Part 4: Management of public contracts Notices about payments and performance Section 71: Assessment of contract performance
Subsection (1) provides that subsection (2) applies where a contracting authority has set key performance indicators under section 52(1) (key performance indicators).
	Subsection (2) requires that at least annually during the lifetime of the contract and on termination of the contract, the contracting authority must assess the suppliers’ performance against the key performance indicators and publish certain information in relation to that assessment. That information is to be specified in regulations made under section 95 (notices, documents and information: regulations and online system).
	Subsections (3) and (4) set out the circumstances in which subsection (5) applies. These are the same circumstances which trigger the discretionary exclusion ground for breach of contract and poor performance, as set out in Schedule 7. These are, firstly, when a supplier has breached a public contract, resulting in any of the following: the termination or partial termination of the contract; the award of damages; or a settlement agreement between the supplier and the contracting authority. Secondly, where a contracting authority considers that a supplier is not performing a public contract to the authority’s satisfaction, has been given proper opportunity to improve performance, but has failed to do so.
	Subsection (5) sets out the consequences of the occurrence of any of the events in subsections (3) or (4). Where any of these take place, a contracting authority must publish a notice stating that this subsection applies, as well as the circumstances giving rise to that fact, and any other information specified in regulations made under section 95 (notices, documents and information: regulations and online system). The notice must be published within 30 days of the day on which this subsection first applied.
	Subsection (6) exempts light touch contracts from the publication obligations in subsection (5).
	Subsection (7) states that the entire section does not apply to private utilities.