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Legal webinar highlights and pipeline notices reminder

The Hub held its fourth legal training webinar in partnership with experts from Mills and Reeve. The session covered practical topics, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in procurement and recent case law developments. On another note, a reminder to publish your pipeline notices by 26 May 2026 for contracts over £2 m planned within the next 18 months.

To the left - a photo of Ruth, to the right - Legal Update by Ruth McColl, LLM, Assistant Director of Procurement
Information:

Written by Ruth McColl LLM, Assistant Director of Procurement, Corporate, Clinical and Regulation.

On our latest Mills & Reeve webinar we were joined by Ana Lelliott and Jenny Beresford-Jones for a public procurement update covering the use of AI in procurement as well as a case law update. It was an informative session which provided practical considerations for our members.

A key takeaway on AI was to ensure you plan for any use of it within your procurement process. While there is often a focus on how suppliers are using AI during their bid, it can sometimes be forgotten that there is also a need for the procuring organisation to be transparent in how they may or are using AI through the process too. Ana highlighted the need to consider it early in the process, during the plan and define stage. The riskiest area to use AI is within the evaluation stage, but that does not mean there aren’t benefits in using in other areas.

Jenny also discussed the first judgement under the Procurement Act in which the court ruled to hold the automatic standstill period for a contract, noting where the Procurement Act has some different terms to that of the Public Contracts Regulations (PCR). This first judgment is a significant development and it will be important to monitor how other cases brought under the Act differ from the judgements we are used to under PCR.

If you wish to discuss your organisation’s use of AI in procurement, or ask any questions on recent court cases, then please get in touch: [email protected].

Pipeline notices reminder

On another note, many of you will have already published your Pipeline Notices. If not, please note the deadline of 26 May 2026.

You must publish a notice for any contract over £2 m that you plan to award within the next 18 months. This applies to contracts awarded under the Procurement Act.

You can find more information about notices and when to publish them on our website.

Further training sessions

We have opened registration for our next Mills & Reeve legal training session, which will take place on 15 July.

Members can register to attend on our website: Legal training programme with Mills and Reeve – session five