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.
Dynamic Purchasing Systems whose procurement was commenced prior to 24 February 2025 will be deemed to terminate on 23 February 2029 (if they have not terminated earlier).
Provisions with Delayed Implementation
The regulations (as amended) which trigger the commencement of the Procurement Act 2023 list the sections of the Act which come into force on 24 February 2025.
Almost all of the Act goes live on that date.
However there are a few provisions which will only come into force at a later date. These include:
- Payments Compliance Notices (section 69)
- Information about payments >£30k under public contracts (section 70)
- Contract Performance (section 71) – the obligation to report on KPIs and poor performance/breach in a Contract Performance Notice