Part 3: Award of public contracts and procedures Debarment Section 60: Investigations of supplier: exclusion grounds
Subsection (1) provides powers for appropriate authorities (a Minister of the Crown or Welsh Ministers or Northern Ireland department) to investigate whether an exclusion ground applies to a supplier and whether the circumstances giving rise to the ground are likely to recur or are continuing. These investigatory powers are for the purpose of a Minister of the Crown considering whether a supplier should be added to the debarment list. Any supplier may be investigated, including overseas suppliers, sub-contractors, and suppliers which have never bid for or been awarded a public contract. This includes, but is not limited to, suppliers brought to the attention of an appropriate authority by a contracting authority via a notification under section 59 (notification of exclusion of supplier).
	Subsection (2) places a duty on a Minister of the Crown to keep under review whether particular suppliers or sub-contractors should be investigated, having regard to the fact that contracting authorities may be awarding public contracts to suppliers that are themselves (or their sub-contractors are) excludable suppliers by virtue of the discretionary exclusion ground relating to national security (see paragraph 14 of Schedule 7).
	Subsection (3) provides an obligation on the appropriate authority to tell the supplier of any relevant exclusion grounds for which they are under investigation, how and when the supplier can respond to the authority and any other information specified in regulations made under section 95 (notices, documents and information: regulations and online system).
	Subsection (4) allows for the appropriate authority to require information or assistance from a contracting authority to support the investigation by issuing a notice to the authority.
	Subsection (5) provides that contracting authorities must comply with the notice within whatever deadline is set in the notice.
	Subsections (6) and (7) allow for the appropriate authority to request information or assistance from the supplier or connected persons to support the investigation by issuing a notice. The notice must set out the potential consequences for the supplier of not complying with the request - which are that the supplier may be subject to the mandatory ground at Schedule 6, paragraph 43 in relation to "failure to cooperate with investigation".
	Subsection (8) defines the terms "relevant documents" and "relevant exclusion grounds".