Transforming public procurement

The Procurement Act, which will reform the existing Procurement Rules, received Royal Assent in October 2023.

In March 2024, the Procurement Regulations 2024 were laid in Parliament to bring some elements of the Bill and the wider regime into effect. 

On 12 September 2024, Cabinet Office has announced that the Procurement Act 2023 will now commence on 24 February 2025 - a delay of four months from the original go-live date of 28 October 2024 to allow time for a new National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) to be produced.

Cabinet Office are aware of the hard work stakeholders have undertaken to ensure readiness for the new regime and whilst the delay does allow more time for stakeholders to familiarise themselves with the new regime, they also understand this may impact procurements scheduled to commence under the new Act and have compiled a comprehensive list of FAQs to address these eventualities.

If you have more specific points or questions you wish to raise, please contact [email protected]. Existing legislation will apply until the new regime goes live and will also continue to apply to procurements started under the old rules.

This change does not affect the availability or content of any of the official Learning & Development materials, which will continue to be available up to and after the new commencement date. The additional time to prepare will also allow for a more seamless digital transition, ensuring a smoother and more effective implementation process for both contracting authorities and suppliers

The Transforming Public Procurement (TPP) programme aims to improve the way public procurement is regulated in order to:

• make it more accessible, efficient, and beneficial for both councils and suppliers
• provide a clearer framework for decision making
• create a simpler and more flexible, commercial system that better meets our country’s needs while remaining compliant with our international obligations
• open up public procurement to new entrants such as small businesses and social enterprises so that they can compete for and win more public contracts
• relax restrictions on considering factors such as supplier location and social value, allowing councils more flexibility to support local businesses and achieve wider community benefits
• embed transparency throughout the commercial lifecycle so that the spending of taxpayers’ money can be properly scrutinised.

Learning and development

There are various useful resources available to aid with learning and development around the Procurement Act 2023.

• The Cabinet Office has developed a short guide outlining the comprehensive, centrally funded, free learning and development package for contracting authorities.
• We continue to raise awareness through direct communication and through our LGA Procurement and Supply Chain bulletin.
• Knowledge Drops are designed to provide an overview of the Procurement Act 2023 for contracting authorities suppliers who deliver contracts to the UK public sector, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs).
• The Procurement Act 2023 e-learning modules are the key learning product to support practitioners in implementing the new regime.
• Deep Dives will build on the ‘what’ provided by the e-learning to focus on the ‘how’ for those who need to become expert practitioners.

For more information on learning and development resources visit our page

Single Points of Contact (SPOC)

The SPOCs are the link between the LGA and Cabinet Office - as the single point of contact (SPOC) for Local Government, the LGA will identify and ensure effective channels of communication for cascading information, including promoting the individual elements of the learning and development package within the Local Government sector and organisations. They will also feedback insight and intelligence on the effectiveness of that communication and/or any gaps or misunderstanding. This includes attending regular SPOC meetings, working groups, and providing feedback into the learning and development plans and coordinating the 'mini- SPOCs' across the sector.

SPOCs will add and remove Superusers from the system and contact the Cabinet Office with any issues you may be facing. 

The LGA SPOCs, Tina Holland and Bev Thomas, can be contacted by emailing: [email protected].

Mini Single Points of Contact (Mini SPOC) 

The Mini-SPOCs are your key contacts for anything related to the TPP programme. The Mini-SPOCs are your regional representatives, available to assist, escalate issues and promote best practices within your region. They collaborate on a national level to ensure all notable practices are captured and shared.

Superusers

There are some key differences between superusers and those signed up for deep dive training, all superusers will complete the training but not all of those on the training will be superusers. In short, a superuser will, on behalf of their own organisation, support the implementation of the TPP learning and development programme. 

Superusers also get access to additional networking, a community of practice and the ability to share experiences and notable practice with other superusers. We would expect each council to have one or two superusers to undertake this role. In response to feedback from the last local government superuser meeting we will be setting up regional networks for superusers to attend and share their thoughts and good practice.

Communities of Practice

The new Communities of Practice landing page is now available for all practitioners. 

Please note that the Superuser portal is no longer available. These communities will be available on the Government Commercial College website.

Knowledge Hub for local government procurement

All council officers are welcome to join our closed Local Government Procurement Knowledge Hub group where you can share resources, queries and solutions relating to local government only.