Procurement Act 2023 goes live 24 February 2025

Ministers recently announced that the Procurement Act 2023 will now commence on 24 February 2025, which means the rules that shape how public bodies buy goods and services will change.

According to the Cabinet Office, the Procurement Act 2023 will ‘introduce measures to improve and streamline the way procurement is done and benefit prospective suppliers of all sizes, particularly small businesses, start-ups and social enterprises’.

The Cabinet Office has produced various resources to help understand the Procurement Act 2023 and the key changes that will come into effect in February 2025. These can all be found on a dedicated supplier information page on GOV.UK. This page will be updated with more information closer to the go-live date but current includes:

• Updated information leaflet for suppliers, which includes a dedicated FAQ.
• Dedicated SME and VCSE videos as part of the series. You can view all Knowledge Drop videos here.
• Training materials for public sector buyers, including guidance documents exploring the different elements of the act and the contents of its e-learning modules.
• A factsheet with key FAQs about the Central Digital Platform for both suppliers and buyers.

Following the change in go-live date, CCS has also provided a commercial pipeline update, outlining which agreements have been transitioned to PCR 2015 and which have been extended.

Suppliers can start to get ready by:

• Signing up for regular updates.
• Familiarising themselves with the act and the supplier ‘Knowledge Drop’ videos.
• Discussing the changes with their regular customers and clients - who will now be thinking about their forward pipelines and which procurements might be undertaken using the new approaches.