Quick answer
The Procurement Act 2023 is the primary UK legislation governing public procurement from February 2025, replacing the 2015 Regulations and consolidating rules for goods, services, works, utilities, and concessions into a single statute focused on transparency, value for money, and broader supplier access.
The Procurement Act 2023 is the most significant reform to UK public procurement law since the country joined the European Community. Receiving Royal Assent in October 2023 and coming into full effect in February 2025, the Act replaces the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016, and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 with a single, consolidated statute.
What is the Procurement Act 2023?
The Act governs how covered buyers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland must run procurement competitions. It applies to covered procurement above defined financial thresholds and sets out the procedures, notice requirements, transparency obligations, and supplier remedies that apply throughout the contracting lifecycle.
Key structural changes include a new competitive flexible procedure alongside the retained open procedure, new open framework and closed framework rules, a mandatory pipeline notice for large programmes, and a significantly expanded transparency regime. The Act also introduces the concept of Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) in place of the EU-derived MEAT concept, allowing broader considerations of public benefit alongside price and quality. Procurement objectives are placed on a statutory footing for the first time, requiring buyers to have regard to value for money, public good, transparency, integrity, fair treatment, and equal opportunity.
The expanded supplier exclusion grounds regime requires suppliers to self-declare via a central Supplier Registration platform. A central debarment list, maintained by the government, carries consequences across all covered buyers.
Why it matters for bidders
For suppliers competing for UK public contracts, the Act changes how opportunities are advertised, evaluated, and awarded. The mandatory transparency notice requirement means buyers must publish notices at far more stages of the process than before, giving suppliers better visibility of upcoming work via planned procurement notices and clearer feedback after competitions via assessment summaries.
Suppliers who previously tracked opportunities only through the old Contracts Finder must now engage with the integrated Find a Tender and Contracts Finder systems and monitor planned procurement notices published well ahead of live competitions.
Example
A local authority in England running a waste management contract worth GBP 8 million must comply with the Procurement Act 2023. It publishes a planned procurement notice six months in advance, runs a competitive flexible procedure, and issues an assessment summary to all unsuccessful bidders within the statutory timeframe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Procurement Act 2023 apply in Scotland?
Scottish public bodies are subject to separate Scottish procurement regulations for most contracts. The Act applies to reserved matters in Scotland and to Scottish bodies where a cross-border element applies, but the Scottish Government operates under its own Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.
How does the Act differ from the EU directives it replaced?
The Act draws on Directive 2014/24/EU for its structural framework but diverges in several areas: it introduces MAT in place of MEAT, broadens the grounds for direct award, introduces the competitive flexible procedure as a more permissive alternative to restricted or competitive dialogue procedures, and places greater emphasis on transparency throughout the contract lifecycle.
Where are UK public contract opportunities published?
Above-threshold opportunities are published on Find a Tender (FTS), the UK replacement for the EU's TED platform. Below-threshold opportunities appear on Contracts Finder. Both platforms feed into the new central transparency notices system introduced by the Act.
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Related terms
Covered Procurement
Covered procurement refers to any public procurement process that falls within the scope of the Procurement Act 2023, meaning it is conducted by a covered buyer, relates to an eligible contract type, and meets or exceeds the applicable financial thresholds.
ViewAbove-Threshold Contract
An above-threshold contract is a public contract whose estimated value meets or exceeds the financial thresholds set under the Procurement Act 2023, triggering the full suite of competitive tendering obligations, mandatory notice publication, and bidder remedy rights.
ViewCompetitive Flexible Procedure
The Competitive Flexible Procedure is a new procurement procedure introduced by the Procurement Act 2023 that gives contracting authorities broad latitude to design a bespoke multi-stage competition, enabling negotiation, dialogue, and iterative refinement in ways not permitted under the standard open procedure.
ViewOpen Framework
An open framework is a new type of multi-supplier arrangement introduced by the Procurement Act 2023 that allows new suppliers to join at regular intervals throughout the framework's life, unlike closed frameworks which fix membership at the outset.
ViewNational Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS)
The National Procurement Policy Statement is a statutory document issued by the UK government under the Procurement Act 2023 that sets national priorities for public procurement, which all contracting authorities must have regard to when planning and carrying out procurement exercises.
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