The Procurement Act 2023 is now live! The Government has launched the Central Digital Platform (CDP), making it easier to find and bid for contracts. The CDP is an enhancement of the existing Find a Tender service. All suppliers must register on the CDP to stay compliant and access opportunities. Find out more: Information and guidance for suppliers - GOV.UK. If you experience any issues please contact: [email protected]
Support for Suppliers
From 24 February 2025 significant new regulations are in effect that aim to transform public procurement - the Procurement Act 2023 (PA23). This important piece of legislation changes the way the public sector buys goods and services, helping make better use of public resources to deliver better public services and grow the economy.
Suppliers need to know about these changes.
These changes do not impact contracts in place prior to 24 February 2025. However, for all new procurements post-February 2025, it is important that suppliers understand the change.
Already a NEPO awarded supplier? Find out what the Procurement Reforms mean for you
PA23 brings new opportunities and responsibilities for suppliers. The Cabinet Office hosted two webinars covering the key changes and providing a live demonstration of the central digital platform.
These sessions cover the key changes under PA23 and provide a live demonstration of the central digital platform.
If you missed them, don't worry! You can watch the recorded sessions and access essential supplier guidance and resources on the Transforming Public Procurement webpage.
A key objective for the Procurement Act 2023 is to make it easier for suppliers to do business with the public sector. There are some core benefits for suppliers once the new regime goes live, including:
- A central place to register and to store your core business details so that they can be used for multiple bids.
- Improved transparency and access to information, with all public procurement opportunities in one place, making it easier to search for and set up alerts for procurements of interest to you.
- Better visibility of procurement plans, engagement events and tender opportunities - including those below threshold - increasing the number of opportunities available to bid on.
- Greater visibility about who is bidding for, and winning, larger public sector contracts above £5million, and the details of those public contracts.
- Simplified bidding processes to make it easier to bid, negotiate and work in partnership with the public sector, including a new ‘competitive flexible’ procedure.
- Frameworks will be more flexible, so prospective suppliers are not shut out for long periods of time.
- A new duty on contracting authorities to have regard to the particular barriers facing SMEs and VCSEs, and to consider what can be done to overcome them throughout the procurement lifecycle, helping level the playing field for smaller businesses so they can compete for more contracts.
- Strengthened provisions for prompt payment throughout the supply chain, enabling SMEs to benefit from 30 day payment terms on a broader range of public sector contracts.
- A stronger exclusions framework will take tougher action on underperforming suppliers.
This is a long-term change, so although these benefits may not be visible on day one NEPO are confident that the new reforms will help break down barriers to entry into procurement.
The Cabinet Office, who are leading the Transforming Public Procurement programme, provide regular updates on their website and via a regular newsletter. If you haven't already, we recommend you subscribe to their mailing list to ensure you're kept up to date on the latest news and information.
Here at NEPO our Procurement Team are fully trained on the latest guidance materials so they are ready to operate under the new Act and Regulations and realise the benefits of the new regime.
Resources
Here are a few other actions you can take to better understand PA23:
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