Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether plans in the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy, published in March 2021 to reform the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations as part of the broader government review of procurement regulations will include the incorporation of new transparency procedures in the Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement, published in December 2020.
Answer
The Ministry of Defence is part of the Cabinet Office led programme seeking to reform the UK’s public procurement regime, with a proposal to rationalise the current Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations (DSPCR) within a new single, uniform set of rules for all contract awards.
As recognised in the Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement, there may be a need to adopt different rules in specific sectors or to protect our national interest. We recognise the importance of transparency for demonstrating confidence in the integrity of the process and encouraging suppliers to participate in defence procurements, but no decisions have yet been taken on which new transparency procedures will apply to defence procurements.