The Procurement Act 2023: What Small Suppliers Need to Know

Last reviewed 19 October 2026. General guidance, not legal advice.

The Procurement Act 2023 replaced the old Public Contracts Regulations for procurements that started on or after 24 February 2025. For a small trades or facilities firm, the biggest changes are a single place to find opportunities, no pre-qualification stage on most smaller contracts, and stronger payment rules.

Key points

• Most public contract opportunities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are now published on one site, the Central Digital Platform (Find a Tender).
• When a buyer advertises a smaller contract, it must publish a notice on Find a Tender from £12,000 including VAT for central government and NHS trusts, and £30,000 including VAT for councils and most other public bodies. Schools and most Northern Ireland public bodies are outside these below-threshold rules.
• On most of those below-threshold contracts, buyers cannot run a separate pre-qualification stage to shortlist bidders before you tender.
• Public bodies must pay valid invoices within 30 days, and that duty flows down the supply chain.
• Scotland has its own rules and its own portal, Public Contracts Scotland.

Which contracts the Act covers

The Act applies to public bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: councils, schools and academy trusts, NHS bodies, housing associations that count as public bodies, universities, police and fire services, and central government. Procurements that began before 24 February 2025 carry on under the old rules until they finish, so you will still see some older-style notices for a while.

Scotland is not covered for devolved Scottish bodies. Scottish councils and public bodies follow the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and advertise on Public Contracts Scotland.

One place to look: the Central Digital Platform

Under the old system, smaller English opportunities appeared on Contracts Finder and larger ones on Find a Tender. The Act created a Central Digital Platform, which is the Find a Tender service. A below-threshold tender notice must be published there before it appears anywhere else, according to the Cabinet Office's below-threshold guidance.

In practice this means:

• you can see most opportunities in one place, from large frameworks down to a parish council's grounds contract;
• notices follow standard forms (for example a "tender notice" or a "contract details notice"), so the same facts appear in the same places;
• contract award information is published too, which tells you who won, at what value, and when the contract ends.

You still need to register on each buyer's own e-tendering portal (such as ProContract, In-Tend, Delta or Jaggaer) to download documents and submit a bid. The notice tells you which portal.

Register once on the Central Digital Platform

Suppliers who want to bid for contracts under the Act need to register on the Central Digital Platform and keep their core information up to date: company details, connected persons and the basic information buyers use to check whether a supplier can be excluded. Registration gives you a unique identifier that buyers use instead of asking for the same facts in every tender. Since 1 April 2026 this also matters on smaller contracts: a supplier awarded a notifiable below-threshold contract must be registered and give the buyer its identifier (GOV.UK). Do it before you need it, as it takes longer than you expect the first time.

Smaller contracts: the £12,000 and £30,000 rules

These are the contracts most small firms win first. Buyers do not have to advertise them openly, but if they do, a notice is required above these values. The Cabinet Office guidance sets out how they work:

These below-threshold rules do not apply to procurement by schools or by most Northern Ireland public bodies. Three rules matter most to small suppliers:

1. No separate suitability stage. On most below-threshold contracts, buyers cannot shortlist suppliers with a pre-qualification questionnaire before you submit a tender. They can still check things like insurance, experience and finances when they assess tenders. The exceptions are larger works contracts (above the goods and services thresholds), call-offs under frameworks, and contracts awarded by devolved Welsh authorities.
2. Buyers must think about barriers for small firms. Before inviting tenders, they must consider whether barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can be removed or reduced.
3. Some competitions can be reserved. The guidance allows some below-threshold competitions to be reserved for UK-based or local suppliers, under the rules that apply to each type of buyer.

If a contract is above the thresholds, the process is more formal. You will usually see a tender notice, clarification questions, a set deadline and published award criteria.

Bigger contracts: what has changed

Above the thresholds, buyers can use an open procedure (anyone can bid) or a competitive flexible procedure, which lets the buyer design stages such as shortlisting, negotiation or presentations. Read the procedure description in the tender notice carefully, because the stages and dates differ from contract to contract.

The old Standard Selection Questionnaire has been replaced. Much of the basic information now comes from your Central Digital Platform record, and buyers ask contract-specific questions about your capability in the tender itself.

Frameworks are still common in facilities work. Winning a place on a framework puts you on a list; work is then called off through further competitions or direct award. The Act also introduced dynamic markets, which suppliers can join at any time if they meet the conditions. Both can be good routes in for small firms because you only need to qualify once.

Getting paid on time

Public contracts under the Act must include a term requiring payment of valid invoices within 30 days, and the same 30-day term has to flow down to subcontracts that help deliver the public contract. If you work as a subcontractor to a larger contractor on a public job, you can expect that term in your subcontract too.

The government has also set new targets for direct spending with small businesses. In March 2026 the Cabinet Office announced that departments had set individual targets for the first time, aiming to deliver over £7.4 billion a year directly to small and medium-sized businesses by 2028 (GOV.UK, March 2026).

Exclusions and debarment

The Act lists grounds on which a buyer must or may exclude a supplier, such as certain convictions or serious poor performance on a previous public contract. There is also a central debarment list. For most small firms this is not a concern, but it is a reason to keep your declarations accurate and to deal promptly with any formal performance issue on a current contract.

Social value and other scoring rules

Central government buyers must give social value at least a 10% weighting on above-threshold contracts under PPN 002. Councils set their own approach. See our guide to social value in public contracts.

Some central government and NHS contracts that handle personal data also require Cyber Essentials, under PPN 014. See our Cyber Essentials guide.

What to do next

1. Register on the Central Digital Platform and keep your record current.
2. Set up searches or alerts for your trade and area. BidTrowel sends a free weekly shortlist of contracts that fit your firm, scored with the reasons shown: get free alerts.
3. Start with below-threshold contracts near you, where there is usually no pre-qualification stage. Browse open contracts by trade.
4. Look at contracts ending in the next 12 months to see what will be re-tendered and prepare early.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Always read the tender documents for the contract you are bidding for.

Sources

• Cabinet Office: guidance on below-threshold contracts under the Procurement Act 2023 (checked 19 October 2026)
• GOV.UK: new legislative requirements under the Procurement Act 2023 (checked 19 October 2026)
• legislation.gov.uk: Procurement Act 2023, Part 6 (below-threshold contracts) (checked 19 October 2026)
• GOV.UK: PPN 002, taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts (checked 19 October 2026)
• GOV.UK: PPN 014, Cyber Essentials scheme (checked 19 October 2026)
• GOV.UK: departments set small business spending targets (24 March 2026) (checked 19 October 2026)
• Public Contracts Scotland (checked 19 October 2026)