The Procurement Act 2023
One law. Two sets of consequences.
What the Act changed, how oversight works from 2026, and what it means for private companies selling to government and for contracting authorities buying under it.
If you sell to the public sector
The rulebook for winning.
New procedures, open frameworks, dynamic markets, transparency at every stage and 30-day payment terms. Read what changed for suppliers and what to do about it.
For private companiesIf you buy under it
The standard you are tested against.
Notices, records, modifications, payments, KPIs and an oversight service that publishes its findings. Read what the duties are and where authorities are exposed.
For contracting authoritiesTimeline
From Royal Assent to live oversight.
Sources: Procurement Act 2023; Cabinet Office commencement announcements; National Procurement Policy Statement, written ministerial statement, 13 February 2025; GOV.UK guidance on procurement compliance and oversight; Government Commercial Agency.
- 26 October 2023Royal Assent
The Act becomes law. Secondary legislation, guidance and the central digital platform follow over the next sixteen months.
- 13 February 2025National Procurement Policy Statement
The statement every contracting authority must have regard to, setting out the government's priorities for the £400 billion spent through public procurement each year.
- 24 February 2025The Act goes live
New procurements start under the Act. Procurements begun before this date, and the contracts they produced, continue under the previous regulations, while the payment and reporting duties on public contracts reach them too.
- 1 January 2026Thresholds revised
The two-yearly threshold revision takes effect, including a works threshold of £5,193,000 including VAT.
- 1 April 2026Oversight and institutions change
Compliance oversight moves to the Cabinet Office's Procurement Compliance Service. Crown Commercial Service becomes the Government Commercial Agency. The duty to publish payments over £30,000 under public contracts takes effect for contracting authorities in England.
What changed
Ten changes that decide how contracts are won and how they are defended.
One regime
A single framework covering public contracts, utilities, concessions and defence and security, in place of four sets of regulations. Section 2 sets the test for a contracting authority: wholly or mainly publicly funded, or subject to public authority management or control, and not operating on a commercial basis.
The competitive flexible procedure
Alongside the open procedure, authorities can design a process to suit the requirement, with the stages, criteria and timetable published in the tender notice. The tendering period runs from the day after publication.
Most advantageous tender
Awards are made to the most advantageous tender rather than the most economically advantageous one. Quality, social value, innovation and delivery carry weight alongside price, and authorities must consider dividing larger contracts into lots.
Transparency across the lifecycle
A family of notices published on the central digital platform from pipeline to payment, listed below. Welsh authorities publish operationally through Sell2Wales, which feeds the platform.
Open frameworks and dynamic markets
Frameworks that reopen to new suppliers during their life, and dynamic markets that suppliers join once and compete within. Both change how late entrants get in.
Exclusion and debarment
A central debarment list checked before every award, mandatory and discretionary exclusion grounds, and new grounds for past poor performance.
Payment
A 30-day payment term implied into every public contract, overriding any longer contractual term, flowing down the supply chain, with a payment compliance notice reporting against it and individual payments over £30,000 published. Sections 68 to 70.
Performance
At least three key performance indicators published before entering a contract over £5 million, performance against them reported at least annually, and poor performance published. Sections 52 and 71.
Modifications
Permitted modifications defined, a contract change notice required for qualifying modifications under section 75, and the modified contract published under section 77, with an exemption for devolved Welsh authorities on publishing the document.
Oversight
Part 10 gives the Cabinet Office the power to require documents and assistance under section 108, to make recommendations an authority must have regard to under section 109, and to issue guidance under section 110. Findings and progress reports may be published.
Source: Procurement Act 2023 and Cabinet Office guidance. Section numbers are given where the provision is settled; the current guidance is checked before we advise on any specific case.
The notices
The buying cycle, published.
The working set of notices, from planning to payment. Suppliers read them to see what is coming. Authorities are tested on whether they were published, on time, accurately.
| Notice | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Pipeline notice | Anticipated procurements, typically covering the next 18 months, for authorities above the spend threshold and contracts above £2 million. | The earliest sight a supplier gets. The first thing a growth plan reads. |
| Preliminary market engagement notice | Announces engagement with the market before a procurement. | Where requirements are shaped. Suppliers in the room shape them. |
| Planned procurement notice | Advance warning of a tender, and the route to a reduced tendering period. | Time to qualify and prepare before the clock starts. |
| Tender notice | The advertisement that starts a competitive procurement, with the procedure, criteria and timetable. | The bid begins here. Amendments require an amended notice. |
| Transparency notice | Published in advance where a direct award is intended, giving the justification. | The missing notice behind most challenged direct awards. |
| Contract award notice | Announces the intention to award and starts the standstill period of eight working days. | The window in which concerns are raised, with evidence. |
| Contract details notice | Published after the contract is signed, with the contract itself published above the threshold. | What competitors and reviewers read after the fact. |
| Payment notices | Individual payments over £30,000 published, and a payment compliance notice reporting performance against the 30-day term. | Uncontracted spend becomes visible to anyone who looks. |
| KPI notice | Performance against the published key performance indicators, at least annually. | Delivery becomes a matter of record. |
| Contract change notice | Published for qualifying modifications, before the modification takes effect. | Extensions and variations that used to be invisible are not. |
| Termination notices | Published when a procurement is abandoned without award, and when a contract ends, including for poor performance. | The end of a contract is public, as is the reason. |
Source: Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement Regulations 2024; Cabinet Office guidance on transparency notices. Thresholds are the working figures at September 2026 and are verified against current guidance before use in any document.
For private companies
What the Act means if you sell, or want to sell, to the UK public sector.
- Register once, properly.The central digital platform holds your company facts, beneficial ownership and core evidence for every procurement. A clean registration removes friction from every bid that follows.
- Read the notices before you read the tender.Pipeline, market engagement and planned procurement notices give months of warning. The suppliers who use them arrive prepared; the rest arrive with the tender notice.
- Engage before the tender notice.Preliminary market engagement is where requirements are shaped, and the Act encourages authorities to run it. Being in that room is the single most valuable position a supplier can hold.
- Get onto the frameworks and dynamic markets your buyers use.Open frameworks reopen and dynamic markets admit new members by design. A listing is the difference between being invited and reading about the award.
- Write to the most advantageous tender.Criteria and weightings are published. Quality, social value and delivery are scored, and the assessment summary tells you how you did.
- Use the standstill.Eight working days after the award notice to raise concerns with evidence. The assessment summary is where the evidence comes from.
- Expect 30-day terms, and pass them on.The implied payment term applies to you as a prime and flows down to your subcontractors, which makes partnering a real route in.
- Keep your record clean.Exclusion grounds include past poor performance, and the debarment list is checked before every award. Delivery is now a matter of public record.
For contracting authorities
What the Act means if you buy under it.
- Know whether you are caught, and for what.The section 2 test for a contracting authority, and the Schedule 2 exemptions for land, in-house and other arrangements, decide what is a public contract at all. Classification at the business case stage is the control.
- Publish the notices, on time, accurately.The notice family runs from pipeline to termination. Timing, content accuracy and data quality are where practice slips, and they are the first things an outside reviewer checks.
- Evidence every decision.The route chosen, the value estimated, the exemption relied on, the evaluation applied. The Act expects the record to be producible, and a section 108 notice gives 30 days to produce it.
- Control modifications.Extensions, variations and licence uplifts move contracts past approved values and, at a point, past what is permitted without a change notice or a new procurement. Spend tracked by contract is what makes drift visible.
- Pay in 30 days, and be seen to.The implied term overrides longer contractual terms, the compliance notice reports against it, and payments over £30,000 are published. All three assume you can tie a payment to a contract.
- Direct awards need a ground, a notice and a record.Rolling a contract over with the incumbent is sometimes lawful and often convenient. Without a transparency notice and recorded reasoning it is the pattern most likely to draw a referral.
- Legacy contracts are still in scope.The payment and reporting duties refer to public contracts, so contracts let under the previous regulations and still in force are caught.
- In Wales, know both routes.Sell2Wales is the operational route to the platform. Devolved Welsh authorities are exempt from publishing the full and modified contract documents, and nothing else.
Related: Procurement Act 2023 Compliance Reviews.
Oversight
The Procurement Compliance Service.
Compliance oversight sits with the Cabinet Office's Procurement Compliance and Oversight function, delivered through the Procurement Compliance Service alongside a separate Debarment Review Service. The service investigates systemic and institutional non-compliance, considers referrals from anyone, and uses the powers in Part 10 of the Act: a notice requiring documents and assistance under section 108, with a minimum of 30 days to respond; recommendations under section 109 that an authority must have regard to; and guidance under section 110. It can ask for a progress report, which may include an action plan, and it can publish its findings and that report on GOV.UK.
Sources: GOV.UK guidance on procurement compliance and oversight, updated August 2026; Cabinet Office, Procurement Compliance Service scope and remit.
Insights on the Act
Our analysis, as it developed.
-
Contracting authorities→
Eighteen months into the Procurement Act 2023, would your processes withstand scrutiny?
The bedding-in period is over and the Procurement Compliance Service publishes what it finds. Five governance risks decide whether an authority is exposed, and a compliance score shows where it stands.
-
Contracting authorities→
PA23 Compliance Review: If the Regulator Asked for Evidence Tomorrow, Would You Be Ready?
This article explores governance challenges authorities face under the Procurement Act 2023. From unjustified direct awards and unknown contract extensions to incomplete contract registers, late transparency notices and pressure on under-resourced procurement teams to maintain oversight.
-
Contracting authorities→
Beyond Go Live PA23: The Continuing Struggles of Procurement Act Implementation
The challenges are familiar. Incomplete registers, limited payment visibility, late transparency notices and decisions evidenced through email. One year into the Procurement Act 2023, implementation is where risk now sits. This article examines the operational realities contracting authorities are navigating and what defensibility really requires.
-
Contracting authorities→
Procurement Act 2023 Implementation One Year On: Oversight, Transparency and Compliance Insights
One year after taking effect, the Procurement Act 2023 has reshaped public procurement governance across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. With expanded transparency duties, statutory record keeping under Section 98 and a new oversight regime, compliance expectations have intensified. Legal challenges have already tested the regime, reinforcing that documentation, process discipline and oversight are now central to managing procurement and financial risk.
-
Private companies→
The Procurement Act 2023 Explained: What the New Public Procurement Rules Mean for Suppliers
Understand the Procurement Act 2023 and what the new public procurement rules mean for suppliers. This guide explains how the Act changes bidding, contract management and supplier obligations, with clear steps to help suppliers targeting public sector contracts, including cloud, tech and service providers, prepare.
This page is a practitioner's summary for general information. It is not legal advice, the position moves as guidance is updated, and we check the current guidance before advising on any specific procurement.