WIREDGOV

The UK will leave the EU on 31 January when we enter a transition period until 31 December.

The Welsh Government has worked with the UK government and other stakeholders to help ensure that the way the public sector procures is largely unchanged during the transition period. Procurement rules are the same and thresholds will not change as a result of us leaving the EU. Thresholds changed on 1 January for all EU members and we will continue to adhere to this change during the transition period.

After the transition period, notices of new contracts will be published on a UK E-notification service called Find a Tender Service (FTS) instead of the European OJEU/Tenders Electronic Daily (TED). This will continue to be done via Sell2Wales, so should make very little noticeable difference to users.

The transition period was agreed to allow the UK and the EU to agree a deal on their future relationship. If the UK government is unable to reach a deal, there is still a risk of effectively leaving the EU without a deal.

During the transition period, Welsh Government will:

• Work to help ensure Wales’ interests are represented as the UK government negotiates procurement chapters in Free Trade Agreements. These procurement chapters will determine the procurement rules and reciprocal access for businesses to access public sector contracts. 
• Work on maximising flexibilities for Wales which may arise for procurement as a result of leaving the EU.
• Continue to ensure appropriate procurement legislation is in place at the end of the transition period.

We will continue to regularly update public sector buyers throughout the transition period. If you have any questions or comments, please get in touch by emailing the team: brexitprocurement@gov.wales