United Kingdom: Government Contracts, Procurement & PPP

The UK government has unveiled its comprehensive 10-year infrastructure strategy, setting out ambitious plans to transform the nation's critical infrastructure landscape. This strategic framework addresses key challenges in power supply, construction, and public-private partnerships, with particular focus on emerging sectors like data centres and modernising existing PFI contracts.

As the UK embraces a new era of Procurement Sovereignty under Prime Minister Andy Burnham, the debate over sourcing electric buses domestically versus internationally reveals complex trade-offs between upfront costs, total ownership expenses, and strategic national interests. While Chinese-manufactured buses offer significantly lower purchase prices, UK-built alternatives may deliver superior long-term value when factoring in maintenance, cybersecurity, and alignment with emerging industrial policy prioriti

This issue of International Quarterly explores the new ICC Arbitration Rules, jurisdictional and enforcement challenges in disputes involving Russian entities, the FIDIC Gold Book’s whole-life contracting model, state immunity and the enforcement of ICSID awards, the risks of third-party funded arbitration and recent guidance on referring disputes to ad hoc DABs under FIDIC contracts.