When does the Procurement Act go live?
The Procurement Act 2023 is due to go live on 24 February 2025, after a short delay by the new government. While the clock may be ticking, authorities are at various stages of preparedness, as highlighted in the recent OneAdvanced Business Trends Report, a wide-ranging survey examining the relationship between business and technology in the UK today.
How many organisations are ready for the Procurement Act?
As part of our Business Trends Report, we asked Finance and Procurement professionals from the public sector how prepared they felt for the upcoming Act. Just 19% told us they felt ‘very prepared’, while 65% said they were ‘moderately prepared’. Meanwhile, 12% reported being ‘poorly prepared’ – representing a significant number of organisations in the public sector.
What happens if we are not ready for the Procurement Act?
There is no need to panic if your organisation remains unprepared for the Act – there is still time to put some important provisions in place that will smooth the transition. Initial steps include:
- Internal training – the government has a number of learning resources available, including Transforming Public Procurement Knowledge Drops designed to give a high-level overview of the changes, and e-learning modules to support procurement practitioners in implementing the new regime.
- Supplier engagement – develop strategies for effective pre-market engagement and maintaining good supplier relationships.
- Collaboration – share best practices with other public sector organisations to achieve efficient outcomes.
- Document preparation – update contract documentation and create transparency notice templates to align with the new requirements.
- Technology evaluation – check that data held on digital systems is easily accessible and accurate; cloud-based systems are preferable.
What does the Procurement Act hope to achieve?
Transparency lies at the heart of the Procurement Act, with transparency notices required at each stage of the procurement process. These notices will be published on a central government digital platform, open to the public.
Despite these additional requirements, the Act aims to simplify public procurement, merging four sets of legislation into a single framework. At the same time, it is designed to drive competition, deliver value for money, and give small and medium local enterprises a better chance to win contracts.
What are the benefits of the Procurement Act?
While the Act may appear more prescriptive, it is meant to give contracting authorities greater scope and freedom to design their own procurement processes. Under the new Competitive Flexible Procedure, procurement teams will be able to carry out extensive pre-market engagement, encourage presentations, and negotiate with multiple suppliers.
With a greater emphasis on local suppliers, contracting authorities can align their procurement practices with net zero goals, while boosting the local economy. This community focus will run alongside a general shift towards tenders that deliver improved sustainability.
Offering greater public scrutiny, the Act should help eliminate cronyism and corruption, while holding public authorities to account, and delivering better value for money for the taxpayer.
What role does technology play in Procurement Act management?
Technology plays a critical role in successful Procurement Act management. Maintaining centralised systems will mean data remains highly accurate, and can be accessed quickly and easily. When data is held in different systems, sharing and making sense of that data becomes a serious challenge.
Ensuring you have the right digital solutions in place to manage contracts and suppliers will be key to success. At OneAdvanced, our tailored software makes life easier for procurement teams, with centralised, user-friendly dashboards, and inbuilt transparency notice templates, saving you countless hours of admin.
Where can I go for more information on the Procurement Act?
Our Procurement Act 2023 Hub contains a wealth of resources to help you prepare for the Act, including OneAdvanced’s influential white paper The UK Procurement Act: Navigating Change and our popular webinar series on Procurement Act preparation. And, don’t miss our companion blog, The Procurement Act 2023: Thresholds explained, where you’ll find detailed information on the changes ahead.