Procurement Reform: The Procurement Act 2023

Public procurement is changing

The landscape and rules governing public procurement in Wales and the UK is changing. This is due to three new separate legislative requirements:

• Procurement Act 2023

• Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023

• Health Service Procurement (Wales) Act 2024.

What is the Procurement Act 2023?

The Procurement Act 2023 is bringing significant changes to the regulations that govern UK procurement. The act will make the UK's public procurement regime 'quicker, simpler, more transparent, and better able to meet the UK's needs while remaining compliant with [its] international obligations.'

What are the objectives of the Procurement Act 2023?

• Delivering value for money

• Maximising public benefit

• Transparency

• Acting with integrity

When will this happen?

The Procurement Act, which will reform the existing procurement rules, will go live on 24th February 2025. The existing legislation will apply until the new regime goes live and will also continue to apply to procurements started under the existing procurement rules.

What are the benefits?

Benefits include:

• Simplified more flexible tender process

• Increased visibility

• Greater market engagement

• Prompt payments

• Consistent feedback summaries and debriefs

• Meet organisational needs.

• National and local objectives

• Deliver value for money

What do I need to do?

The UK Government has launched a series of knowledge drop videos to provide stakeholders, including suppliers, SMEs and VCSEs, with a high-level overview of the changes. 

The knowledge drops videos are tailored to different audiences, and include:

• Suppliers: 45 minutes in total, broken down into 3 smaller sections.

• VCSE and SME suppliers: 45 minutes in total, broken down into 3 smaller sections.

 

The Central Digital Platform

The Procurement Act 2023 legislates for a provision of a central digital platform (CDP) to facilitate the publishing of required notices and documents in accordance with the new regulations.

The act will require all companies wishing to do business with Pembrokeshire County Council to register their details on the Central Digital Platform, hosted by UK Government. Registration will be available from 24th February 2025.

Failure to complete your registration will result in your organisation losing eligibility to tender for new contract opportunities.

Once registered the system will provide you with a Unique Identifier that you must provide to public sector bodies when you submit a tender.

The Central Digital Platform will require the following information:

• Basic information: name, address, Companies House number (or equivalent, e.g. charity number), VAT Number (if applicable), relevant qualifications or trade assurances and whether the organisation is a SME, VCSE or public mutual.

• Financial information: copies of your accounts from the most recent financial years

• Connected persons: names, addresses and details on any connected persons to the business (e.g. persons with significant control). These are individuals or organisations who have influence or control over the supplier.

• Exclusions: details of any discretionary or mandatory exclusions for the supplier or connected persons as set out in schedules 6 & 7 of the Procurement Act 2023

 

Sharing your information

When bidding for opportunities you can provide access to your Supplier information in one of two ways:

• Share code: generate a unique profile code to give access to your supplier information

• Information download: download your supplier information as a .zip file and upload it with your bid.

We will confirm how this information will need to be shared with us via the E-tendering portal.

 

Updating your supplier information

If your supplier information changes, update it and create a new share code and file to share the new information. You don’t need to update this information for each bid.

We will provide more information as and when this becomes available, however, the UK Government has launched a series of knowledge drop videos to provide stakeholders, including suppliers, SMEs and VCSEs, with a high-level overview of the changes.

In preparation for the go live on the 24th February 2025 we advise you to familiarise yourselves with the dedicated guidance products to help you prepare and to support you as you begin to do business under the new regime.

 

For more information, please see factsheet explaining how the Central Digital Platform (opens in new tab) will work.

 

Further information

For more information, please see The official transforming public procurement knowledge drops (opens in a new tab).

This short guide for suppliers (opens in a new tab) summarises the changes the Procurement Act will bring.

Future opportunities for additional training / workshops will be issued nearer to the go live date.