Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what procurement rules apply to a (a) devolved and (b) commissioning authority seeking to tender for the construction of lifeline ferries.

Reserved Public Procurement in the UK, as well as devolved Welsh and transferred Northern Ireland procurement, is regulated in the UK by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 and, in some cases, specific rules relating to specialist sectors.

While the provisions in these main regulations extend to the whole of the UK, they do not cover procurement by devolved Scottish authorities in respect of devolved matters. Legislation governing devolved Scottish procurement includes the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 in combination with the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.