Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023

38 Procurement strategy

(1) A contracting authority must prepare a strategy (a “procurement strategy”) setting out how the authority intends to carry out public procurement.

(2) A procurement strategy must, in particular—

(a) state how the authority intends to ensure that it will carry out public procurement in a socially responsible way in accordance with section 24(1);

(b) state how the authority intends to take all reasonable steps to meet its socially responsible procurement objectives when it carries out public procurement in relation to any prescribed contract;

(c) state how the authority intends to make payments due under a contract promptly and, unless this is not reasonably practicable, no later than 30 days after an invoice (or similar claim) is submitted.

(3) The Welsh Ministers may by regulations amend subsection (2)—

(a) to specify other matters which procurement strategies must address;

(b) to reduce the number of days mentioned in subsection (2)(c).

(4) A contracting authority must—

(a) review its procurement strategy each financial year,

(b) make any revisions that the authority considers appropriate from time to time, and

(c) publish the strategy, and any revision, as soon as reasonably practicable after it has been prepared or revised.

(5) Two or more contracting authorities may fulfil their obligations under this section by preparing a joint procurement strategy.