As you will be aware, the Government passed the Procurement Act in October 2023. The new regime will transform public sector procurement by enabling greater flexibility for Contracting Authorities, like councils, to work with the market in building commercial outcomes, achieving greater value, and fostering increased scope for innovation.
On 12 September 2024, UK Government Ministers announced to Parliament that the Procurement Act 2023 will now commence on 24 February 2025 - a short delay of four months from the original go-live date of 28 October 2024 to allow time for a New National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) to be produced.
The Government wants to ensure that public procurement supports delivery of its missions. The NPPS which sets out the Government’s strategic policy priorities for public procurement is an essential element of the Procurement Act, and it is crucial that the new regime commences with a statutory NPPS aligned to the new Government’s priorities.
A new NPPS will create a mission-led procurement regime which builds on the transformative powers within the Act, and which meets the challenge of applying the full potential of public procurement to deliver value for money, economic growth and social value. The NPPS laid by the previous administration, and which would have come into force with the Act, will be withdrawn.
This will of course be frustrating for councils who had prepared for the previous go-live date. Ministers and the Cabinet Office Transforming Public Procurement programme team are incredibly appreciative of the work commercial and procurement teams have done to ensure organisational readiness for the new regime.
Whilst the delay does allow more time for councils to familiarise themselves with the new regime, this may impact procurements scheduled to commence under the Procurement Act. Cabinet Office’s Transforming Public Procurement programme team is on hand to support councils with any questions or commercial decisions they may need to make.
This change does not affect or change the content of any of the official Learning and Development materials council practitioners may have already completed - these materials will continue to be available up to and after the new commencement date. Cabinet Office will be continuing the roll-out of guidance materials, and the programme of practitioner Community of Practice events, and will communicate very shortly details of how all stakeholders can contribute to the development of the new NPPS.
Commercial and procurement teams will undoubtedly benefit from their senior leaders’ continued support and personal championing of the work they are doing to ensure the organisation can take best advantage of the new Act. In particular:
- Encouraging teams to continue to work through the Learning and Development during this extended period. Our LGA Procurement colleagues have been in touch with all council’s procurement teams to ensure that they are engaging with the learning and development programme.
- Sharing this message with policy, finance, technology, and operations colleagues in particular to ensure all areas of the organisation are aware of the revised go-live date.
- If necessary, discussing any changes required to readiness plans or procurement pipelines with commercial teams and with the Cabinet Office Transforming Public Procurement team if you require support.
If you or your colleagues have more specific points or questions you wish to raise, please contact [email protected].
LGA Procurement colleagues can be contacted at [email protected].