Regulated procurement | UK Regulatory Outlook April 2024

Procurement Act to go live on 28 October 2024

It has been confirmed that the new procurement regime will go live on Monday 28 October 2024, giving six months' time to prepare. For more on the changes coming into force, take a look at our microsite.

The government's Procurement Act 2023 e-learning modules have also now been made available to public sector organisations only and are otherwise not generally available. Please get in touch if you would like training on the Act and are not within the cohorts able to access the public sector training materials.

Procurement Act 2023: new guidance added

The second tranche of Procurement Act 2023 guidance has been published and covers the pre-procurement phase: national procurement policy statement, pipeline notice, technical specifications, planned procurement notice and preliminary market engagement.

Transitional and saving arrangements guidance has also been published which confirms that procurements that commence after the Act enters into force, i.e. 28^th October 2024, will be conducted under the new regime. Those contracts awarded under the previous legislation must continue to be procured and managed under that legislation, which includes if the contract is modified.

While the guidance documents are aimed at contracting authorities, suppliers should also review them (in particular the notices-related documents as these provide further clarity on what information will be published by contracting authorities).

Our recently published infographic on procurement notices provides further information on the various notices required at each stage of a procurement and throughout the life of a contract. This provides an overview of each notice's purpose, specifies the requirements and confirms where a notice is mandatory or voluntary.  

Also see our Insight, following the publication of the draft procurement regulations, as detailed in last month's Regulatory Outlook.

PPN 03/24: Standard Selection Questionnaire

Procurement policy note (PPN 03/24 ) updates the selection questionnaire (SQ) and accompanying statutory guidance. This PPN applies to all contracting authorities in England, and contracting authorities in Wales and Northern Ireland when undertaking above threshold procurements within part 2 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015).

The SQ updates and replaces PPN 03/23 and introduces the following changes: updated payment-related questions in relation to changes set out in this Regulatory Outlook; updated steel-related questions; clarity for contracting authorities on considering bids from Russian/Belarusian suppliers as set out in PPN 01/22: contracts with suppliers from Russia and Belarus; and removed references to PAS91 which has now been withdrawn by the BSI.

Authorities must implement PPN 03/24 within three months, and can implement it immediately.