Government preparing no-deal Brexit OJEU alternative

The government is preparing a UK-specific notification service for public-sector procurement opportunities to replace the OJEU/TED system in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Currently public-sector contracts above a certain threshold are advertised across the European Union through the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and Tenders Electronic Daily (TED).

The Cabinet Office said it was making preparations for a homegrown service if the UK leaves the EU in March 2019 with no deal in place regarding future arrangements on access to OJEU/TED.

All contract opportunities that would currently be published on OJEU/TED would be published on the new UK e-notification service in line with the current requirements to send notices to the EU Publications Office, it said.

Publication would be electronic and free to all users.

Contracting authorities would need to ensure notices were published on the UK e-notification service rather than OJEU/TED and the requirement to advertise in Contracts Finder, MOD Defence Contracts Online, Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales and eTendersNI would remain.

The Cabinet Office said that suppliers would be able to access the new service from the day the UK left the EU, with access to all other domestic portals remaining the same.