The European Commission has released its updated public procurement thresholds that applies to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) from 1 January 2020. Every two years, the European Commission updates the financial thresholds at which the EU Directives apply.
The Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 set out specific procedures for awarding contracts in excess of the threshold values. Generally, when the value of a contract exceeds the thresholds (see below), it is a mandatory requirement that you publish a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (an OJEU notice).
The updated thresholds below will apply until 31 December 2021:
| Supply, Services and Design Contracts | Works Contracts | Social and Other Specific Services | |
| Contracting Authorities | £189,330 | £4,733,252 | £663,540 |
Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014
The updated thresholds above will not affect the rules implemented by the Procurement Reform (Scotland) 2014 Act. This Act provides that any contracts over £50,000 (for goods and services) or £2 million (for works) must be advertised on the Public Contracts Scotland website. An award notice must also be published on the website when an RSL awards a contract with a value that exceeds the 2014 thresholds.
Brexit
How will Brexit affect this? The Government has transposed the EU procurement Directives (2014/24/EU) into UK law in the form of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and others. The rules will still apply but the thresholds are in question as the UK will be deciding these from 1 January 2021.
If you would like to find out more about the new public procurement thresholds please contact a member of our team.
