Welcome to the December 2024 edition of Procurement in Profile.
As the festive season approaches, procurement practitioners are facing twice the usual end-of-year busyness. First, preparing for the implementation of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 23) by 24 February 2025; and second, launching a myriad of tenders while the familiar Public Contracts Regulations 2015 remain in force!
As ever, this edition of PIP is chock full of insight and resources to keep you fully informed. This quarter's edition includes an invitation to our forthcoming procurement update webinar, lessons from a recent case on lifting the automatic suspension, thoughts on getting your contracts ready for PA 23 and our views on the latest developments in the worlds of local authority waste and leisure contracts.
Also, as we enter the final sprint towards PA 23 readiness, take one last look at our articles, webinars, Essential Guide, Jargon Buster and Flowcharts, which should give you everything you need to be prepared.
Please also keep an eye out for our "Procurement Week 25" – a series of events in February 2025 to provide you with the support and advice you need to ensure that all of your final preparations are in place to unleash the power of procurement within your organisation.
Finally, to bring 2024 to a close, Trowers colleagues make their festive procurement wishes. We hope everyone in the procurement world has a happy and peaceful Christmas!
List of articles and webinars:
Sign up for our regular 6-monthly procurement update taking place on 15 January 2025.
Louis Sebastian looks at the opportunities and challenges arising from the Extended Producer Responsibility regime that comes into force in April 2025. New funding, and new expectations on waste collection and disposal authorities will impact their procured waste contracts.
Rebecca Rees and Stuart Brown look through PA 23 with an eye on the new drafting that is needed to make contracts fit for purpose under the new regime…and it is more than just the new implied clauses.
Scott Dorling and Louis Sebastian look at how the market for outsourced leisure service has reacted to changes in VAT treatment over the last 12 months, and how procurement processes are evolving to take advantage.
In this webinar, Rebecca Rees joins other procurement experts to explain how the sector can best use the power of procurement.
In this webinar, sponsored by LHC, Rebecca Rees and other professionals discuss what housing providers can do to bring smaller businesses into their supply chains. What does the Act require of contracting organisations, and how should they prepare? How should housing providers engage with SMEs to help them prepare for these opportunities – and help them win? And what do SMEs need to consider as they prepare for this new landscape?
Procurement Act 2023 readiness
Preparations for the New Procurement Act 2023
The PA 23 received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023: Partner and Head of Public Procurement, Rebecca Rees, provides a run-down of essential steps needed to get ready.
Essential Guide to the Procurement Act 2023
Our detailed guide to the PA 23 provides an overview of the key changes to the procurement landscape – vital reading as we await further secondary legislation and guidance.
Procurement Act 2023 – Notices flowchart
This flowchart explains in plain language the requirements in relation to notices under the PA 23, setting out where a contracting authority may be expected and/or required to publish notices in relation to procurement activity.
Procurement Act 2023 – Jargon buster
Our jargon buster sets out some of the key terms under the PA 23, what they were referred to under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, and in plain language what they are.
Webinar: Procurement Act 2023 – 10 things you need to know!
Rebecca Rees and Lucy James explain the fundamentals of the PA 23 and how to get ready.
Podcasts
Our Head of Public Procurement Dr Rebecca Rees and Alan Heron, Director of Procurement at Places for People discuss the topic of professionalism and integrity, why these characteristics are essential for good procurement officers and how this is being addressed in the new Procurement Act.
As part of a procurement mini-series by the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) in partnership with the Procurement Hub, this episode focuses on the new Procurement Act, will the new regulations drive further use of framework providers? And, how will the debarment list of suppliers work in practice?
Listen to the podcast here.
Festive wishes from the Procurement Team
Rebecca Rees
"Wishing all of our procurement colleagues and clients a joyful and peaceful Christmas and a time to recharge our batteries in the run up to the Go Live date in February 2025!"
Louis Sebastian
"That the new Procurement Act opens doors for SMEs across the public sector".
Scott Dorling
"My wish is for the BBC to commission a new programme called "Race to the Bottom". Every week procurement professionals will compete against each other and be judged by Dr Rebecca Rees. Anyone using a "lowest price" evaluation model will be eliminated. Those with the best procurement practices won't be given a Hollywood Handshake, they will receive a Rees round of applause. There's a bit more work to do on the concept but I think it could be franchised worldwide. Merry Procuremas."
Amardeep Gill
"2025 promises much for procurement practitioners as we enter the new dawn that is the Procurement Act 2023 - we all know the wait has been worth it! Over the festive period I will be carb loading (even more so than usual) to build up the strength to work through the seismic change. See you on the other side!"
Liz Mulley
"Wishing everyone a wonderful festive season and a positive and productive new year gearing up to the Procurement Act 2023 coming into force."
Jamie Norris
"Wishing that procurement professionals have a great Christmas and new year ahead of the commencement of the Procurement Act."
Stuart Brown
"Wishing all of our procurement clients a (very!) well-earned break over the festive period, so that we are all reinvigorated for all that the Procurement Act may bring in 2025!"
