The UK Government has announced that the date for most of the provisions of the Procurement Act 2023 to come into force will be delayed until 24 February 2025, instead of the previously announced date of 28 October 2024.

In a statement made in the House of Commons and the House of Lords on 12 September 2024, the reason given for the delay was that the Government intends to produce a new National Procurement Policy Statement, which will set out the Government’s priorities for public procurement. A National Procurement Policy Statement was published by the previous Government but the current Government considers that this does not meet the challenge of applying the full potential of public procurement to deliver value for money, economic growth and social value.

Following the announcement, the Government published an update as part of its Transforming Public Procurement Programme. This sets out responses to frequently asked questions, including the impact on the Procurement Review Unit, on procurement activity planned by contracting authorities, on Government guidance, on expiry of frameworks and on learning and development relating to the new legislation.

There is plenty for contracting authorities to do to prepare for the implementation of the new procurement regime, including:

• Updating the contract procedure rules in their constitution.
• Considering their approach to procurement rules under the new regime.
• Ensuring that anyone involved in procurement activity is familiar with the requirements under the new legislation and has received appropriate training.

The delay in commencement gives contracting authorities more time to prepare but they should continue with preparations, whilst being alert for the publication of the National Procurement Policy Statement and any further announcements.

The ministerial statement about the delay to the go-live date can be viewed at:

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-09-12/hcws90

The Transforming Public Procurement Programme’s updates and resources can be viewed at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/transforming-public-procurement