Of Policy Guidance and Support

Value Wales

Protocol for Provision of Policy Guidance and Support

1. Introduction There is now an agreement in place with the Cabinet Office that any request received from the Welsh public sector for support and guidance in respect of the application of EU procurement policy is directed for a response from Value Wales.

This paper sets out the protocol for requesting and providing this support from within Value Wales and will assist in developing a consistent understanding and interpretation of procurement policy related matters.

2. Responsibilities and Resources Within Value Wales, the Policy team is responsible for providing advice, guidance on procurement policy and legislative related matters. A record of all issues requiring guidance and support will be logged in a library at Value Wales.

3. Process The steps below set out the process that should be followed when advice and guidance on procurement policy is required:

3.1 Any officer requiring procurement policy support and guidance will submit a request using the template attached at Appendix A. 3.2 The library will be reviewed in the first instance to determine whether a similar request has been made and resolved previously. 3.3 If no previous request has been made a response will be prepared with the aim of communicating it within 5 working days, and added to the library. 3.4 If guidance has been previously issued, this will be reviewed to determine whether there have been any developments in the interpretation and application of policy in respect of the issue concerned. 3.5 If there have been no further developments, the library answer will be relayed. 3.6 If there have been further developments in respect of the issue raised, an updated response that reflects those developments will be prepared. The updated response will be added to the library. 3.7 Where appropriate, advice will be verified by the Cabinet Office. 3.8 In all instances, the team will use best endeavours to provide a complete response to the issue within 5 working days and requests for guidance should allow for this. Any delays will be advised. 3.9 Where relevant, guidance issued will be added to the Procurement Route Planner (in consultation with the Route Planner Content Management Group where necessary) to allow for wider dissemination of the information across the Welsh public sector. 3.10 All requests should be emailed directly to the central Policy Request mailbox – [email protected] Appendix A

Protocol for Provision of Policy Guidance and Support

Template for Requesting Guidance

Name of Officer Requesting Guidance Organisation Contact Details, including email address and phone number Description of Issue Provide details of the issue on which you require guidance – please make this as comprehensive as possible.

Date Response Required Unless extremely urgent, please allow 5 working days.

Once complete, please email this form to [email protected].