Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Public procurement definition

What does Public procurement mean? Public procurement is the regulated purchase of goods, services and works by public sector “contracting authorities” through competitive tendering. The term is used generically in practice and is also defined across procurement legislation. In England and Wales and Northern Ireland, the principal regime is the Procurement Act 2023 (supplemented in sectors such as health by the Provider Selection Regime). Above-threshold contracts must be advertised on Find a Tender, run under permitted procedures, and awarded in line with the core principles of transparency, equal treatment and proportionality, including applicable non-discrimination duties, with robust record-keeping and conflict management. Utilities, concessions and defence procurement...

Offset arrangements in defence and public procurement: assessing bribery risk under the UK Bribery Act 2010

Published by a LexisNexis Corporate Crime expert

Practice notes

Offset arrangements occur when a bidder must provide, or is offered, extra investment, payments, or other industrial, commercial, or economic advantages as a prerequisite of its tender, typically as part of a Public procurement arrangement or contract. Prevalent in the aerospace and defence sectors, these mechanisms are also known as offset agreements, industrial benefit, industrial participation, industrial co-operation, juste retour, or counter-trade. Buying states often insist on offsets to balance substantial Procurement outlay, or to secure access to advanced technology or employment opportunities. Numerous jurisdictions embed offsets within bid evaluation criteria and attribute considerable weight to them when scoring tenders at the award stage.

Types of offset arrangement—direct or indirect

Direct offset

A direct offset links straight to the principal contract, for example producing a component within the buyer’s Territory.

Indirect offset

An indirect offset arises when the supplier, or its government, must purchase or invest in activities not tied to the core deal. This might sit in the same sector or be wholly unconnected, yet still delivers alternative economic, industrial, or commercial advantages of value to the buyer state.

Acquisition of raw materials
A pledge to mobilise investment
Funding infrastructure

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Richard Furlong

Mountford Chambers

Richard Furlong was called to the bar in 1994. He was previously employed as an Investment analyst and worked in the financial services sector between 1986 and 1992. Richard has a mixed criminal and civil practice with a particular interest in fraud, corruption and money laundering, confiscation proceedings and other white collar crimes. He is regularly briefed to defend solicitors, accountants, financial advisors and other professionals. Richard is a highly regarded author of a number of publications relating to fraud and financial matters and is a current contributor to the Lexis®PSL Bribery and Corruption Toolkit. The legal directories note the following: "He's very strong internationally, is very clever and is one of those barristers who doesn't seem to sleep”, "Very knowledgeable and impressive”, “A man very much with his wits about him" and “A succinct advocate who bring his previous...

Web page updated on 27/05/2026

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