Government procurement changes impacting public buying
New government procurement regulations will be going live Q3 and Q4 2024, looking to revise the previous system based on EU procurement laws.
There are several changes proposed to modernise the procurement process, improving relevance and accessibility. These will allow greater SME engagement, improved feedback on unsuccessful bids, and more emphasis on flexible, dynamic purchasing systems.
Proposed changes include:
A full assessment summary for unsuccessful bids, to better inform suppliers using detailed feedback on how to improve their bids next time.
A new supplier registration system to be held centrally, to streamline the bidding process across the multiple tender platforms that are utilised by the public sector. This will save time and money during the supplier registration process, which can be lengthy and off-putting – especially to the SME market.
Loosening of regulations allowing for enhanced pre-contract supplier engagement meetings and site visits, enabling suppliers to work with authorities to define requirements and develop specifications that are deliverable.
Government departments will be required to publish a commercial pipeline for at least the next 18 months, for any projects valued at £2m or over. This will allow suppliers to forecast and resource plan for future requirements, allowing greater participation from the SME market.
More emphasis placed on the use of dynamic purchasing systems, to allow for a more flexible marketplace to adapt to changing conditions.
There are, however, some interesting adaptations and impacts to consider. The proposed extension of government supplier frameworks from a standard four-year lifecycle to eight years may offer more stability and economies of scale for the purchasing parties. However, it poses an issue for suppliers who may find a challenge in committing to pricing levels for such a long period of time, particularly given the current economic climate. To combat this, the Crown Commercial Service are considering how to incorporate price indexing into their upcoming frameworks, which may be linked to either RPI or CPI measurements.
If you’d like to find out more about how these proposed changes could affect your organisation, please get in touch with us.
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