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

Updated 22 April 2025.

The Procurement Act 2023 came into effect on 24 February 2025. From this date, contracting authorities and the private sector companies who tender for work with them have had to navigate the new legal landscape for public procurement in the UK. This new Act is intended to streamline and enhance the procurement process, ensuring greater transparency, efficiency and fairness.

At the time of writing, we’re now approximately two months into the new regime, and it’s worth recapping the changes made to public procurement law following the introduction of the Act. Here, Partner and public procurement law specialist Michael Winder recaps the key changes that came into effect and what this means for the public and private sectors.

Jump to:

• Recap — what are some of the key changes?
  • Video: Key changes you need to know
  • Video: Procedures, objectives and transparency requirements
  • Video: Key changes suppliers should know
• Key steps for contracting authorities to ensure compliance
• Key actions for private sector suppliers

Recap — what are some of the key changes?

The introduction of the Act saw several significant changes from the previous regime. The changes impact both contracting authorities and suppliers. These include:

• New procurement procedures — The previous regime’s approach of having multiple, yet restrictive procurement procedures has been simplified. There are now only three procedure — 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 Find a Tender. 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 are now 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 — The Find a Tender service has been enhanced and now includes the new procurement notice templates and allows suppliers to see all bidding opportunities on one platform. It also provides unique identifiers, allowing a body of information to build up about individual procurements, authorities and suppliers. 

Key steps for contracting authorities to ensure compliance

All entities subject to the Act should have already undertaken the necessary steps in order to comply with the Act. Our understanding is that, despite a slow start, procurement activity under the new Act is steadily increasing on Find a Tender. Regardless, it’s worth reminding authorities that before commencing any new procurements they must be compliant with the Act. The following measures will help with ensuring such compliance:

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 training in respect of the Act and the related guidance to those who will be undertaking procurement activity.

Key actions for private sector suppliers

Key actions for private sector suppliers who wish to tender for work with contracting authorities include:

1. If they have not already done so, 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. 

How we can help

The Procurement Act 2023 represents a significant shift in the procurement landscape. Most involved parties should have prepared for the changes in order to ensure a smooth transition and continued success in their procurement activities. If, however, this is ongoing or questions have been raised as to how to navigate the new rules, we are able to assist. 

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.