PPN 011 The Commercial Playbooks: the official action note, explained

The key facts

• PPN 011 is an action note previously issued in November 2023 and updated in February 2025.
• It applies to all central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies when awarding public contracts for goods, services or works, other than special regime contracts.
• There are currently four Playbooks: Sourcing, Consultancy, Construction, and Digital, Data and Technology, and they are regularly refreshed. New Playbooks may be introduced in future.
• In-scope organisations should apply the principles, rules and guidelines set out in the Playbooks, and apply future content produced through updates to the Playbooks or their guidance notes.
• Adherence is assured through existing governance arrangements, including Cabinet Office controls for in-scope organisations.
• PPN 06/23 replaced and consolidated PPN 02/22, PPN 03/21, PPN 09/20 and PPN 05/20.
• For procurements commenced and contracts awarded before 24 February 2025, readers are directed to PPN 06/23.
• The Playbooks and their guidance are considered good practice, and other public sector organisations are encouraged to take the suite into account in their commercial activities.
• The original Outsourcing Playbook launched in February 2019 following the collapse of Carillion in January 2018, and was rebranded the Sourcing Playbook in 2020.
• The February 2025 update reflects Procurement Act 2023 and Procurement Regulations 2024 terminology and does not constitute a change in policy.

What PPN 011 is and who it applies to

PPN 011 is the action note that puts the Commercial Playbooks on a formal footing. The Cabinet Office produces the Playbooks, and accompanying guidance notes, for commercial teams in order to improve decision making and ensure the assessment, procurement and management of public services delivers better outcomes and value for money for the public.

The note applies to all central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies when awarding public contracts for goods, services or works, other than special regime contracts. These are the in-scope organisations. Other public sector organisations are encouraged to consider taking the suite of Playbooks into account as part of their commercial activities, because the Playbooks and their guidance are considered good practice.

It should be circulated internally, drawing it to the attention of those with a commercial or procurement role. It was previously issued in November 2023 and updated in February 2025.

What the Playbooks are and what the note requires

There are currently four Playbooks: Sourcing, Consultancy, Construction, and Digital, Data and Technology, known as DDaT. The note is clear that these are regularly refreshed to ensure the content is up to date and fit for purpose, and that new Playbooks may be introduced in future. The suite is designed to be a living body of practice rather than a fixed rulebook.

The required action is direct. In-scope organisations should take action to apply the principles, rules and guidelines set out in the Playbooks, and apply any future content produced as part of updates to the Playbooks or their accompanying guidance notes. That second limb is the one teams tend to overlook. Compliance is not a one off adoption exercise, it tracks the current version.

The stated ambition behind the Playbooks is broad. They aim to systematically change how government, and the public sector more widely, approaches risk, sustainability and innovation across portfolios of projects and programmes, with the goal of creating productive, profitable, sustainable and resilient sectors. They also set out government's expectations for how buyers and suppliers should engage with each other, which makes them relevant reading for bidders as well as buyers.

How adherence is assured

PPN 011 does not create a new inspection regime. Adherence to the Playbooks is assured through existing governance arrangements, including Cabinet Office controls for in-scope organisations. In other words, the check happens at the approval gates commercial teams already pass through.

That has a practical consequence. If a project reaches a control point and cannot demonstrate that Playbook principles were applied at the right stage, the problem surfaces late, when the cost of correction is highest. Playbook thinking, particularly around delivery model assessment, risk allocation and market health, has to be embedded in early business case work rather than retrofitted for approval.

It also means the relevant Playbook needs to be identified early. A programme with a significant digital component and a significant construction component may need to reflect more than one Playbook, and the consultancy Playbook cuts across almost everything where external advice is being bought.

Where PPN 011 sits in the sequence of notes

The Playbook policy has been consolidated over time. PPN 011 records that PPN 06/23 replaced and consolidated PPN 02/22, PPN 03/21, PPN 09/20 and PPN 05/20, bringing separate Playbook notes into a single instrument. PPN 011 is the current note, updated to reflect the new terminology introduced by the Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement Regulations 2024, which apply to procurements commenced on or after 24 February 2025.

For procurements commenced before that date, and for contracts awarded before it including through frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems or qualification systems established under the previous legislation, the note directs readers to PPN 06/23. As with other February 2025 refreshes, the update does not constitute a change in policy or a new call for action, and in-scope organisations do not need to repeat actions required when the PPN was first published.

The origins explain the emphasis. The original Outsourcing Playbook launched in February 2019 in response to the challenges raised following the collapse of Carillion in January 2018. It was rebranded as the Sourcing Playbook in 2020 to better reflect the policy of choosing the appropriate delivery model, whether insource, outsource or a combination, to deliver high quality public services. Following its success, further Playbooks were produced covering the Consultancy, Construction and DDaT sectors.

How eSourcing Data helps

Because adherence is assured through existing governance and controls, the practical requirement is evidence at the right moment. eSourcing Data keeps the pre-procurement decisions, the competition documents and the award record in one audit trail, so when a project reaches a control point the reasoning behind delivery model, risk allocation and market engagement decisions is retrievable rather than reconstructed.

The Playbooks set expectations for how buyers and suppliers engage with each other, including market engagement and supplier relationship management. Structured supplier records and a consistent place to run early market engagement help teams show that engagement happened, who took part and what it changed, which is usually the weakest part of a business case narrative.

Because the Playbooks are refreshed regularly and the note requires future content to be applied, standardised templates and documents that can be updated centrally are valuable. Changing the template once, rather than hoping every team notices a refresh, is the difference between a policy that tracks the current version and one that quietly freezes at the version people first learned.

What to do about it

1. 1Identify which of the four Playbooks apply to each project: Sourcing, Consultancy, Construction, or Digital, Data and Technology.
2. 2Embed Playbook principles into business case and delivery model work rather than at approval stage.
3. 3Set up a process for picking up Playbook refreshes and updated guidance notes, since applying future content is part of the requirement.
4. 4Align internal templates and assurance checklists with current Playbook expectations.
5. 5Check where Cabinet Office controls will test adherence, and make sure the evidence exists before that point.
6. 6Confirm which of your procurements sit before 24 February 2025 and are therefore governed by PPN 06/23.
7. 7Share Playbook expectations with suppliers, since the Playbooks set out how buyers and suppliers should engage.