Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
Poor quality of government's published contract data reduces transparency and hinders best practice.
Recommendation
The poor quality of much of government’s published data on contracts reduces transparency and makes it harder to identify and promote best practice. Better information would allow government to analyse how many contracts different departments award to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) or strategic suppliers. Public bodies are required to publish large amounts of information on prospective and awarded contracts. Basic information on which procurement route was used was missing for 6% of contracts recorded on Contracts Finder, one of two public contract databases, from 2018 to 2022. Information on other aspects of contracts is collected inconsistently between Contracts Finder and Find a Tender, and most departments do not consistently publish all contracts within the required time.11
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the recommendation, stating that new legal requirements under the Procurement Act will mandate data upload to a central digital platform by Spring 2025, with secondary legislation laid in Spring 2024 and supporting guidance to follow, addressing poor data quality and promoting transparency.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2025 Much of the requested data will now be required as standard as part of the Procurement Act. Contracting authorities will have clear legal requirements to upload information on procurements to the central digital platform within certain timescales, this includes publishing contract award notices for above threshold contracts (those generally above £213,000), contract details for contracts over £5 million, Key Performance Indicators for contracts over £5 million. This list is not exhaustive and will be achieved via the submission of notices within the system - simply put, if a contract authority does not upload a particular notice, it will be in breach of statutory requirements in a way that is not the case now. The requirements for notices will be set out via secondary legislation, expected to be laid in Spring 2024. The Cabinet Office will publish a range of guidance notes and provide learning and development materials setting out these requirements.