A major shake-up of the way public bodies buy goods and services has gone live.

Today, 24 February, the Procurement Act 2023 came into force to "improve and streamline" the way procurement is done.

One in every three pounds of public money, some £300bn a year, is spent on public procurement.

The new act aims to benefit prospective suppliers of all sizes - particularly small businesses, start-ups and social enterprises.

The government says if a business supplies goods, works or services to organisations in the public or utility sectors – or hopes to do so – it needs to know about the changes.

This includes supplying to government departments, the NHS, local authorities, universities, schools, social housing organisations, police and fire brigades and utility companies.

Key benefits for suppliers include “more standardisation and streamlining of procurement processes” - but there are also additional benefits in the act such as requiring better oversight of procurement decisions and strengthening payment terms.

The act replaces the previous EU-based framework with a more flexible, UK-focused approach.

The arrival of the act follows publication of the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) on 12 February, which set out strategic priorities for public procurement and how contracting authorities can support their delivery.

The new act aims to bring greater flexibility. Government says it:

• Simplifies the bidding processes to make it easier to bid, negotiate and work in partnership with the public sector - including a new ‘competitive flexible’ procedure.
• Makes commercial frameworks more open, so prospective suppliers are not shut out for long periods of time.
• Removes bureaucratic barriers for smaller businesses and VCSEs so they can compete for more contracts - with strengthened provisions for prompt payment throughout the supply chain, enabling them to benefit from 30-day payment terms on a broader range of public sector contracts.
• Requires public bodies to provide consistent feedback for suppliers: a requirement on public bodies to provide bid assessments for final tenders.

The act also aims to make it easier to find and bid for contracts via Find a Tender, the central digital platform, with a simple registration approach and an information storage function to allow firms to make multiple bids and update information quickly, 

Public procurement opportunities are visible, making it easy to search at no cost and set up alerts for tenders of interest.

A new Procurement Review Unit (PRU) has been established with responsibility for oversight of public procurement.

The PRU will engage with contracting authorities across all sectors and suppliers to achieve the shared ambition to raise standards in public procurement - and ensure that the changes introduced by the Procurement Act 2023 become adopted practice.

International construction and insurance law specialists Beale & Co has published a guide for navigating the Procurement Act 2023 , highlighting five key changes that are important to be aware of. Click here to find out more.  

For more government advice on the changes to the law click here.