PPN 03/23 – A new Standard Selection Questionnaire from 1 April 2023

PPN 03/23, published 9 March, introduces a new Standard Selection Questionnaire (“SQ”) to be used for all new procurements subject to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

This replaces PPN 08/16, and must be used for all new procurements starting on or after 1 April 2023 (although Contracting Authorities are welcome to use it earlier than that if they wish).

This new SQ is broken down into three parts:

1. General Information regarding the potential supplier
2. Self-declarations regarding any applicable mandatory or discretionary exclusion grounds
3. Questions regarding the potential supplier’s economic and financial standing

Part 3 does not apply to commissioners (NHS England or Integrated Care Boards) when commissioning services under the National Health Services (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No.2) Regulations 2013.

The PPN itself (PPN-03_23-Standard-Selection-Questionnaire-SQ.odt (live.com)) sets out the changes that this new version introduces. These include:

• clarity on changes contracting authorities can make to the wording of questions
• clarity on what is meant by “relying on another organisation” to meet the selection criteria
• clarity for contracting authorities on seeking information from groups of suppliers
• amendments to financial questions and checks
• introduction of health and safety questions
• introduction of supply chains questions
• introduction of data protection questions
• introduction of additional requirements for modern slavery and clarity on handling responses to questions on the Modern Slavery Act
• introduction of questions related to reducing carbon emissions
• introduction of updated payment questions; and
• formatting the SQ template responses to Part 2 (exclusion) questions as self-declarations rather than yes/no answers

These changes will have an impact on both contracting authorities and potential suppliers. Entities bidding for public contracts will need to familiarise themselves with these new questions, and may wish to consider the guidance around evaluation.

Those conducting public procurements will need to consider how these new questions should be assessed and any adaptations to be made to upcoming procurements.

Please contact us via the links below should you wish to discuss how we can help you on the application of the new selection questionnaire to your procurement.

Find out more about how the procurement team can help you here.