Procurement Act: Preparing for Implementation
With confirmation from the Cabinet Office that the Procurement Act 2023 will come into force on 24th February 2025, the focus is now on getting ready for implementing the changes. As we await the publication of the new National Procurement Policy statement, we caught up with Lee Hopkins, who is part of the team of Procurement Act Champions within NOE CPC.
“When I joined the organisation as a procurement category manager, my role included being part of the Centre of Knowledge for the Procurement Act within the Facilities and Office Solutions team. As there can only be two super users per organisation, it was determined that Head of Procurement Operations Natalie Ledger would be the main super user, and I would be her deputy.
“Part of the remit of being Procurement Act champion is actively encouraging the team to be as informed as possible and access all training and resources available to them, such as the Government Commercial College, online training modules, and NHS Futures website. Some colleagues and I also undertook the super user courses which were three days of in-depth discussion. I have also been encouraging colleagues to use guidance documents such as the Transforming Public Procurement Learning Manual
“As the new regulations bed in, the process will increase the transparency in our procurement processes. We have already begun having discussions about the first frameworks we will launch under the new regulations to determine what approach we will be taking, and we are really thinking about procurement design and strategy. It’s good to have the discussions in these preliminary stages when its new, particularly when people are not sure, to help find the right direction to go.
“As we begin to undertake procurement processes under the new regulations across both sides of the business, we will share learning and exchange ideas framework by framework. For example, will we use different approaches for different lots, do we want to take a different approach to KPI’s. With a new process, people are more open to listening to innovative ideas.
“With the new Procurement Act coming into force, we are looking at the impact this will have on our internal governance and procurement processes across the business. We have several procurement projects progressing on our workplan that are in the ‘plan’ and ‘define’ phase of the Procurement Act 2023, which we will be navigating alongside the Cabinet Office spend controls governance process. Our first tender opportunities under the new rules will be published in mid-2025.
“We will use this time to support colleagues and our suppliers to be ready for when we begin to run procurement activities under the new regulations.”
Further information and resources are available on gov.uk and NHS Futures.
You can view the frameworks we have coming up in our Procurement and Commercial Pipeline at: https://www.noecpc.nhs.uk/pages/planned-pipeline.