The UK Government has now enacted secondary legislation to reflect the new “go live” date of the Procurement Act 2023 (the “Act”) on 24 February 2025.

On 16 September 2024, the Procurement Act 2023 (Commencement No 3 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/959) (“Amendment Regulations”) were made. The Amendment Regulations amend the date that the majority of the provisions of the Act will come into force from 28 October 2024 to 24 February 2025.

This follows the recent Cabinet Office announcement that the “go live” date would be delayed.

Transitional and saving arrangements

The transitional arrangements determine which legislation applies to procurements straddling the “go live” date, the aim being to cause as little disruption as possible for procurements that are already underway when the Act comes into force. Briefly, the Act will not apply to the following:

• Competitive procurements: where a notice that acts as a call for competition is published before 24 February 2025
• Direct awards: where the contracting authority contacted the supplier before 24 February 2025 with the intention of entering into a contract without prior publication or call for competition
• Concluded contracts: to contracts, frameworks or dynamic purchasing systems concluded before 24 February 2025

Procurements that are commenced under the procurement regulations which are currently in force (such as the Public Contracts Regulations 2015) will continue to be regulated by those regulations.

See further Cabinet Guidance on transitional and saving arrangements here.