Contract award and challenges

This practical guidance relates to the pre-Procurement Act 2023 regime

This subtopic contains a range of resources for contracting authorities conducting a public procurement exercise commenced before the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) came into force on 24 February 2025. In-scope procurements begun on or after this date are governed by PA 2023. Under the transitional and savings provisions for PA 2023, the previous regimes continue to apply to the extent necessary to allow contracting authorities to complete and manage procurements commenced before PA 2023 came into force (ie ongoing procurements).

This subtopic considers matters that a contracting authority conducting an ongoing procurement will need to address once it reaches its decision on contract award, with particular focus on public procurement procedures under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102. It also examines some of the issues the parties may encounter after a contract has been awarded, for instance in the event of a subsequent modification or legal challenge.

This overview focuses on the law and principles applicable under the pre-PA 2023 regime. For guidance on

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Public Law weekly highlights—14 August 2025

This week’s edition of Public Law weekly highlights includes a hand-picked summary of news analysis, legal updates and case law from the world of public law. Key updates this week include the Supreme Court’s decision in the first court challenge to sanctions imposed under the UK’s Russia sanctions regime, details of the expedited ratification of the UK-France migration Treaty, plus analysis on AI in government and public policy. These highlights also include the latest updates on equality and human rights, judicial review, information law, international law and other public law news.

Supreme Court rules on first Russia sanctions challenge (Shvidler v Foreign Secretary)

Corporate Crime analysis: The court held (in a majority judgment (4:1)) that sanctions imposed by the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (the Foreign Secretary) on Mr Shvidler, and (in a unanimous judgment) that sanctions imposed by the Secretary of State for Transport (the Transport Secretary) on a yacht (M/Y Phi) owned by Dalston Projects, in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, were—despite their acknowledged interference with the appellants’ rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, proportionate and lawful. In a strong dissent, however, Lord Leggatt deprecated the decision of the majority in Mr Shvidler’s case, finding that the sanctions against him, as a UK citizen, were disproportionate and hence unlawful. Of broader application in a public law context, the court departed from the Court of Appeal on the question of the approach to proportionality cases by an appellate court. Written by Kerri McGuigan, senior associate and Liam Lane, associate at Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP.

Speech by Lord Sales on regulatory approaches to AI in public administration

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