A contract performance notice is how a buyer publishes information about how a supplier is performing on a public contract. gov.uk’s guidance says it is used to publish the information required under section 71, and it has two jobs: reporting performance against key performance indicators (KPIs), and reporting certain breaches or poor performance.
Where it appears in the Act. Section 71 requires a buyer that has set KPIs under section 52 to assess performance at least once in every 12 months and on termination, and to publish information about it. It also requires publication where a supplier has breached a contract and the breach results in termination (or partial termination), damages or a settlement agreement, or where the buyer considers the supplier is not performing to its satisfaction and has failed to improve after a proper opportunity. For breaches the notice is due within 30 days of when the duty first applies. Light touch contracts and private utilities are excluded from the breach reporting. If the contract is terminated in full, a contract termination notice is published instead (guidance paras 1(b), 27).
What it means for a small supplier. These notices are public, and the guidance says a discretionary exclusion ground applies to the supplier once one is published for a breach or poor performance. The guidance adds that it is only a risk where the notice was published in the preceding five years and the buyer considers the circumstances continuing or likely to recur. That is a good reason to read the KPIs in any contract you win (buyers must set them for most contracts over £5 million, section 52(1) and (6)), deliver against them, and flag problems early rather than let them reach a formal notice.