Legislative Structure
The new procurement regime is made up of primary legislation (the Procurement Act 2023) and of secondary legislation that sits under it, in particular, the Procurement Regulations 2024 (although further secondary legislation is likely to be made in due course).
Transitional Provisions
The new regime applies to all regulated contracts whose procurement was commenced on or after 24 February 2025. Generally, a procurement will be commenced on the date that the contract notice/advertisement is published.
More detailed government guidance on transition is available here.
Contracts whose procurement was commenced before 24 February 2025 will continue to be regulated by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (or where relevant by the equivalent Utilities/Defence/Concessions regulations). This includes where modifications are made to the contract after 24 February 2025.
Where the procurement of a framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system was commenced before 24 February 2025, then that agreement and all contracts called off under it, will remained regulated by the "old" regime - even after 24 February 2025.
Anatomy of the Act
The Act is intended to make sense in terms of its structure; beginning with core principles and pre-procurement, through to procurement, award, contract management, and remedies and oversight.
Below you can find our commentary on each "part" of the Act, following the narrative arc of a procurement process.
