Regulation 21 Conflicts of interest

(1)

A relevant authority must take appropriate measures to effectively prevent, identify and remedy conflicts of interest arising in the conduct of procurement processes under these Regulations.

(2)

For the purposes of paragraph (1)—

(a)

the concept of conflicts of interest includes any situation where an individual has, directly or indirectly, a financial, economic or other personal interest which might be perceived to compromise their impartiality and independence in the context of the procurement process, and

(b)

in particular, any such individual is required to recuse themselves from the decision-making process of that procurement process.

(3)

Subject to paragraph (4), where the relevant authority is an integrated care board^f1, an individual being both—

(a)

a member of that integrated care board, and

(b)

an employee, director, partner or otherwise holding a position within a provider,

does not in itself create a conflict or potential conflict of interest.

(4)

Where the relevant authority is an integrated care board, and is following the Competitive Process to award a contract or conclude a framework agreement, an individual who is both—

(a)

a member of that integrated care board, and

(b)

an employee, director, partner or otherwise holding a position within a provider who is taking part in the procurement process,

is required to recuse themselves from the decision-making process.

(5)

In this regulation, “member of an integrated care board” means the chair, the chief executive or an ordinary member of an integrated care board as specified in the constitution of the integrated care board as a member of that board.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: “Integrated care board” is defined in section 275(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006 (the definition was inserted by paragraph 132 of Schedule 4 to the Health and Care Act 2022).