The European Procurement Regulations and UK implementation of the same generally do not draw any distinction between the procurement of technology and other goods and services. The same rules and principles therefore apply to the public procurement of technology, which could involve both contracts for the supply of goods (hardware and commercial off-the-shelf-software) and/or contracts for services (bespoke software or managed services). One distinctive feature of the industry, however, is the common use of framework agreements.
There are additional policies and procedure to be observed when procuring technology, given the large scale of public-sector technology projects and the complexity and risk that often accompanies them. ICT procurement projects in central civil government are subject to a review by an independent team in the Cabinet Office.
The UK government requires contracting authorities to pro-actively publish all ICT contracts concluded by central government departments above a low financial threshold. The publication is subject to redactions justified by exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act. There is specific government guidance on ICT contracting and a specific model contract to use as a starting point.
Yes. The Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 apply to the defence sector. These implement the Defence and Security Procurement Directive 2009/81/EC. The Regulations give defence procurers greater freedom to use the negotiated procedure with prior publication of a contract notice (known as the "competitive negotiated procedure") as well as the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice (i.e. a direct award).
Yes. The National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013. These apply to the procurement of "health-related services" and "social care services". Broadly, this means all healthcare and social services. An important exception to this is the supply of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, which fall under the PCR 2015.