Laura Thornton
Laura is a Senior Associate in Bird & Bird's public procurement team.
Laura has a wide range of experience acting for public bodies in relation to regulated procurement. Laura supports clients to design and run tender processes, providing practical and pragmatic advice.
Laura also advises clients bidding in to public sector bodies, providing legal and strategic advice on public procurement. Laura has a depth and range of experience at all stages of procurement processes that allows her to identify practical and persuasive public procurement solutions.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 2012
Experience
- Osborne Clarke (2022 - 2025)
- Broadfield (2010 - 2022)
Membership
- Procurement Lawyers Association
Qualifications
- LLB, 2008
- MSc (Global Ethics), 2004
- BA (Theology), 2003
Education
- University of Law, 2008 - 2010
- University of Birmingham, 2000 - 2004
1 Contributions by Laura Thornton
CHECKLISTS
Procurement Act 2023 Special Regime and Below-Threshold Contracts: Checklist of Thresholds, Derogations and Exemptions for Concession, Defence and Security, Light Touch and Utilities
This guidance sits within the Procurement Act 2023 framework and focuses on public procurement under the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023). New in-scope procurements must run under PA 2023. For background on the regime, see Practice Note: Introduction to the Procurement Act 2023-PA 2023. Procurements launched before PA 2023 began on 24 February 2025 remain under the prior legislation-the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, SI 2015/102; the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, SI 2016/274; the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016, SI 2016/273; and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011, SI 2011/1848. For headline differences from the old regime, see Checklist: Procurement Act 2023-key changes. For transitional details, see Practice Note: Procurement Act 2023 transitional and saving arrangements-PA 2023.
Special regime contracts
This Checklist gives a quick reference to the core features of special regime contracts under PA 2023. PA 2023, s 10(6) defines a special regime contract as:
a concession contract (see PA 2023, s 8)
a defence and security contract (see PA 2023, s 7)
a light touch contract (see PA 2023, s 9)...
Public Law
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