) takes place after the initial evaluation of tenders; and

(b) enables tenders to be ranked using automatic evaluation methods;

“electronic means” means using electronic equipment for the processing (including digital compression) and storage of data which is transmitted, conveyed and received by wire, by radio, by optical means or by other electromagnetic means;

“established” has the same meaning as in the Community Treaties:

“European standard” has the meaning given to it in regulation 9(1);

“financial year” means, unless the context otherwise requires, the period of 12 months ending on the date in any year in respect of which the accounts of any person are prepared;

“framework agreement” means an agreement or other arrangement between one or more contracting authorities and one or more economic operators which establishes the terms (in particular the terms as to price and, where appropriate, quantity) under which the economic operator will enter into one or more contracts with a contracting authority in the period during which the framework agreement applies;

“goods” includes electricity, substances, growing crops and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before the purchase or hire under a public supply contract, and any ship, aircraft or vehicle;

“government department” includes a Northern Ireland department or the head of that department;

“Government Procurement Agreement” means the Agreement on Government Procurement between certain parties to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) signed in Marrakesh on 15 April 19947;

“GPA” means the Government Procurement Agreement;

“indicative tender” means a tender prepared by an economic operator seeking admission to a dynamic purchasing system which sets out the terms on which it would be prepared to enter into a contract with a contracting authority should that contracting authority propose to award a contract under the system;

“international standard” has the meaning given to it in regulation 9(1);

“letter” has the same meaning as in the Postal Services Act 20008;

“Minister of the Crown” means the holder of an office in Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and includes the Treasury;

“national of a relevant State” means, in the case of a person who is not an individual, a person formed in accordance with the laws of a relevant State and which has its registered office, central administration or principal place of business in a relevant State;

“negotiated procedure” means a procedure leading to the award of a contract whereby the contracting authority negotiates the terms of the contract with one or more economic operators selected by it;

“Office of Government Commerce” means the office of the Treasury having that title9;

“Official Journal” means the Official Journal of the European Union;

“open procedure” means a procedure leading to the award of a contract whereby all interested economic operators may tender for the contract;

“prior information notice” means a notice sent to the Official Journal in accordance with regulation 11;

“public contract” means a public services contract, a public supply contract or a public works contract;

Public Sector Directive” means Directive 2004/18/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 200410;

“public services contract” means a contract, in writing, for consideration (whatever the nature of the consideration) under which a contracting authority engages a person to provide services but does not include—

(a) a public works contract; or

(b) a public supply contract;

but a contract for both goods and services shall be considered to be a public services contract if the value of the consideration attributable to those services exceeds that of the goods covered by the contract and a contract for services which includes activities specified in Schedule 2 that are only incidental to the principal object of the contract shall be considered to be a public services contract;

“public supply contract” means a contract, in writing, for consideration (whatever the nature of the consideration)—

(a) for the purchase of goods by a contracting authority (whether or not the consideration is given in instalments and whether or not the purchase is conditional upon the occurrence of a particular event), or

(b) for the hire of goods by a contracting authority (both where the contracting authority becomes the owner of the goods after the end of the period of hire and where it does not);

and for any siting or installation of those goods, but where under such a contract services are also...

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