The Procurement Act 2023 is new procurement legislation aimed at reforming the way public sector organisations, like Chesterfield Borough Council, procure goods, works and services.
This is to ensure that every pound spent goes further.
These new rules, which came into effect on 24 February 2025, will create a more flexible commercial system, to make procurement faster, simpler, and more transparent, and open up more opportunities to small businesses and social enterprises. It also allows us to exclude suppliers from our procurement processes where there is evidence of wrongdoing or systematic poor performance.
The thresholds for when procurement activity is within scope or 'covered' under the new regime for 2024 to 2025 are:
- £214,904 (including VAT) for goods or services
- £663,540 (including VAT) light touch regime for services
- £5,372,609 (including VAT) for works
There is also a lower threshold of £30,000 (including VAT) where regulations apply under certain conditions.
This is an important piece of legislation that will change the way the public sector buys goods and services. As a contracting authority, this will impact the way we do business with our suppliers.
The new procurement legislation came into effect on 24 February 2025.
How with the new regulations affect suppliers?
The Procurement Act will have an impact on the way we engage with suppliers. The new regulation is aimed to streamline process making it less complicated and introducing greater standardisation and guidance across processes.
Suppliers are encouraged to register on the Central Digital Platform if they wish to bid for public contracts.
The Government has put together some factsheets and guidance to support the transition to the new regulations - find out more here.
If you have more specific points or questions you wish to raise, please contact the Cabinet Office at: procurement.reform@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.