An important announcement from the Cabinet Office to Local Government members and others involved in public procurement. A new standard selection questionnaire has been published by the Cabinet Office and must be implemented over the next 3 and a half weeks. Or, if you wish, immediately.
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•    The statutory guidance and standard selection questions have been revised. The changes include:

•    clarity on changes contracting authorities can make to the wording of questions (Annex A, paragraphs 9, 13, 42, and 43);

•    clarity on what is meant by “relying on another organisation” to meet the selection criteria (Annex A, paragraph 30);

•    clarity for contracting authorities on seeking information from groups of suppliers (Annex A, paragraphs 54-57);

•    amendments to financial questions and checks (Annex A, paragraphs 58-61);

•    introduction of health and safety questions (Annex A, paragraphs 70-72);

•    introduction of supply chains questions (Annex A, paragraphs 66-67);

•    introduction of data protection questions (Annex A, paragraph 73);

•    introduction of additional requirements for modern slavery and clarity on handling responses to questions on the Modern Slavery Act (Annex A, paragraph 78);

•    introduction of questions related to reducing carbon emissions (Annex A, paragraph 76);

•    introduction of updated payment questions (Annex A, paragraph 74); and

•    formatting the SQ template responses to part 2 (exclusion) questions as self-declarations rather than simple yes/no answers.

Contact us for a review. Dont let these changes qualify you out of a win.

PPN 03/23: Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)