On April 23, 2024, the UK government announced a 6-month notice period for the "planned go-live date" of the 2023 Procurement Act, set for October 28th, 2024. This extensive legislation, spanning over 138 pages, aims to revolutionise the UK’s £300b annual procurement industry by enhancing efficiency, transparency, and flexibility.

To help your sales teams capitalise on the opportunities emerging from this transition, we've consulted with industry experts to outline targeted strategies to win more contracts. In this report, you’ll discover how to:

• Secure early wins before the Act goes live: Strategies to implement with your key accounts during the transition period.
• Capitalise after the Act goes live: Utilise new transparency notices to get ahead of future contracts.
• Align with buyers’ priorities: Understand buyer focus areas to establish yourselves as proactive, strategic partners in this new era.

Each section is designed to equip you with the tools and knowledge necessary to navigate these changes and emerge as a leader in this evolving market.

With 6 months to go until the Act goes live, we spoke to bid & procurement expert Gemma Waring to outline the top two strategies suppliers should be implementing to win more contracts in this transition [GATE] period.

Only procurements that are commenced after the 28th of October will be regulated under the Act. Contracts awarded or renewed before this go-live date will continue to be governed under the current procurement regulations, Public Contract Regulations (PCR) 2015.

With buyers eager to avoid the extra administrative burden of managing contracts under the Act, this presents a unique opportunity for suppliers to accelerate renewal or extensions before the go live date.

Actions for suppliers:

‍Before October, suppliers should conduct a thorough audit of their contract portfolio to identify opportunities for renewing or extending existing contracts. Start by identifying contracts due to expire within the next year to assess if renewals can be accelerated under the current regulations.

After your audit, engage in proactive discussions with your clients to explore potential non-material contract changes allowed under Regulation 72, which could facilitate extensions without re-tendering.

The Act introduces enhanced clarity on how preliminary engagements between buyers and suppliers can be structured, ensuring that both parties can collaborate to create optimal procurement procedures.

Section 16 of the Act lists several new areas where buyers can legally converse with suppliers, covering all aspects of procurement processes including the creation of flexible procedures, advising on award criteria, and designing flexible procedures.

Actions for suppliers:

Ahead of the Procurement Act, suppliers should actively participate in official pre-market engagement events with strategic customers and target accounts.

This is a rare opportunity where buyers are looking for suppliers to help guide the way buyers procure contracts entering the new era. By engaging early and helping to shape these new processes, suppliers can better position themselves to capitalise on early contract opportunities released under the new regulations.

The new Procurement Act introduces 13 new notices to enhance visibility and transparency for suppliers.

Spanning from pipeline publications to contract terminations, these new notices cover the full length of the contract lifecycle and will give suppliers better insights into opportunities emerging along the procurement process.

Below, we highlight the top two strategies suppliers can implement to proactively identify opportunities with these new notice types. In this section, we introduce our second expert speaker Martin Medforth, who has over 25 years of government procurement leadership, including roles at the Home Office, BEIS, and Bank of England.

This notice will provide up to 18 months' advance of upcoming contracts, allowing you to proactively prepare for a future bidding opportunities rather than simply react to open contracts.

Historically, these pipeline opportunities have only been published by the largest central government organisations, typically siloed on spreadsheets and disconnected from the main tendering process.

In initial documentation, the Act mandated that every authority with an annual spend over £100m must publish pipeline notices over £2m on the government’s new digital platform.

With further guidance issued suggesting that all buyers should adopt publication of pipelines as best practice, the Act will lead to this pipeline information becoming far more transparent and visible across the entire public sector.

Once the Act goes live, suppliers should actively seek out new notices that disclose additional competitor information not available under current-regulations. Below, we detail two new notice types that will enable you to do this:

1. Pre-market engagement notices:

Initially, the newly mandated preliminary market engagement notices will necessitate publication whenever a buyer and a supplier engage in any form of pre-market discussion.

This increased transparency allows you to identify and assess your competitors early in the bidding process and may present opportunities to secure quick wins against them.

2.Supplier KPI performance:

Additionally, supplier KPI performance will be publicly available on contracts valued over £5m and reveal a qualitative rating for performance - disclosing whether supplier is “Good”, “Approaching Target” or “Requires Improvement”, "Inadequete" or "Other".

This visibility provides a strategic advantage; suppliers can pinpoint areas where buyers may be dissatisfied with incumbent suppliers, and identify opportunities where you could potentially offer better value or service.

As we speak, government procurement teams are intensively training to adapt to the new regulations effective this October. Faced with the dual challenge of mastering new procedures while managing their ongoing responsibilities, these teams are in a critical phase of preparation.

In this section, we highlight top two focus areas for buyers’ ahead of October, providing insights on how you can alleviate their burdens and establish yourself as a forward-thinking partner ahead of the new era.

Th Act introduces greater flexibility into the UK's procurement processes, aimed at overcoming the limitations of current rigid procedures.

Under the new regulations, buyers will have the flexibility to create 'competitive flexible procedures' for procurement, allowing them to tailor bidding requirements to the specific needs of each contract.

These new competitive flexible contracts empower buyers to streamline bidding requirements and avoid unnecessary complexity, with SMEs especially standing to benefit.

What immediate changes should suppliers expect on go-live date?

While the new Competitive Flexible procedure allows for new innovation in the contracting process, the first contracts issued under the Act might look familiar to contracts currently seen in the procurement system.

How should suppliers align with buyers?

This opens a unique opportunity for suppliers to engage with strategic decision makers, initiating intelligent conversations about their plans for implementing new procedures.

Since flexible procedures will vary with each buyer, suppliers should proactively collaborate with your strategic customers to shape these processes. By doing so, you can position yourselves as early leaders, equipped with the expertise to successfully navigate bids when the Act goes into effect.

Speaking to buyers within their networks, our experts have revealed that buyers are currently most concerned about the additional compliance requirements associated with the new procurement process.

Buyers are not only training to up-skill their own knowledge but also ensuring that all relevant parties, including legal teams, contract managers and suppliers, understand the new compliance requirements associated with the Act.

What immediate changes should suppliers expect on go-live date?

Under PCR 2015, there are limited expectations placed on suppliers during the bidding and contract management process. However, the new Act introduces new compliance considerations for suppliers, including contract management, key performance indicators, and termination processes, which will begin with the kick off the new Procurement Act.

How should suppliers align with buyers?

Martin recommends that suppliers should proactively identify the KPIs they want to be judged under the new supplier reporting requirements, and bring these suggestions to strategic clients.

By initiating discussions on these criteria with your buyers, suppliers can shape the conversation and influence arrangements to better suit your strengths. This approach can help position your company as an informed, strategic partner, ready for the changes the new regulations bring.

To succeed in the new era of procurement, suppliers need a clear line of sight on relevant opportunities emerging across new transparency notices and contracts.

Start preparing now by engaging with strategic buyers to understand and shape the upcoming changes. To unlock decision maker contact details and procurement activity for any buyer across the UK&I public sector, speak to a member of our team today.