UK Procurement Act: Five key changes and what large organisations need to do to prepare
1. Simplified procurement procedures (or are they?)
Previously, the process of bidding into the public sector would depend on who you were selling to. Buying organisations were required to follow one of a variety of prescriptive procurement procedures. This has been slimmed down to what are nominally two: open, and competitive flexible.
The competitive flexible procedure will apply to most public sector procurement (aside from relatively straightforward purchasing). It gives buying teams a lot of flexibility over how they run their selection processes.
What that means for you as a supplier, is that despite the headline ‘simplification’ promises, you’re likely to come across a lot of different procurement processes when selling to government. Buying organisations will, however, need to be transparent from the start about their intended process.
What you need to do:
Among the extensive Procurement Act guidance from the Cabinet Office, is an overview of suggested competitive tendering procedures. Though it’s aimed at procurement teams, it gives bidders a sense of the procedures buyers are likely to use.
Buyers’ room for manoeuvre is an opportunity for you to advise them on the best procurement approach. Take part in any early-market engagement that buying organisations run, and use your expertise to help them shape their process in a way that gets them the outcomes they’re looking to achieve.
2. The ‘new’ central digital platform
The Procurement Act seeks to simplify public sector procurement by requiring all UK contracting authorities to publish information on a ‘new’ central digital platform (CDP). We say ‘new’ in inverted commas, because the CDP is essentially an enhanced version of the Find a Tender service that you’ll likely be familiar with.
All high-value contracts that fall under the scope of the Act will be advertised on the CDP. The platform will also include forward-looking procurement pipelines, so that you can see forthcoming opportunities and plan ahead to bid them. There will then be contract award notices, and KPIs showing how the winning bidders on larger contracts are performing (more on these below). From your perspective as a supplier, this will bring consistency across the public sector.
The other key element of the CDP is the Supplier Information Service. Rather than filling in the same core business details in every bid, you’ll enter this data once, and it will be automatically pulled through into your proposals.
What you need to do:
You’ll need to sign up for the CDP, even if you’re already registered on Find a Tender. Although the Act isn’t in force at the time of writing, you can register and add your company information ahead of the 24th February. There’s a guide on how to get started as a supplier on the CDP. Once you’ve filled in the details, make sure you put in place business-as-usual processes to periodically review and update your information.
The next thing is to set up alerts on the CDP to notify you of relevant opportunities, including:
- Pipeline notices – which outline when future procurements are expected
- Tender notices – which appear when there is an actual opportunity to bid for
The guide on how to use the CDP has a section on setting up alerts.
3. Extension of exclusion and debarment calls for more-thorough supplier due diligence
Supplier exclusion and debarment lists were previously kept by individual public sector organisations. There will now be a single list that applies across the board. So where an organisation may historically have been excluded from bidding to one government department but not another, this ban will now apply across the public sector.
Moreover, exclusion and debarment will also cover your supply chain (sub-contractors), connected persons, and associated persons. In essence, for your bid to be considered, there must be no suppliers or individuals on the debarment list associated with your proposal.
What you need to do:
The new rules require additional due diligence on your current supply chain. Ensure there are no organisations or individuals on the debarment list, or at risk of being on it due to meeting the mandatory exclusion grounds or discretionary exclusion grounds in the legislation. These checks should become a standard part of your future supplier onboarding due diligence.
4. New data will enable deeper competitor analysis
The CDP will publish more information about the organisations that took part in procurement processes. As well as the winning supplier, unsuccessful bidders will be listed. Moreover, where a contract is estimated to be worth more than £5M, supplier performance against KPIs will be published.
This additional data will bring new opportunities for you to better understand your competitors’ intent, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.
What you need to do:
The CDP search lets you find information about specific suppliers. Periodically search up your competition (put their name in quote marks if it’s more than one word), to see what they’ve won and lost. Where they’re an incumbent, monitor and log their KPIs. Use all this additional insight to create points of differentiation in your proposals.
5. Greater SME and social value focus mean a supply chain review is advisable
The Labour government has committed to procurement being ‘mission-led’, seeking to deliver value for money, economic growth, and social value. There is also significant government focus on devolution, and on encouraging more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) to do business with the public sector, including as part of prime contractor supply chains.
As a large organisation, there will be increased onus on you to ensure you’re working with regional SMEs and VCSEs. These types of organisation can also be a powerful way for you to increase the social value that your bid can deliver, by employing local people and drawing on their unrivalled knowledge of local needs.
What you need to do:
Now is the ideal time to review your supply chains, and ensure you have a solid base of regional SMEs and VCSEs to partner with. Tools such as AutogenAI’s research assistant can help identify which organisations you should be approaching in each locality.
Gather and store information on how these organisations will help you deliver on core contract requirements, as well as the government’s published missions, so that your bid writers can use it to craft winning stories.
Empower your bid teams to succeed
AutogenAI’s purpose-built bid writing and management software includes a range of capabilities to support large organisations’ sales and proposal teams as they adapt to the changes the Procurement Act 2023 will bring.
To learn more about AutogenAI, contact us today.
