The Department for International Trade has today (Wednesday
7 October) announced that British businesses will be able
to continue bidding for public sector contracts around the
world worth over £1.3 trillion a year, following extensive
engagement with WTO members.
At a meeting in Geneva, the Government Procurement
Agreement (GPA) Committee confirmed the United Kingdom can
join the GPA as an independent nation from 1 January 2021.
Previously the UK participated through membership of the
EU.
The agreement ensures UK businesses can compete fairly for
overseas procurement contracts. This will benefit a range
of British businesses from across the UK that work with
international governments.
For example, UK advertising agencies can continue to export
their services and remain competitive when bidding for
tourism, branding and inward investment promotion work in
other countries. Indeed, the GPA will continue to provide
opportunities for businesses in diverse sectors to secure
lucrative contracts from governments around the world. In
turn, this will allow British businesses to expand their
operations in the UK, supporting jobs and economic growth
at home.
This will provide British businesses with the certainty
they need to continue bidding for public sector contracts
overseas covered by the GPA, on the same terms as they do
now.
Overseas firms can also continue to bid for UK public
sector contracts covered by the GPA, delivering better
value for UK taxpayers, and today’s agreement will continue
to protect vital public services such as the NHS. It does
not, and will not cover healthcare services but will enable
continued access to vital resources like medical equipment,
cleaning and building management services at competitive
prices.
The GPA is an agreement between 20 Parties and 48 WTO
Members, including major economies such as the United
States, Canada, Australia, and Japan, which acts to open
government procurement markets among its participants.
International Trade Secretary said:
Today’s announcement will provide British businesses with
the certainty they need to continue bidding for £1.3
trillion worth of government procurement contracts
overseas, which will ultimately help deliver the growth
and jobs we need to recover from the economic challenges
of coronavirus.
It is another significant step towards re-establishing
Britain as a major force in global trade and a truly
independent trading nation.
The UK’s Permanent Representative to the WTO, ,
said:
Today’s decision is the result of two years of
negotiations in the WTO. We fought hard to gain
independent access to the GPA agreement, so that
businesses of all sizes and from all corners of the UK
can continue to benefit from this important deal.
Konrad Shek, Deputy Director, Policy & Regulation at
The Advertising Association said:
We believe independent membership of the GPA is a crucial
part of the UK’s future trade policy. It is important for
the UK to have continued fair and competitive access to
the estimated annual USD1.7 trillion public procurement
market that has been opened up under the GPA and have a
voice in shaping the rules that underpin the system.
For our sector, these rules can affect the
competitiveness of ad agencies that bid for branding,
tourism, education and inward investment promotion work.
For UK market and social research, which is the largest
per capita research business in the world a third of the
value of which is based upon export, it is essential that
UK research businesses can continue to access market,
opinion and social research government contracts and
public procurement opportunities via the GPA.
