In the third article of the series on obstacles to shared services, Professor John Bennett looks at cross-border deals

If one local authority decides the best way it can obtain architectural services is to purchase them from another local authority, this is likely to trigger the requirements of the public procurement regime. This is because any contractual arrangements, even those between local authorities, which relate to those services where there is likely to be a significant cross-border interest, will fall within the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/05), if they exceed £144,371 in value.