The upcoming Procurement Act 2023 has the potential to transform public procurement practices for colleges and academy trusts. In this article, Stone King explores the key changes and opportunities for innovation and partnership
In his foreword to “Transforming Public Procurement,” a government green paper published in December 2020, Lord Agnew said:
“For too long, modern and innovative approaches to public procurement have been bogged down in bureaucratic, process-driven procedures. We need to abandon these complicated and stifling rules and unleash the potential of public procurement so that commercial teams can tailor their procedure to meet the needs of the market. The UK is ready.”
The Procurement Act 2023
It is hoped that the Procurement Act 2023 (the Act), which will come into force on 24 February 2025, will be a positive step towards this unleashing of potential, as it looks to be much less directive and have greater flexibility than its predecessor, the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR15).
For colleges and academy trusts, implementing the new Procurement Act will require cross-organisation changes to processes and ways of working, not just within the procurement and finance functions. New systems may be needed to meet the Act’s information requirements, and staff training will be absolutely key.
However, it is important to note that the Act will not be retrospectively applied.
Any contracts awarded under the previous legislation will continue to be managed under that legislation until such a time as the contract, or commercial tool (e.g. framework), ceases to exist.
This means that all contract management will follow previous legislation requirements and not the Act, and that only noticing that pertains to the previous legislation should be used.
Routes to Buy
Under the new Act, there are a few routes to buy available for colleges and academy trusts, which are as follows:
Light touch contracts – These include legal, educational and catering service contracts, and there is no specific procedure for these, unlike under PCR15. With light touch contracts, there is no need to publish a transparency notice, no maximum term for a framework, and no need to publish a standstill period, although a contract details notice must be published within 120 days (previously 30 days).
Competitive flexible – Competitive flexible builds upon the competitive dialogue procedure. Partnerships can be nurtured during the pre-tender process, a time when the college or academy trust can engage with potential suppliers, explore possibilities for innovations and the procedures to be followed to develop solutions. Once a contract has been entered into, partnerships can then be cemented by tools such as collaborative terms and conditions that reflect agreed roles and responsibilities.
Whichever route your organisation chooses, use it to drive innovation and embed social value. This can feel difficult at times as, often, the only demands being made on those working in procurement are to reduce costs, and innovation ambitions can collide with the realities of constrained public finance and resources. Additionally, making changes through public procurement can often seem like an unwelcome additional challenge for busy colleges and academy trusts.
The Shift from Transaction to Partnership
However, under the new Act, a change of focus is palpable, and there is a distinct shift in the language used around procurement from “transaction” to “partnership”. It is clear that the Act takes a new approach and is ‘project oriented’ rather than ‘process oriented’, with an ethos centred around the fact that cultural change can be facilitated through practices such as case studies, transforming mindsets, enhancing communication, and fostering a more innovative and collaborative public service environment.
The procurement of goods, works and services is now in the hands of colleges and academy trusts, and it is down to them to change the perception of procurement within their organisations, working together to create a strategic toolkit that applies the flexibilities of the new legislation in an advantageous and purposeful way that matches their purpose and values.
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