ARTICLE
18 December 2024

Public Procurement - Horizon Scanner: Infrastructure, Construction, Energy, December 2024

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Arthur Cox

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Arthur Cox is one of Ireland’s leading law firms. For almost 100 years, we have been at the forefront of developments in the legal profession in Ireland. Our practice encompasses all aspects of corporate and business law. The firm has offices in Dublin, Belfast, London, New York and Silicon Valley.
The revised Construction Products Regulation has been approved by the Council. It provides harmonised rules on the placing or making available on the market of construction products.
European Union Government, Public Sector

EU

Construction Products Regulation

The revised Construction Products Regulation has been approved by the Council. It provides harmonised rules on the placing or making available on the market of construction products. The update is intended to improve its effectiveness and align it with the EU Green Deal, for example by laying down rules for declaring the environmental and sustainability performance of products.

As regards public procurement, the Commission will be empowered to adopt implementing acts specifying minimum mandatory environmental sustainability requirements for procurement of construction products, in order to incentivise the supply and demand for environmentally sustainable products.

Once the Regulation is published in the Official Journal of the EU, it will enter into force 20 days later. Further information on the new Construction Products Regulation is available here.

Renovating Europe's Buildings

An alert on funding opportunities to support sustainable development is made available by the European Committee of the Regions, available here. It includes reference to a handbook on how to accelerate renovation in Europe's buildings and strengthen collaboration, particularly through public-private partnerships.

IRELAND

Public Works Contracts

The Office of Government Procurement published amended template documents for the procurement of Works Contractors. It indicates that the amendments are made to improve formatting, streamline documents, and ensure compliance with EU regulations. Further information is available here.

UK

Procurement Act 2023

The UK's Procurement Act 2023 will come into force on 24 February 2025 and will replace the existing procurement statutory framework in the UK. The latest set of regulations made under the Act, the Procurement Act 2023 (Consequential and Other Amendments) Regulations 2025, will amend the Act to update threshold amounts, reflect additional commitments the UK Government has made to international obligations as regards procurement, provide additional provisions on exempted contracts, and make several other changes including amendments to other legislation required by the Act coming into force.

Guidance

The Cabinet Office published two sets of guidance:

  • PPN 015: Taking account of a supplier's approach to payment in the procurement of major contracts, and
  • PPN 018: Taking account of a supplier's approach to payment in the procurement of major contracts. This will replace PPN 015 from 1 October 2025.

This article contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.

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