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Practice: Nuclear power – the gift to procurement lawyers that keeps on giving

Helen Prandy, Jenny Beresford-Jones and Ruth Smith consider the impact of NDA v EnergySolutions ‘On top of the costs of the procurement itself this matter has had a significant impact on the public purse.’ One of the highest profile public procurement challenges brought over the past year is the case of Nuclear Decommissioning Authority v …
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Compliance: Corruption et corruption

Thomas Webb and Georges-Louis Harang weigh up Anglo/French anti-bribery legislation ‘Sapin II creates inflexible, binding obligations which must be met, under the supervision of an administrative authority, and new offences and penalties in case of any failure.’ The UK Bribery Act 2010 came into force on 1 July 2011, creating for businesses operating in the …
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Contracting: Is it a bird, is it a plane, no…

Richard Hough outlines recent judicial guidance on the clarification of tenders ‘To allow a late entry of a key part of the tender submission in order to provide clarification would in effect be a confidential negotiation with one bidder, and a breach of the contracting authority’s duty of equal treatment.’Clarification of tender submissions can be …
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Tendering: Pay your money, take your choice

Emily Heard reviews the legal considerations governing price/quality evaluations ‘The guiding principle is that the methodology must identify the most economically advantageous tender. If it does not, there is a risk of challenge.’ In the current economic climate, establishing a price/quality evaluation model that delivers the right level of quality at the best possible price …
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Housing: Where the heart is

Peter Kershaw highlights the need for investment planning to address the housing requirements of the disabled and elderly ‘Despite evidence illustrating the need for more housing schemes to cater for disabled residents of all ages, and for the elderly, housing associations’ and local authorities’ consideration of these groups in society still often only tends to …
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Management: A ‘state o’ chassis’

Chris Hoyle investigates how to manage procurement crises ‘The best cure comes from the most accurate diagnosis. Getting your assessment of the situation right means that you can make the most effective response to a crisis.’The history of the world is littered with failures; some heroic like Dunkirk and others inglorious like Chernobyl. Procurement is …
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Letters Of Intent: Cautious correspondence

Claire King considers the benefits and pitfalls of letters of intent ‘Perhaps the most common argument running through the cases is whether any binding contract has been reached as a result of the letter of intent.’ The use of letters of intent can be fraught with difficulty. In this article I review the key case …
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Judicial Review: Standing tall

Stephen Sellers reports on recent case law on the ‘standing’ to apply for judicial review ‘The question of councillors standing for local authorities when bringing judicial review proceedings to procurement cases is ripe for consideration by the Court of Appeal, following the different outcomes in the Gottlieb and Wylde cases.’ In the recent case of …
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Brexit: (Un)happy endings

Graeme Young, Caroline Hobson and Ruth Derruau assess a potential Brexit pitfall ‘Where authorities seek to extend contracts and are not able to rely on one of the Reg 72 grounds, they are likely to be acting unlawfully, in breach of UK law.’The Financial Times (FT) recently reported that (10 April 2017): … hundreds of government contracts …
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Update: Seeing the Wood for the trees

Rebecca Williams and David Wright examine a recent Supreme Court judgment ‘The judgment in Wood is a reaffirmation that the court will use all the tools available to it to seek to understand the meaning of the wording in a contract, using the text itself, but also the wider contract and commercial intention of the …
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