What happens if you miss the GCA MI deadline.

Next MI deadline 5th working day — Monday 7 September

Report MI, the system GCA MI reporting runs on, creates each month's task at midnight UTC on the 1st. CCS's own user guidance for that system states: “Once created, a task is due to be completed within five working days” — in practice, the 5th working day of the month. The tracker above shows the next exact date and updates itself.

Source: CCS, Report Management Information (MI) to CCS — user guidance and FAQs (PDF), published at reportmi.gca.gov.uk.

That guidance does not set out how a working day is counted — for example whether weekends and bank holidays are excluded. We could not find that stated on reportmi.gca.gov.uk, crowncommercial.gov.uk or gca.gov.uk, so we do not assert it here. The tracker above is the reliable answer to “when is it due”.

A late report is not the only way to end up with fees. CCS defines an MI Failure as when an MI submission:

1. Contains any material errors or material omissions; or
2. Is submitted using an incorrect MI reporting template; or
3. Is not submitted by the reporting date (is submitted late)

— “Including where a declaration of no business should have been filed.” A missing nil-month declaration counts as an MI Failure too.

Source: CCS, Management Information Admin Fees and Default Charges (PDF), 21 February 2020, published at reportmi.gca.gov.uk.

CCS's guidance sets a separate, lower-value trigger for admin fees: “If, in any rolling three (3) month period, two (2) or more MI Failures occur, the Supplier acknowledges and agrees that CCS shall have the right to invoice the Supplier Admin Fee(s) with respect to any MI Failures as they arise in subsequent Months.” That three-month window is shorter than the six-month window for an MI Default below — the two are not the same clock.

The published per-instance charges range from £2.50 for an email chasing a missing return, £5.00 for a phone call and £15.00 for a letter, up to £75.00 for a category meeting to agree a supplier action plan; rectifying an incorrect return is charged at the same email and phone-call rates. An audit of the supplier's business is charged at £300 per day, and interest on any outstanding balance is charged at the Bank of England rate per month.

Source: CCS, Management Information Admin Fees and Default Charges (PDF), 21 February 2020, published at reportmi.gca.gov.uk. Check the current fees in that document before relying on a figure from anywhere else.

“If two (2) MI Reports are not provided in any rolling six (6) month period then an MI Default shall be deemed to have occurred.”

Source: CCS, Management Information Admin Fees and Default Charges (PDF), 21 February 2020, published at reportmi.gca.gov.uk.

What CCS is entitled to do after a default

Once an MI Default has occurred, CCS is entitled to any of the following — not automatically all of them:

• “charge and the Supplier shall pay a Default Management Charge in respect of the Months in which the MI Default occurred and subsequent Months in which they continue; and/or”
• “suspend the Supplier from the agreement until such time that deficient MI reports(s) are rectified; and/or”
• “terminate the Contract.”

How the Default Management Charge is worked out

The charge is the higher of two figures:

• “the average Management Charge paid or payable by the Supplier in the previous six (6) Month period or, if the MI Default occurred within less than six (6) months from the commencement date of the first Call-Off Contract, in the whole period preceding the date on which the MI Default occurred; or”
• “the sum of five hundred pounds (£500).”

CCS's guidance sets out what happens once you rectify: “If the Supplier provides sufficient Management Information to rectify any MI Default(s) to the satisfaction of CCS” and the figures show the Supplier overpaid the Management Charge while the Default Management Charge applied, “the Supplier shall be entitled to a refund of the overpayment, net of any Admin Fees where applicable.” If instead the Supplier underpaid during that period, “CCS shall be entitled to immediate payment of the balance as a debt together with interest.”

In practice: submit the outstanding or corrected MI as soon as you can, through GCA's Report MI portal, rather than leaving it outstanding. A second miss inside the same rolling six months is what turns a first miss into an MI Default. Use the tracker at the top of this page for the exact next 5th working day.

Source: CCS, Management Information Admin Fees and Default Charges (PDF), 21 February 2020, published at reportmi.gca.gov.uk.