Defence Equipment Support
class="gem-c-govspeak govuk-govspeak gem-c-govspeak--direction-ltr govuk-!-margin-bottom-0">
The Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) came into effect on 24 February 2025; the DSPCR guidance chapters are therefore no longer being maintained and the policy must not be applied to new procurements from this date. Please seeCabinet Office PA 2023 Guidancefor current guidance.
The Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations (DSPCR) 2011 implemented the European Union (EU) Defence and Security Procurement Directive into United Kingdom (UK) law. They came into force on 21 August 2011.
The DSPCR is retained EU law by virtue of section 2 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. This means that the regulations will remain in place and continue to have effect after 31 December 2020 (Transition Period completion day) in the UK.
However, the DSPCR has been amended by two Statutory Instruments to ensure the rules continues to operate effectively after the UK leaves the EU. Those Statutory Instruments are: The Defence and Security Public Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 and The Defence and Security Public Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020. After 31 December 2020, the DSPCR are national regulations which sit outside the Directive.
Important note, the current Chapter 4 guidance on Exemptions and Exclusions replaces two documents that previously covered the subjects separately. There is therefore no guidance entitled Chapter 5.