Yesterday, nearly three years since the Cabinet Office began its Green Paper consultation, the Procurement Act 2023 received royal assent.  

This is a major milestone in the Government’s public procurement reform agenda. There is a lot more to come in the next few months before the new regime is expected to go live in October 2024, in the form of subsidiary regulations, statutory guidance and learning and development programmes run by the Cabinet Office.   

Look out for our various webinars and e-briefings in the coming weeks and months to help support implementation and please get in touch if you require bespoke support. 

In other procurement news:

• The financial thresholds for the application of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and other procurement regulations will be updated from 1 January 2024, with some very slight increases to note for some of the thresholds. These are set out in The Public Procurement (Agreement on Government Procurement) (Thresholds) (Amendment) Regulations 2023  
• The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 have been laid before Parliament. Subject to parliamentary scrutiny and agreement, the Department of Health and Social Care intends the Provider Selection Regime (PSR) to come into force on 1 January 2024. The PSR will be a set of new rules for procuring health care services in England by ‘relevant authorities’ (which includes NHS England, Integrated care boards, NHS trusts and local authorities).

It is an exciting time for the world of public procurement as we all work together to implement these transformative reforms.

Feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss any of the above at all.