Procurement reform

Following on from the Government’s consultation on procurement reform, a new public procurement regime will come into effect in 2023.

The new regime will replace the current four existing sets of public regulations (the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011) with a single new regulatory framework. The Government Procurement Bill can be found here.

In order to help organisations prepare for these changes, we have produced a number of short articles which look at areas of interest including the impact of COVID-19 on the bill, the use of Frameworks and DPS’s under the new Bill and the changes to Regulation 72 (which allows contracting authorities to modify their live contracts).

Transforming the Public Procurement regime – where are we now?

The Procurement Bill has completed its passage through the Committee Stage in the House of Commons. It will now progress to the Report stage (for further debate and proposed amendments) before the Third Reading stage in the Commons.

Following Royal Assent (expected later this Spring), secondary legislation will be finalised to bring some elements of the Bill and the wider regime into effect. Secondary legislation will be publicly consulted on and then laid before Parliament. Given the 6 month notice period which is planned to follow this, the Cabinet Office most recently indicated that “go-live” of the new regime is expected in Spring 2024 at the earliest.