Article Who’s afraid of the big bad Procurement Act?
Who’s afraid of the big bad Procurement Act?
By Insight UK / 18 Mar 2025
A Bit of History...
In case you missed it, the UK Procurement Act 2023 has arrived. Coming into force on 24 February 2025, it aims to transform public sector procurement through a simpler and more flexible commercial system. Great news, or is it?
Despite its promise, there is concern among public sector procurement professionals. Fear that, despite the extensive literature, e-learning and knowledge drops, the intricacies and complexities of the legislation could lead to consequences.
Jonathan Ryan, Senior Commercial Manager for Public Sector at Insight, who oversees public sector contracts, bids and frameworks, commented: "Whether it’s an experienced procurement professional, or someone new to public sector, the legislation poses new challenges. Why? Because we’re in uncharted territory and this has created uncertainty and nervousness."
It’s natural to feel uneasy about adapting to a new way of working. The Procurement Act 2023 is the biggest change to UK public procurement since 2015, so it’s understandable that it has caused anxiety in the public sector.
With the right guidance, these fears can be overcome. Once they are, public sector organisations will have the confidence to use the Procurement Act 2023 to embrace flexibility and innovation. “Our teams have undergone extensive preparation aligned to the Government Commercial Function to ensure that we are in a position to provide support to our public sector clients that will give them peace of mind and enable them to leverage all the benefits of the new legislation," adds Jonathan Ryan.
What are some of the main developments to consider?
Through the new regime, the government intends to increase flexibility through procurement procedures.
The new Competitive Flexible Procedure replaces many of the previous more prescriptive procedures. It will enable public sector buyers to design their own modular, multi-stage procurement processes - bespoke to each procurement.
"This could include commercial dialogue, demonstrations, presentations or site visits which gives contracting authorities flexibility to use their commercial skills to obtain the best outcome from a procurement," says Jonathan Ryan.
Another area of concern for procurement professionals is the greater emphasis the Act places on commercial and contract management, including mandatory Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for certain contracts awarded over the value of £5m. Contracting authorities are required to publish their supplier performance against those KPIs, “making contract delivery more transparent and ensuring that all parties are accountable,” says Jonathan Ryan.
The Procurement Act 2023 also increases the obligations on contracting authorities to publish more notices throughout the entire commercial lifecycle, from pre-market engagement (e.g. UK2 preliminary market engagement notice) to contract expiry (e.g. UK11 contract termination notice).
What’s more, the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) came into effect alongside the Procurement Act 2023. Its key policy themes include driving economic growth, delivering social and economic value, as well as building commercial capability to deliver value for money and stronger outcomes. The Procurement Act 2023 requires that all public bodies ‘have regard’ to the NPPS in the exercise of their procurements and throughout the entire lifecycle of a public contract.
Procurement and innovation must go on
Navigating the changing procurement landscape will be complex, particularly in the short term, making a sound understanding of the Procurement Act 2023 all the more valuable.
Despite the concerns, Cory Neighbour, Solution Leader – Public Sector at Insight, feels strongly that: "Public sector teams should not put procurements on hold due to uncertainty around the Act.
“Technology remains at the heart of delivering the transformational change required in the public sector. The benefit of the Procurement Act 2023 is that it now provides new ways to accelerate the pace of digital transformation.”
Gavin Sneddon, Local Government Specialist at Global Data, points out that public sector organisations now have greater flexibility to explore innovative solutions: "The Act enables a more flexible and innovation-driven procurement process. With an experienced partner like Insight, organisations can take full advantage of this, ensuring they secure the best possible technology solutions that align with their broader strategic goals."
What happens to Public Sector Frameworks?
The new Act introduces fundamental changes to the Framework landscape, but major frameworks are not being replaced overnight. Some of the most prominent public sector technology frameworks that are currently inflight and aligned to PCR 2015 will remain active well into 2026/7, and the contracts (call offs) placed through them even further.
In fact, in the lead up to the roll out of the Procurement Act 2023, there was a flurry of frameworks published under the previous regime, and Jonathan Ryan believes the coming months will see another surge “as contracting authorities look to publish their first frameworks under the new legislation.” This will include Open Frameworks that will be introduced under the Act as a flexible alternative to existing framework arrangements. These can run for a maximum duration of eight years and will help authorities better align to their longer-term requirements.
The Procurement Act 2023 has also introduced Dynamic Markets, a new commercial tool akin to the former regime’s dynamic purchasing systems. Dynamic Markets comprise lists of pre-qualified suppliers eligible to participate in future procurements. However, it offers significantly broader scope than dynamic purchasing systems, as they can be established for a wider array of goods, services and works governed by the Act.
Guy Beaudin, Public Sector Business Development Director at Insight, stated: “Ultimately, frameworks will remain vital to public sector procurement. With 85 (and growing) current frameworks in place, Insight provides access to core, niche, and speciality IT solutions and services for public sector buyers. We are excited to see how the Act shapes the future direction of Frameworks.”
What’s next for the Procurement Act?
At Insight, we’re looking forward to seeing the Procurement Act 2023 in practice and how it will transform public sector procurement.
Procurement is transforming, refocusing on delivering value for money, maximising public benefit, sharing information and acting and being seen to act with integrity. Jonathan Ryan explains that Insight is particularly looking forward to “seeing how contracting authorities adapt to awarding contracts based on the most advantageous tender (MAT), instead of the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) under PCR 2015.”
While cost remains a key consideration in the current economic conditions: "Removing ‘economic’ clarifies that the focus for awarding contracts does not have to be the lowest price. It enables contracting authorities to place greater emphasis on other factors in their search for the best solution – such as quality criteria and social value."
Insight is not waiting for this shift. “We are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the public sector,” says Cory Neighbour.
“We are delivering innovative social value by supporting local community charities like Oxfordshire Youth , through one of the world’s largest designers and manufacturer of semiconductors. We are partnering with market-leading SMEs to drive NHS digitisation programmes. And we can now leverage the expertise of our recently acquired consultancy New World Tech (NWT), which has decades of experience delivering transformation programmes in the public sector, to provide strategic guidance to the Treasury.
Ultimately, Insight is committed to driving meaningful change by supporting clients through the Procurement Act 2023 and fully leveraging all of its benefits.
To learn more about how Insight can help you navigate the Procurement Act contact us here.
Procurement Specialist Team
