Procurement Act 2023 — key reminders for contracting authorities and private sector suppliers

As we approach the implementation date of 24 February 2025, it’s crucial for all contracting authorities and companies to prepare for the changes introduced by the Procurement Act 2023. This new legislation aims to streamline and enhance the procurement process, ensuring greater transparency, efficiency and fairness.

Here, Partner and public procurement law specialist Michael Winder recaps the key changes to be aware of and how public bodies and private companies should prepare.

Jump to:

• Recap — what are some of the key changes taking place?
  • Video: Key changes you need to know
  • Video: Procedures, objectives and transparency requirements
  • Video: Key changes suppliers should know
• Final preparations for public sector authorities and companies
• Key actions for private sector suppliers

Recap — what are some of the key changes taking place?

Several significant changes will come into effect with the new Act that impact both contracting authorities and suppliers, including:

• New procurement procedures — The pre-existing multiple, yet restrictive procurement procedures have been narrowed to three — open procedure, competitive flexible procedure and (in limited circumstances) direct award. The competitive flexible can, however, be designed around the needs of the procurement. This will ensure that the bidding process is transparent and gives equal treatment to suppliers and it allows authorities to broadly structure and design their procurement procedure. Find out more about the new procurement procedures.
• Greater transparency — Much more emphasis is placed on notifications being issued at each stage of a ‘covered procurement’s’ lifecycle. The notifications are linked through identifiers, allowing a picture of the procurement to build up on the central digital platform. Obligations such as payment on 30 day terms are implied into contracts and must be reported on by authorities.
• Greater emphasis on performance and contract management — Suppliers’ performance must be publicly reported at regular intervals and this can impact on exclusion criteria in future procurements. In addition, contracts over £5m require three key performance indicators to monitor supplier performance. 
• Updated exclusion provisions — Suppliers will be under increased scrutiny to perform to authorities’ standards, which can lead to more cases of exclusion for bidders. In addition, there is a new central debarment list which will help authorities to identify those suppliers that have been excluded for serious misconduct. 
• Central digital platform — This is an enhanced version of the current Find a Tender service which will provide new procurement notice templates and allow suppliers to see all bidding opportunities on one platform. 

Final preparations for public sector authorities and companies

While we anticipate that many public sector authorities and other entities subject to the Act will be undertaking the necessary steps to comply, we remind contracting authorities that measures to ensure compliance before the Act comes into effect include:

1. Ensure that procurement policies and contract procedure rules are reviewed and updated to reflect the new Act.
2. Align processes and approvals with the new notification regime and reporting requirements.
3. Update template procurement documents to reflect the new procedures, processes and terminology.
4. Provide final training to those who will be procuring after the Act comes into force, specifically focusing on their current operations and how the Act will affect this.  
    

Key actions for private sector suppliers

Private sector suppliers who wish to tender for work with contracting authorities include:

1. Register and become familiar with the central digital platform, which will store core business details and make it easier to find and bid for contracts. In doing so, suppliers will need to review their ‘connected persons’ such as parent companies and subsidiaries and whether any of the new exclusion grounds will apply to them. 
2. Conduct internal due diligence on supply chains to identify any issues which may put the company at risk of exclusion, or being added to the central debarment list. 

Supporting your transition 

The Procurement Act 2023 represents a significant shift in the procurement landscape. By understanding and preparing for these changes, both contracting authorities and suppliers can ensure a smooth transition and continued success in their procurement activities. 

If you would like to discuss any of the requirements of the Act, or any of the measures mentioned above, our experienced procurement law team is more than happy to assist with any queries. 

Talk to us by giving us a call on 0333 004 4488, sending us an email at hello@brabners.com or completing our contact form below.