Commentary on Sections General duties Section 8 – General duties
18.Section 8(1) introduces a requirement on contracting authorities, when undertaking regulated procurement, to treat all “relevant economic operators” equally and without discrimination, to act transparently in terms of their procurement activities and to ensure that any actions and decisions a contracting authority takes are proportionate in relation to the contract(s) in question (although see section 11 on supported businesses, section 12 on health or social care services contracts and section 14 on other circumstances in which a contract can be awarded without competition).
19.Section 8(2) places a requirement on a contracting authority to comply with the sustainable procurement duty (see section 9). However section 8(3) states that in complying with the sustainable procurement duty, a contracting authority may not act in a way which conflicts with its duty under section 8(1). Section 8(4) defines “relevant economic operator”.