Procurement Act 2023 - Now Due in 2025

The commencement date for the Procurement Act 2023 is moving back from 28 October 2024 to 24 February 2025. So said Georgia Gould the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office in a parliamentary statement on 12 September.

The stated reason is that the Act was going to be launched in alignment with the National Procurement Policy Statement issued by the previous government which is now being revoked and will be replaced with a new version in time for the delayed commencement date. The statement says it is crucial to have “a bold and ambitious Statement that drives delivery of the Government’s missions” which certainly implies criticism of the existing Statement as not meeting that requirement. What the new Statement will say that is different and how that will affect the use and understanding of the new Act can be assessed when we see the new Statement.

It is also worth noting some in the procurement field were expressing concerns that the commencement date was getting close without all the practicalities of how to manage the raft of new notices that the 2024 Act requires contracting authorities to publish being sorted out.

Since there are already in place regulations setting the commencement date for most of the Procurement Act as 28 October 2024 they will have to be replaced with new regulations to bring in the delayed date.

For contracting authorities this could be mixed news.

·         For any authorities wanting to do things that are only possible under the current Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and Concession Contracts regulations 2016 there is an extended window when for example dynamic purchasing systems can still be set up. The implementing regulations had set a cut-off date four years from commencement of the new Act from any DPSs in effect at commencement and so we can expect that might also move backwards. The delay also creates more time to deal with new and existing contracts before the greatly extended publicity requirements of the new Act come into effect. This may allow for opportunities to get contracts into place or terminate them under the current rules with a lot less publicity for the parties involved.

·         Conversely, authorities waiting for the greater flexibility to design procurement procedures under the 2023 act will have to stay within the rules of the existing regulations for longer including the current strict procedures and timescales. Dynamic markets and open frameworks are creations of the 2023 Act and so will not be viable procurement options until it comes into effect in 2025.

Contracting authorities should assess the impact of the delayed commencement of the Procurement Act 2023 and in particular whether it presents opportunities or challenges to their planned procurement programme for the next four months. Our specialists are available to assist on the impact of the new legislation and the delay in its commencement.