In my recent post on Procurement Policy Note 7/17, I promised to report again once I had heard from the Cabinet Office. I was questioning paragraph 4 of the guidance, which said that, 

"Before concluding that an opportunity does not need to be advertised, In-scope organisations should consider whether the contract would have cross-border interest. This should be documented as part of the procurement records."

This paragraph seemed to suggest that the EU Treaty requirement still applied to contracts valued below the public procurement tendering threshold which had "cross border interest".

The Cabinet Office have said that this paragraph is correct and they are right - but only where the contract involves the provision of goods into Northern Ireland. Most contracting authorities will not need to consider this as their procurements will not involve purchasing goods for delivery into Northern Ireland. 

It would have been helpful for the PPN to have said this in the first place!