Law and Practice of Procurement in Scotland

This text provides practical guidance on Scottish public procurement rules for practising lawyers and public procurement officers. The book examines the procurement process step-by-step from the point of identifying which rules apply to a given entity through to the award and modification of public contracts. Each chapter considers a different stage in that process and the particular rules and common issues and challenges that can arise at each stage.

There is now significant divergence between Scotland and the rest of the UK, for example:

• The new Procurement Act 2023 will apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but only in Scotland in respect of non-devolved procurement
• There are separate Scottish procurement rules for 'below threshold' procurements covered in the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and the Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016
• The existing EU-derived procurement rules will continue to apply in Scotland in respect of 'devolved procurement' (pertaining to the Scottish Government, local government, and government agencies, 'Scottish' utilities etc.)
• In respect of devolved procurement law, the Scottish courts might be expected to take more account of EU court judgments, since the EU courts will be interpreting the language of the instruments from which devolved procurement law is derived. English courts will stop interpreting equivalent provisions (having moved on to the Act), we can expect Scottish courts to take progressively less account of English interpretation going forward when the Scottish Courts are applying devolved procurement rules
• There are a number of distinctions between the English and Scottish regimes, in particular the application of 'general principles' and rules concerning procedures, but also different approaches to procedural requirements of initiating litigation
• There will continue to be differential guidance and national policy statements