The Procurement Act 2023 is new procurement legislation aimed at reforming the way public sector organisations, like Chesterfield Borough Council, procure goods, works and services. 

This is to ensure that every pound spent goes further.

These new rules will create a more flexible commercial system, to make procurement faster, simpler, and more transparent, and open up more opportunities to small businesses and social enterprises. It also allows us to exclude suppliers from our procurement processes where there is evidence of wrongdoing or systematic poor performance.

The thresholds for when procurement activity is within scope or 'covered' under the new regime for 2024 to 2025 are:

• £214,904 (including VAT) for goods or services
• £5,372,609 (including VAT) for works

There is also a lower threshold of £30,000 (including VAT) where regulations apply under certain conditions.

This is an important piece of legislation that will change the way the public sector buys goods and services. As a contracting authority, this will impact the way we do business with our suppliers.

The implementation of the Procurement Act has been delayed to allow time for a new National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) to be developed that is aligned to the new Government’s priorities, and the NPPS laid by the previous administration in May 2024 has been withdrawn.

The new procurement legislation will now come into effect on 24 February 2025.

While the delay does allow more time for stakeholders to familiarise themselves with the new regime, we also understand this may impact procurements scheduled to commence under the new Act. The Cabinet Office have put together some further information about Transforming Public Procurement, which should answer many of the questions you may have. 

If you have more specific points or questions you wish to raise, please contact the Cabinet Office at: procurement.reform@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.