Procurement Act 2025 — The Complete Guide for UK Businesses Bidding for Contracts

The Procurement Act 2025 came into force on 24 February 2025, replacing the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and representing the most significant overhaul of UK public procurement rules since EU membership. The legislation affects every organisation that bids for government contracts and every public body spending public money. From mandatory transparency notices to a new Central Digital Platform, the rules have changed how contracts are awarded, monitored and challenged. The Cabinet Office is the sponsoring department.

What the Procurement Act 2025 Replaces

The Procurement Act 2025 consolidates and replaces four previous sets of regulations: the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016, and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011.

The legislation implements recommendations from the Transforming Public Procurement Green Paper (2020) and incorporates the UK's post-Brexit freedom from EU procurement directives. Contracts advertised before 24 February 2025 continue under the old PCR 2015 rules for their duration. The new regime applies to all procurements commenced on or after the commencement date.

The Central Digital Platform

The most operationally significant change for suppliers is the replacement of Find a Tender Service with the Central Digital Platform, delivered through find-tender.service.gov.uk. All contracting authorities are required to publish procurement notices through the platform. Suppliers must create a profile to receive notices, submit expressions of interest and access tender documents.

The platform introduces a unique supplier identifier called the UK Provider Reference Number, which carries across all procurements and replaces the previous requirement to re-register separately for each tender. Key features include a single supplier profile used across all public sector procurement, centralised notice publication, machine-readable data standards and integration with Companies House and other verification services.

New Notice Types

Pipeline Notices — Contracting authorities spending over £100 million annually must publish a forward pipeline of planned procurements, giving suppliers visibility up to 18 months in advance.

Preliminary Market Engagement Notices — Before commencing a formal procurement, authorities must publish a notice when conducting market engagement. Suppliers who engage can inform specification design.

Tender Notices — Replace Prior Information Notices and Contract Notices from PCR 2015, combined into a single notice type.

Contract Award Notices — Must be published within 30 days of contract award, including the winning supplier, contract value and award rationale.

Contract Change Notices — Required when a contract is materially modified during its term, reducing the ability to substantially alter contracts without transparency.

Contract Performance Notices — Published during contract delivery to report on key performance indicators, creating a public record of supplier performance.

Termination Notices — Required when a contract is terminated early.

Debarment Register

The Act establishes a centrally maintained debarment register managed by the Cabinet Office. Suppliers on the register are excluded from all public contracts across all contracting authorities simultaneously.

Grounds for debarment include conviction for specified criminal offences such as fraud, bribery, modern slavery and tax evasion; breach of national security obligations; poor performance on previous public contracts; and provision of false information in procurement processes. The register is public. Contracting authorities must check the register before awarding contracts.

Mandatory exclusion grounds cannot be waived. Discretionary grounds can be considered against a self-cleaning process. Suppliers facing debarment proceedings have the right to make representations before a final determination is made.

Key Financial Thresholds

Financial thresholds above which the full Act applies for 2025/26: central government goods and services at £139,688; sub-central authorities goods and services at £214,904; works contracts at £5,372,609; light touch regime for social and health services at £663,540. Thresholds are reviewed periodically by the Cabinet Office in line with WTO GPA obligations.

Payment Requirements

The Act mandates 30-day payment terms throughout the public sector supply chain, not just at prime contractor level. Contracting authorities must pay prime contractors within 30 days of a valid invoice, require prime contractors to pay subcontractors within 30 days, and publish annual payment performance data.

Prime contractors who fail to pass through payment terms to their subcontractors breach their contract with the contracting authority.

Procurement Review Unit

The Procurement Review Unit is a new Cabinet Office body that can investigate procurement processes on its own initiative or following a referral. It can investigate suspected breaches of the Act, recommend remedial action to contracting authorities, and refer serious matters to the Comptroller and Auditor General. The PRU does not replace the existing right of suppliers to challenge procurements through the courts. Judicial review and automatic suspension on challenge remain available.

What Has Changed for Suppliers

The single CDP profile replaces multiple system registrations. Pipeline Notices give suppliers earlier sight of opportunities, enabling better bid decisions. The 30-day award notice requirement means suppliers learn outcomes faster. The debarment register and PRU create clearer accountability. Contract Performance Notices create a public record usable in competitive intelligence.

What has not changed: the fundamental bidding process, the requirement to demonstrate technical capability and financial standing, the use of selection questionnaires and evaluation criteria, and the right to challenge procurement decisions through the courts.

Transitional Arrangements

Procurements commenced under PCR 2015 before 24 February 2025 run to completion under the old rules, including extensions, variations and renewals that are not materially new procurements. Framework agreements and dynamic purchasing systems established under PCR 2015 continue under those rules for their duration. New procurements commenced on or after 24 February 2025 are fully subject to the Act with no grace period.

Sources

• Procurement Act 2025: legislation.gov.uk
• Cabinet Office, Transforming Public Procurement guidance: gov.uk
• Central Digital Platform: find-tender.service.gov.uk
• Procurement Policy Notes: gov.uk
• Crown Commercial Service, Procurement Act 2025 supplier guidance: crowncommercial.gov.uk