The Cabinet Office has published new measures to increase the visibility of subcontracting opportunities in Government supply chains and to provide greater visibility of supply chain spend.

The measures set out in the Crown Commercial Service Procurement Policy Note apply to all central Government Departments, their Executive Agencies and Non Departmental Public Bodies.

The organisations must draw it to the attention of those with a commercial and procurement role and apply the provisions in new procurements commencing from 1 May 2018

The Government wants to level the playing field and increase the visibility of supply chain opportunities to assist suppliers, including SMEs, in bidding for work in its supply chains.

In addition, the Government wants to have greater visibility of spend with SMEs in its supply chains.

For all new procurements valued above £5 million per annum commencing from 1 May 2018 which are subject to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, all In-Scope organisations must update their terms and conditions to include clauses requiring the successful prime supplier(s) to

advertise subcontract opportunities arising from that contract above a minimum subcontract threshold of £25,000.

They will also have to separately report on how much they spend on subcontracting, and separately how much they spend directly with SME or VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) organisations in the delivery of the original contract.

Their prime suppliers will in turn need to monitor the number, type and value of subcontract opportunities advertised and awarded on the Contracts Finder platform during the life of the contract.

Click here to download the Guidance