There have been some important updates to procurement laws that you need to know about. Our Tender Managers, Chloe Dalchow and Elaine Keen, have put together a simple guide to help you navigate through them.
The Procurement Act 2023
On the 26th of October 2023, the Public Procurement Act 2023 received Royal Assent and became law. The Procurement Act 2023 will come into force from October 2024. This change will not affect any procurements that are implemented before October 2024, and PCR 2015 rules will still apply.
Below is a guide to the critical changes for contracting authorities and the way tenders are completed from October 2024.
Central Digital Platform (CDP): All procurement notices will be published on a single online platform. Suppliers can register here, making it easier to participate in tenders. Also, a debarment list will be available, showing suppliers excluded from bidding.
Tender procedures: Two procedures will be available for contracting authorities. The open procedure remains the same, while a new competitive and flexible procedure will replace all other current procedures.
Assessment summaries will replace standstill letters for suppliers who have bid on the contract. These will include the bidder’s and winners’ scores based on the criteria detailed in the tender. Once issued, a Contract Award Notice must be published online. This starts the 8-working-day standstill period (reduced from 10 calendar days).
Voluntary requirements will include a Planned Procurement Notice (PPN), which will replace Prior Information Notices. Where prior market engagement is required, a Preliminary Market Engagement notice should be published, or you must provide reasons for completing prior market engagement in the tender notice.
Pipeline notices from contracting authorities with a spend of more than £100 million per annum must be published within 56 days of the start of the financial year. They should include detailed information about public contracts with an estimated value of more than £2 million.
Conflict of interest assessments are to be completed and revised throughout the procurement and the management of any resulting contract.
30-day payment terms will apply to all public contracts, with the exception of schools. All invoices are to be paid within 30 days from the date of invoice. The contracting authority must publish a ‘payments compliance notice’ every six months.
3 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) must be set, monitored and published quarterly for contracts over £5 million. They must be published online before the end of 90 days from when the contract commenced and should be included at termination.
Contract change notices are to be published for any above-threshold modifications if the modification increases or decreases the value of the contract by more than 10%.
Contract termination notices are to be published within 30 days of termination and must include the reasons behind the termination. This applies to both contracts ending prematurely as well as contracts that have expired.
Direct awards are allowed in cases of extreme urgency, lack of competition and where technical issues exist. A Transparency Notice must be published before completing a direct award.
Our experts are here to guide you
In preparation for the above changes, Pelican procurement and tendering teams have taken part in training sessions and webinars to support our clients participating in public procurement tenders. In addition, they also attended the Public Procurement Expo in March this year.
If you need advice or support about Public Tendering Legislation, please contact our team at hello@pelicanprocurement.co.uk.
For further information on the Procurement Act 2023, please visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-official-transforming-public-procurement-knowledge-drops
