Procurement Act 2023 Explained 2026: UK Supplier Guide

The Procurement Act 2023 came into force on 24 February 2025, replacing the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011. It is the most significant overhaul of UK public procurement in a generation.

1. Why the change?

Post-Brexit, the UK rewrote its procurement rulebook around three goals: more value for money, simpler procedures and greater transparency. The Act consolidates four regimes into one, reduces the number of procedure types and introduces a single Central Digital Platform for notices and supplier information.

2. Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) replaces MEAT

Award is now made to the Most Advantageous Tender, signalling that contracting authorities should consider wider public benefit — including social value, innovation and SME participation — not just the lowest-cost compliant bid (the old MEAT framing).

3. New procedure types

• Open procedure — single-stage, similar to before.
• Competitive flexible procedure — replaces the restricted, competitive dialogue and competitive procedure with negotiation. Authorities design the stages themselves.
• Direct award — limited cases (extreme urgency, single supplier, etc.).
• Open frameworks — up to 8 years, reopened for new suppliers at least once.
• Dynamic Markets — replace Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) with broader scope.

4. Thresholds (2024-2025)

The financial thresholds above which the Act's "above-threshold" rules apply:

• Goods & services (central government): £139,688
• Goods & services (sub-central / other public bodies): £214,904
• Works: £5,372,609
• Light-touch services: £663,540

Below-threshold contracts are still regulated (Part 6 of the Act) and many must be advertised on Contracts Finder.

5. The Central Digital Platform & Find a Tender

Find a Tender Service (FTS) remains the UK's primary above-threshold notice board. The new Central Digital Platform sits alongside it: suppliers register once, share core company data with every authority, and reuse it across bids — eliminating duplicated Selection Questionnaires (SQs).

6. Exclusion & debarment

The Act introduces a centralised debarment list maintained by the Cabinet Office. Mandatory exclusion grounds (corruption, modern slavery, tax evasion, certain national security risks) now apply UK-wide. Discretionary grounds include poor performance on previous public contracts.

7. What suppliers should do now

1. Register on the Central Digital Platform — your "supplier passport".
2. Refresh your social value narrative (PPN 06/20 weightings still apply, min. 10%).
3. Audit past contracts for any performance disputes that could trigger discretionary exclusion.
4. Re-train bid teams on MAT scoring — quality and social value carry more weight than under MEAT.
5. Monitor FTS & Contracts Finder daily — new procedure types mean faster, shorter windows.

8. How rTenders helps

rTenders ingests every notice from Find a Tender Service and Contracts Finder in real time, normalises documents (PDF, DOCX, ZIP), and runs an AI fit-analysis against your company profile. For each opportunity you get an MAT-aligned scoring breakdown, a draft technical response, and a social-value section calibrated to the buyer's priorities.