Transforming Public Procurement - Bill introduced

Yesterday, the government introduced the keenly awaited Procurement Bill 2022 into Parliament.

The Procurement Bill sets out the government’s vision for a faster, fairer and more effective public procurement regime following on from the Green Paper on procurement reform and the consultation response issued in December 2021.  The Bill will now pass through the Parliamentary process before its expected implementation in 2023.

The text of the Bill and other accompanying documentation is available at the Parliamentary website here. Any changes made to the Bill as it progresses through Parliament will be reflected there. 

The Bill will take several months to complete its passage through Parliament and, following Royal Assent, there will then need to be secondary legislation made to bring some elements of the Bill and the wider regime into effect. Whilst the Bill represents the backbone of the new regime, some of the detail of how the new regime will work  - for example the transparency platform - will be specified in this secondary legislation and in guidance that the Cabinet Office will continue to develop as the Bill makes its passage through Parliament.

The existing legislation will apply until the new regime goes live, and will also continue to apply to procurements started under the old rules. Guidance will be provided to cover the transition from the old to the new regulations. It is unlikely that any reforms “on the ground” would need to be made before mid-2023, which will give contracting authorities and suppliers alike opportunity to digest the changes and get ready for them.

The Cabinet Office intends to roll out a learning and development programme across the public sector on the new regime. This will include hosting webinars to talk through the proposals and update on their reform programme More information will be available on the Transforming Public Procurement webpage.

The Cabinet office ask that if you, or colleagues wish to receive updates directly from the Cabinet office please use  this form. 

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact Group Procurement and Compliance Manager; Gary Sadler on [email protected] or 0161 974 0936.