The Wales Procurement Policy Statement (WPPS) is the policy framework that shapes how every public body in Wales is expected to procure goods, services and works. It sits alongside the Procurement Act 2023 - PA23 sets the procedural rules; WPPS sets the principles for how Welsh authorities should use the discretion PA23 gives them.
If you run procurement for a Welsh local authority, a Welsh Government body, NHS Wales, a registered social landlord or a Welsh charity receiving significant public funds, this is the framework you are accountable to. Audit Wales reviews compliance with it. So do scrutiny committees and the public.
The principles WPPS sets out
- Community benefits. Every procurement should deliver tangible community benefits - local employment, apprenticeships, supply chain inclusion, environmental improvements - proportionate to contract value.
- Ethical employment. Suppliers are expected to demonstrate compliance with the Code of Practice on Ethical Employment in Supply Chains. Modern slavery, blacklisting, false self-employment and unethical procurement practices are unacceptable.
- Fair work. The Real Living Wage, secure work, voice in the workplace and progression pathways. Welsh Government expects fair work principles to be reflected in supplier evaluation.
- Foundational economy. Spend should support the everyday economy of Wales - food, care, housing, energy, retail - particularly through Welsh-based and Welsh-owned suppliers where commercially appropriate.
- Welsh SME participation. Procurement should be accessible to Welsh small and medium-sized enterprises. Lot structures, prequalification burdens and payment terms should not unnecessarily exclude smaller suppliers.
- Decarbonisation. Welsh public bodies have a Net Zero target of 2030. Procurement is one of the largest levers - and WPPS expects supplier carbon impact to be evaluated alongside price and quality.
How WPPS interacts with PA23
PA23 gives contracting authorities significant discretion in evaluation criteria, weighting and supplier selection. WPPS tells Welsh authorities how to use that discretion. In practice this means:
- Social value weighting in tenders should be meaningful - typically 10% or higher for above-threshold contracts in Wales.
- Supplier selection criteria should not unintentionally exclude Welsh SMEs (e.g. excessive turnover thresholds, narrow accreditation requirements).
- Lot structures should facilitate Welsh SME bidding where the commercial case allows.
- Carbon and well-being impacts should be assessed and tracked, not treated as a tick-box exercise.
- Award criteria, including community benefits and fair work, must be locked before submissions open and evidenced consistently across all suppliers.
The reporting expectations
Welsh public bodies are expected to report annually on procurement performance against the WPPS principles. This means having data - not just policy. Authorities need to demonstrate:
- Total procurement spend, broken down by Welsh-based, UK-based and overseas suppliers.
- SME spend share, with movement year-on-year.
- Community benefits delivered against commitments - apprenticeships, local hires, training hours, environmental outputs.
- Fair work compliance across the supplier base.
- Carbon emissions data for major contracts.
The hard part: turning policy into practice
WPPS is straightforward as a principles document. It is harder as an operating model. The most common gaps we see are:
- Social value commitments captured at award but never tracked through delivery. Suppliers commit to apprenticeships, local hires or environmental outputs in the bid, then nothing follows up. Audit Wales increasingly sees through this.
- Carbon data manually pulled from spreadsheets at year end. By the time the data is collated, the year is over and there is no opportunity to act. The data needs to flow through the platform throughout the year.
- Welsh SME participation reporting that does not match reality. Buyers report what they intended; the data shows different. Closing this gap requires automated supplier classification and spend analysis at the point of award.
- Notice publication that misses Sell2Wales or duplicates work. WPPS expects opportunities to be visible to Welsh suppliers. Publishing only on Find a Tender or Contracts Finder is a gap.
What good looks like
A Welsh contracting authority running procurement well against WPPS can demonstrate:
- A standard evaluation template that includes community benefits, fair work and carbon - locked before tendering, evidenced consistently across suppliers.
- Notice publication to Sell2Wales, Find a Tender and Contracts Finder from a single workflow, no manual re-keying.
- Social value commitments captured at award, then tracked quarterly through supplier portal evidence - auto-generating Audit Wales-ready reports.
- Annual procurement performance reports that draw on real data from the platform, not retrospectively constructed spreadsheets.
- A Welsh-language posture: bilingual notice publication where required, supplier-facing language standards captured as part of the WPPS social value approach.
How eSourcingData supports WPPS implementation
eSourcingData was designed with the Welsh devolved market in mind. WPPS principles are built into the workflow - community benefits and fair work captured as evaluation criteria, supplier carbon data captured at award, social value tracking through the contract lifecycle, Welsh SME spend analytics, and Sell2Wales publication alongside Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. Welsh public bodies can run a free 90-day pilot - real procurements, full PA23 + WPPS compliance, your team keeps all data regardless.