The Procurement Act 2023 is the most significant change to UK public procurement law in 20 years. It came into force on 24 February 2025, replacing the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 with a single, unified framework.
Whether you run procurement for a council, NHS body or charity — or your business bids for government contracts — PA23 changes how procurement works. This guide covers what changed, what it means in practice and what you need to do.
Why was the law changed?
PCR 2015 was largely a copy of EU procurement directives. Post-Brexit, Parliament redesigned UK procurement law from scratch with three goals: simplification, transparency and better value. The result is a shorter, clearer Act giving authorities more flexibility — while increasing transparency obligations and accountability.
The new procurement procedures
The old suite of procedures — open, restricted, competitive dialogue — has been simplified to two primary routes:
- Open procedure — unchanged in principle. All interested suppliers can submit a full tender.
- Competitive Flexible Procedure (CFP) — the most important new procedure. It replaces restricted, competitive dialogue and competitive procedure with negotiation. Authorities design the process to fit the contract — multi-stage, with presentations, negotiation or demonstrations as needed.
New transparency requirements
PA23 introduces mandatory notices that must be published on Find a Tender at every stage:
- Pipeline Notices — required for contracts over £2M, published at the financial year start.
- Tender Notices — advertising the procurement opportunity.
- Award Notices — published within 30 days of contract award.
- Contract Change Notices — required for material post-award modifications.
- Termination Notices — required on early contract termination.
Social value
PA23 makes social value an explicit, mandatory part of procurement evaluation for above-threshold contracts. Authorities must specify how they will measure social value, weight it in evaluation criteria and track delivery through the contract lifecycle.
Standstill period
The standstill period — between informing suppliers of the award decision and signing the contract — is now 8 working days. All unsuccessful suppliers must be notified simultaneously. Individual or staggered notifications are non-compliant.
What thresholds apply?
- Goods and services: £213,477
- Works: £5,336,937
- Light touch regime services: £663,540
Below-threshold contracts are not fully exempt. Pipeline notices, some transparency obligations and conflict of interest rules apply regardless of value.
What do authorities need to do?
- Review all current processes against PA23 obligations and identify gaps
- Update contract registers to capture new notice types at each stage
- Implement evaluation panel conflict of interest declarations
- Build social value evaluation criteria into standard procurement templates
- Establish automated publication to Find a Tender for all required notices
- Train procurement teams on the Competitive Flexible Procedure