PROCUREMENT
New Procurement Act sowing ‘seeds of activity’
Now approaching 200 days since the post- ‘go-live’ marker of the Procurement Act 2023 (the ‘Act’), Chris Robinson, associate director, and Fleur Summers, senior consultant at Turner and Townsend, provide their insights into some of the major developments and key ‘takeaways’ since its launch, particularly when it comes to healthcare estate provisions.
The twenty-fourth of February 2025 finally saw the launch of the Procurement Act 2023 (the ‘Act’) – the largest single regulatory change to Public Procurement in over a decade. Its launch concluded what was a four-year long journey for the sector, with a variety of consultation periods, bill readings within both the House of Lords and Commons, and attainment of Royal Assent, followed by an elongated implementation period. The message throughout that journey was a consistent one: that the Act would streamline and simplify public procurement, seek innovative solutions from the market, and encourage sustainable and social offerings while remaining true to the public sector ethos of transparency and compliance.
Tentative steps in navigating the Act The launch of the Act was always going to see be a slow but steady start. Within the final few days of the outgoing legislation (e.g. Public Contract Regulations 2015), there were a record 1,000-plus contract notices published. These formally commence procurement exercises and alert the market to opportunities – and the high number indicated from the start that public sector contracting authorities were going to adopt a ‘learning-by-doing’ approach when it came to undertaking procurement activity under the guise of the new Act. Recent research shows around 24,500 notices
have been published since ‘go-live’ with the new Act across the plethora of new notice types introduced within it. It will not surprise that the majority of those are ‘pipeline’, ‘planning’, ‘tender’, and ‘contract’ notices. Notably, 3,300 of those have been issued by the NHS,
with around 310 of them with a ‘construction’ or ‘estate management’ prefix against them.
A waiting game Time will tell if any or all of those notices will become awarded contracts that provide the innovative, affordable, market-leading solutions with fully engaged and enthused contractors. Equally, it will be some time before we can truly assess the performance of those appointed contractors. The Act now mandates that contracts of a total value of £5 m and above will require at least three key performance indicators (KPIs) to be set for each contract to monitor and manage delivery – and that these will be reported upon via the completion of the new ‘Contract Performance Notice’ at least once every 12 months. This is a first for public sector procurement, and will change the reporting and performance monitoring landscape for contracted parties. What can be said for sure is that in this new ‘go-live’ era, both the ‘learning’ and ‘lessons learnt’ curves in relation to the Act will be long.
To ‘Act’ or not to ‘Act’? The NHS often operates differently from other parts of the public sector – with unique nuances, challenges, and quirks. This is just as true when it comes to the application
The Critical Care Building, now known as Oxford Critical Care, delivered by MTX Contracts at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital. Turner & Townsend was involved in project management and cost consultancy on the new facility, which opened in March 2022.
September 2025 Health Estate Journal 29
James Leask Frazer / MTX Contracts
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132
