The new Procurement Bill: Transforming public procurement

 
 
The Procurement Act received Royal Assent on the 26th October 2023. Below are some points on the most recent updates and how the act currently stands. If you have any questions about how The Procurement Act could effect you please contact us at procurement@nwupc.ac.uk.
 
• It has been suggested that it will come into force in Oct 2024 with a six months’ notice period ahead of that date. Implementation may be in successive phases.
• It will cover procurements that ‘start’ after the effective date of the new legislation.
• There will be a comprehensive, free training programme put in place by the Govt which varies based on user level (from e-learning to deep dive webinars).  This will include sessions for preparing suppliers.  You can register on the Government’s transforming public procurement page to receive updates.
• To understand the changes under the Act, there is a good summary of these for each section of the Act available from Mills & Reeve here.
• Notable areas of change include: the procurement procedures (much more flexibility and use of negotiation with less prescriptive procedures); supplier debarment lists, general principles around transparency that will result in more notices, publication of supplier performance against KPIs (for relevant contracts), and more use of centralised systems.
• The Act will be supported by secondary legislation which will flesh out how some of the provisions of the Act will work in practice.  These have been subject to separate consultations which closed at the end of summer so a final position on some aspects is still to come.  These included Notices, calculations related to exemptions (e.g. ‘Teckal’ and ‘Hamburg’ exemptions) and the scope of the light touch regime amongst other things.
 
The Government Commercial Function have unveiled a series of training products aimed at bolstering the implementation of the groundbreaking Procurement Act. "Transforming Public Procurement Knowledge Drops," are resources to mark a significant stride in enhancing understanding and proficiency within the realm of public procurement. You can access all the Knowledge Drops and factsheets through a dedicated page on the Governments website - Transforming Public Procurement.
 
The following are webinars that NWUPC Members can register for from 2 suppliers on our Legal Services Framework. Please feel free to share these with colleagues at your institution who you feel may benefit from them.
 

Law Firm

Link

Date

Type

Browne Jacobson

Webinar - Procurement Reform - Change is coming, are you ready?

15/11/2023

Webinar

Mills and Reeve

Webinar - 5 in 25 - Countdown to the Procurement Act

29/11/2023

Webinar

Updated Procurement Act information from 3 suppliers on our Legal Services Framework.

Bevan Brittan

Talking Heads: Essential key points about the Procurement Act - Part six

25/10/2023

On Demand

Addleshaw Goddard

Procurement Act 2023 receives royal assent

27/10/2023

Article

Mills and Reeve

Procurement Portal Reform

27/10/2023

Article

 
Page updated - 10/11/2023