OGC announces tightening of penalties for public procurement abuses

On 30 April 2009, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) launched its 12-week long second-stage consultation on the implementation in UK law of the new Remedies Directive (Council Directive 2007/66/EC).

These new rules, due to come into force on 20 December 2009, will open up the possibility of contracts being set aside by the High Court on public procurement grounds. This raises the public procurement stakes and effectively passes on some of the risk of non-compliance to successful contractors.

Read Wragge & Co's analysis for a concise summary of the new rules and their implications for procuring bodies and contractors.