The Procurement Act 2023, which was initially set to go live from 28 October 2024, will now commence on 24 February 2025.
The new Procurement Act means changes in procurement regulation and practices, aimed at bringing about a more flexible, strategic approach to public procurement. This creates both challenges and opportunities for Trusts.
Trusts should familiarise themselves with the Act to ensure that they are well-placed to comply with new requirements that the Act brings.
What's changing?
The key changes associated with the Act include:
- There will be only two tender processes, an Open Procedure similar to the current open procedure under the 2015 Regulations and a Competitive Flexible Procedure (CFP), which allows for any non-open tender process
- Evaluation of tenders to now consider non-economic factors, such as environmental factors
- 'Notices' regime, requiring publication of notices from planning through the life of the contract, including Termination Notices
- Contract management processes have been enhanced
- New Find a Tender Service, which will link into a new Supplier information Central Digital Platform
There are several resources available to assist with the transition to compliance under the Act, including:
Schools are exempt from some requirements of the Act:
- Sub-threshold contracts (those valued £30,000 to relevant Threshold). Essentially, below threshold, exempted institutions simply need to follow their own internal financial regulations and procurement policies
- Publication of payment compliance notices for third party expenditure, demonstrating payment of valid invoices within 30 days of receipt
- Publication of details of payment of each and every third-party supplier invoice of £30,000 or greater in value
- Requirement to build 30-day payment terms into all contracts and supply chain sub-contracts
Next steps
Whilst many Trusts will have already made arrangements to ensure they are ready ahead of 24 February, it is important that Trusts:
- Have a clear pipeline of future procurements, linked back to the Trust's contracts register
- Ensure that IT systems (in particular finance systems) are capable of reporting for new requirements
- Complete the Practitioner eLearning
- Review policies to ensure these are in accordance with the Act
- Consider including National Procurement Policy Strategy requirements into internal policies and procedures
Contact us
If your Trust requires support with best practices going forward, please get in touch with your usual UHY academy adviser.