The most significant reform to public procurement in a generation creates real opportunity for suppliers who understand what has changed and how to position under the new regime. Here is what you need to know.
The Procurement Act 2023 came into force in February 2024, representing the most significant reform to public procurement in England in a generation. For suppliers to the public sector — and for organisations considering entering the market — understanding what has actually changed, and what it means for how to position and win, is no longer optional.
The Act replaces the previous framework of EU-derived regulations that had governed public procurement since the UK's departure from the European Union. The stated objectives are to make procurement faster, more transparent, more accessible to smaller suppliers and better aligned with national policy priorities. The practical implications for suppliers are both structural and strategic.
Cabinet Office: Transforming Public Procurement Implementation, 2024
The most significant procedural change is the introduction of the Competitive Flexible Procedure, which replaces the previous Competitive Dialogue and Competitive Procedure with Negotiation. This new procedure gives contracting authorities significantly more flexibility in how they structure their procurement — including the ability to negotiate with multiple suppliers simultaneously, to iteratively refine requirements, and to use assessment approaches better suited to complex, innovative or technology-dependent contracts.
For AI and technology suppliers, this is a material change. The previous framework made it extremely difficult for contracting authorities to run procurements where the optimal solution was not fully defined at the outset — a description that applies to almost every AI and digital transformation programme. The new procedure, properly used, creates space for genuine dialogue about what good looks like before suppliers are asked to price a fixed specification.
The Act introduces the Find a Tender service as the single source of above-threshold opportunities, and a new supplier registration system that requires organisations to provide standardised information about their financial standing, legal status and previous performance. For larger suppliers already registered on Crown Commercial Service frameworks, this will involve some duplication of effort. For smaller or newer suppliers entering the market, it provides a clear pathway that did not previously exist.
The registration requirement also introduces a new concept of 'debarment' — a formal mechanism for excluding suppliers who have been convicted of specific offences or who have demonstrated a pattern of poor performance. While this affects a small minority of suppliers, it signals a broader commitment to performance accountability that buyers will increasingly apply in their assessment of supplier suitability.
The Act requires contracting authorities to publish significantly more information about their procurement decisions — including, for the first time, a requirement to publish contract performance notices that record how suppliers have performed against their contractual obligations. This transparency requirement cuts both ways: it creates reputational risk for poor performers, but it also creates an opportunity for suppliers with strong performance records to build a verifiable track record that supports future bids.
"The performance notice requirement changes the commercial calculus of winning public sector contracts. Performance is now public record. That is a significant shift for the market."
One of the explicit policy objectives of the reform is to increase the proportion of public sector spend with small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups and innovative suppliers. The previous framework, despite stated intentions to the contrary, systematically favoured large incumbents through procurement approaches that required demonstrable scale, extensive reference sites and financial reserves that smaller organisations could not credibly demonstrate.
The new framework introduces specific provisions for open frameworks — designed to allow suppliers to join frameworks at defined intervals rather than waiting years for the next procurement cycle — and reduces the bureaucratic burden of pre-qualification in ways that meaningfully improve access for smaller suppliers. For organisations with genuine capability but limited public sector track record, this is the most significant change the Act introduces.
Cabinet Office: SME Action Plan, 2024
The Crown Commercial Service frameworks that govern the majority of government technology procurement are being adapted to reflect the new Act. G-Cloud and the Digital Outcomes and Specialists frameworks — the primary routes to market for most digital and AI suppliers — are continuing under the new regime, with modifications to align with the Act's requirements. Suppliers already on these frameworks need to ensure their registrations and capabilities documentation reflect the new standardised formats. Suppliers not yet on the frameworks should treat registration as a prerequisite for serious engagement with government technology buyers.
The Act also strengthens the provisions around framework misuse — specifically, the requirement for contracting authorities to run genuine competitions within frameworks rather than simply awarding to preferred suppliers on a direct appointment basis. This improves the commercial opportunity for all framework suppliers, not just incumbents with established relationships.
The commercial strategy for public sector growth under the new regime is more nuanced than it was under the old one. Understanding the specific provisions of the Act, how individual contracting authorities are interpreting and applying them, and how to position in both framework applications and individual procurements requires expertise that goes beyond reading the legislation.
PwC's Government and Public Services practice has noted that the organisations best placed to win in the new environment are those that invest in three areas: deep understanding of the policy priorities that now formally shape procurement evaluation criteria; a demonstrable performance track record that the new transparency requirements will make more visible; and the commercial and legal capability to engage effectively in the more iterative, dialogue-based procurement processes that the Competitive Flexible Procedure enables.
Government procurement strategy, framework registration and prime contract pursuit are core capabilities of Cairn Novaris's Prime & Contract Delivery practice. Our team has direct experience of navigating UK public sector procurement across multiple frameworks and contracting authorities.
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