02 Dec 2024

Transforming Public Procurement Update – December 2024

There is just three months to go until go-live, and to support supplier readiness for the Procurement Act 2023, the Cabinet Office has published an update.

Please see below an update which includes the new commencement date, a supplier information leaflet, a link to the Knowledge Drops and the actions suppliers can take to get ready.

Commencement date

As you may be aware, Ministers recently announced to Parliament 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. This is to allow time for a New National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) to be produced, the work for which is now well underway.

Supplier information leaflet and Knowledge Drops

The Cabinet Office have also updated their information leaflet for suppliers, which includes a dedicated FAQ. This leaflet, together with the series of ‘Knowledge Drop’ videos, give suppliers a broad understanding of the Procurement Act and the key changes that will come into effect in February 2025. There are also dedicated SME and VCSE videos as part of the series. You can view all Knowledge Drop videos here

They have also shared many of the training materials they are providing to public sector buyers. This includes a suite of guidance documents exploring the different elements of the Act which can be found here and the entire contents of e-learning modules which can be found here.

Central Digital Platform

There is also a factsheet, which covers key FAQs about the platform for both suppliers and buyers.

Supplier information page

To make it easy for suppliers to find this information the Cabinet Office have created a dedicated supplier information page on gov.uk. They will continue to add information and links here as we get closer to go-live so please do bookmark and check back for further updates.

CCS pipeline update

Following the change in go-live date, CCS has also provided a commercial pipeline update, outlining which agreements have been transitioned to PCR 2015 and which have been extended.

What suppliers can do now

In the meantime, there are actions suppliers can take to get ready:

Sign up for regular updates here.
Familiarise yourselves with the Act with the supplier ‘Knowledge Drop’ videos, which give a broad understanding of the Procurement Act and the key changes that will come into effect in February 2024. There are also dedicated SME and VCSE videos as part of the series. You can view all Knowledge Drop videos here
Discuss the changes with your regular customers and clients - who will now be thinking about their forward pipelines and which procurements might be undertaken using the new approaches.

As the go-live date gets closer, the Cabinet Office will be publishing more information and guidance so suppliers can get ready for the changes.