The government is committed to delivering on its priorities of supporting UK businesses and industry, decarbonisation and driving economic growth. The UK steel sector plays an important role in our economy, providing high quality steel products and helping to deliver our country’s infrastructure. The manufacturing of basic iron and steel supports around 39,000 well-paid jobs in steel production and a further 60,000 jobs in upstream supply chains across many important parts of the UK economy (Nomis, 2021). The public sector is an important buyer of steel, procuring it both directly and indirectly, to build critical infrastructure such as our railways, roads, buildings, defence equipment, schools and hospitals.
In March 2021, the government launched the Steel Procurement Taskforce, bringing together representatives from across the UK government, the six major steel companies in the UK, as well as UK Steel, the sector’s trade association, trade unions and the devolved administrations. The taskforce worked collaboratively to explore how the steel sector could best position itself to compete successfully in an open and transparent public procurement market. The final report, published in February 2022, recommended the development of new technologies, improvement of data, and the promotion of greater transparency.
This guidance forms part of Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 010. It reflects changes to commercial best practice, commercial policy and business case appraisals since 2016 and clarifies the scope of reporting requirements on steel origin data.
Source: UK Government: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ppn-010-procuring-steel-in-government-contracts/ppn-010-revised-guidance-on-procuring-steel-in-government-contracts-html