Procurement Policy Note 04/15: taking account of suppliers’ past performance · first published 25 March 2015
This Procurement Policy Note (PPN 04/15) requires in-scope central-government buyers to consider how suppliers have performed on past contracts as part of assessing their technical and professional ability. It incorporates requirements from the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The rules apply from 1 April 2015 to stand-alone public contracts and framework agreements where a contract notice had not yet been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) at that date. For a small business, this means your track record — good or bad — can be examined and used as a selection criterion. Equally, it gives well-performing SMEs a formal route to demonstrate their reliability.
WHO THIS APPLIES TO
THE ENKII VIEW
This PPN creates both a risk and an opportunity for SMEs. If you have a strong delivery record, this policy gives you a structured way to evidence it and differentiate yourself from competitors who may look similar on price or capability alone. Conversely, any poor past performance — including contract terminations or KPI failures — could be used to exclude you at the selection stage, so proactively managing your delivery reputation is now more important than ever. The detail on exactly which contract values and categories are in scope sits in paragraphs 5 and 6 of the full PDF, which was not available for full parsing.
1. Build and maintain a 'performance evidence pack': collect KPI (Key Performance Indicator) reports, client sign-off letters, completion certificates and references from every public-sector contract you deliver, so you can produce them quickly at the selection stage.
All SMEs bidding for central-government contracts — Buyers must now formally assess past performance as part of technical and professional ability; having ready evidence means you can respond confidently to any past-performance questionnaire.
2. If you have had a difficult contract in the past, prepare a short, honest written account of what went wrong, what you did to fix it, and what processes you changed — and include it proactively in your selection-stage response.
All SMEs bidding for central-government contracts — Poor past performance can be used to exclude suppliers; a credible remediation narrative can mitigate this risk under the technical and professional ability assessment.
3. Seek sub-contracting or consortium roles on current public contracts to begin building a verifiable delivery record before bidding as a prime contractor.
SMEs new to public-sector bidding or with a thin track record — Because reliability 'as demonstrated by how it performed in past contracts' is now a formal selection criterion, having no public-sector track record is a competitive disadvantage.
4. Ask your contract manager for a formal mid-contract or end-of-contract performance review in writing, even if one is not routinely offered — this creates documented evidence of good performance.
All SMEs currently delivering public contracts — The PPN embeds past performance as an ongoing selection gate; written client assessments are the most credible form of evidence at future bid stages.
Every rule below quotes the official document verbatim.
The PPN applies to all in-scope stand-alone public contracts and framework agreements for which a contract notice had not yet been published in the OJEU as of 1 April 2015. (In-scope central-government contracts and framework agreements, from 1 April 2015)
“This PPN applies from 1 April 2015 for all in-scope stand-alone public contracts and framework agreements (as set out in paragraphs 5 and 6 of the note) for which a contract notice has not yet been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.”
Suppliers' past performance is treated as one aspect of their technical and professional ability, which buyers must assess when selecting suppliers to bid. (All in-scope procurements covered by this PPN)
“One aspect of a supplier's technical and professional ability is its reliability as demonstrated by how it performed in past contracts.”
Only suppliers with the necessary technical and professional ability — including a satisfactory past performance record — should be selected to bid. (All in-scope procurements covered by this PPN)
“suppliers with the necessary technical and professional ability should be selected to bid for contracts.”
The PPN incorporates the new requirements introduced by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. (All in-scope central-government procurements from 1 April 2015)
“This Procurement Policy Note (PPN) incorporates new Public Contracts Regulations 2015 requirements and sets out how government ensures that suppliers' past performance is taken into account in certain procurements.”
This briefing is enkii's interpretation of the official document — the official text always governs.
Source document © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0 via the GOV.UK Content API. enkii tracks every Procurement Policy Note and briefs changes the day they land — see all briefings.