The Procurement Act 2023: One Year On – what schools and Trusts need to know (and do) Part One

It’s now a year(ish) into life under the Procurement Act 2023, and while a lot of the principles will feel familiar, the practicalities have definitely shifted — especially around transparency, conflicts, notices, and the Central Digital Platform.

Below is Part One of a pragmatic “what’s changed / what to watch / what to do next” roundup for schools, academies and MATs, based on the key points we’re seeing in practice.

We’ve deliberately split it in two because it’s a lot to take in for one sitting!

As always, our blog posts are not intended to be a substitute for legal advice so if you’re in any doubt make sure you seek out an expert education and public sector procurement lawyer to keep you out of trouble!

1) Thresholds: same concept, new numbers (from 1 January 2026)

The thresholds didn’t change because of the Procurement Act 2023… but they have changed because the usual biennial review kicked in.

Key points to remember:

New thresholds apply from 1 January 2026 (and will change again in January 2028).
You still include VAT when calculating contract value.

See our New Procurement Act 2023 Thresholds from 1 January 2026 blog post for details of the new thresholds in place.

If you’ve got procurement tables in any of your finance policies, this is your cue to update them so colleagues aren’t working off old figures.

2) Procedures: simpler menu, but don’t underestimate the “flex”

Under the old Public Contracts Regulations 2015, we worked with a longer list of procedures (Open, Restricted, Competitive Dialogue, Competitive Procedure with Negotiation, Innovation Partnership… and so on).

Under the Procurement Act 2023, it’s a shorter set:

Open Procedure
Competitive Flexible Procedure
Direct Award

This sounds simpler — and in some ways it is — but the Competitive Flexible Procedure is exactly what it says on the tin: flexible. That means you need to be really clear (and evidence) the logic of your approach, your stages, and your evaluation.

Be careful when you use the Open Procedure as you may be overwhelmed with bids to evaluate if there are many suppliers in that market space.

With a few notable exceptions, it’s extremely unlikely you’ll meet the criteria for any kind of direct award so be very careful if you’re considering using that.

N.B. Direct Award in this case not to be mistaken for a direct award/call off on a framework. Confused? You will be!

3) Conflicts of Interest: now front-and-centre

The new legislation puts a clear emphasis on identifying and avoiding conflicts of interest, and not just as a one-off tick box.

Good practice (and what we’d recommend as a minimum):

Consider conflicts at every stage of your procurement process.
Use a Conflict of Interest Declaration Form.
Keep it up to date, it should be a ‘live’ document; not filed and forgotten.
The legislation requires you to consider actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest.

This matters because (a) it’s the right thing to do, and (b) it protects you if decisions are challenged.

There are some helpful templates in relation to conflicts of interest on the Procurement Pathway website.

4) The Central Digital Platform: “one place” publishing (and supplier registration)

The Central Digital Platform is where you’ll publish tender opportunities/notices, and it’s where suppliers can register and store their details for multiple bids.

You’ll also need to register to obtain:

your Public Procurement Organisation Number (PPON)
an API Key to assist you, or your procurement support, in publishing notices on the Central Digital Platform if you’re using an e-sender like In-tend or Delta, for example.

If this hasn’t landed properly in your organisation yet, it’s worth assigning ownership now — because it affects every above-threshold process and your ability to publish correctly.

5) Notices: more of them, and transparency is the point

There are new and amended notices you may need to publish on the Central Digital Platform. Below is not an exhaustive list but we’ve captured those we think are most relevant to schools, academies and Trusts.

Pre-award notices (examples)

UK2 Preliminary Market Engagement
UK3 Planned Procurement Notice
UK4 Tender Notice

Post-award notices

UK6 Contract Award Notice
UK7 Contract Details Notice
UK9 Contract Performance Notice
UK10 Contract Change Notice
UK11 Contract Termination Notice
UK12 Procurement Termination Notice

Exemptions / unlikely to apply (for many schools & Trusts)

For some notices there are exemptions or you’re highly unlikely to meet the criteria for using them if you’re a school, academy or Trust (e.g. UK1 Pipeline Notice, UK8 Contract Payment Notice, and several Dynamic Market notices).

As you can see there is a real emphasis on transparency in the new Act as well as an ‘end to end’ approach to procurement.

Final thought

Procurement is getting higher up the agenda — and with the Procurement Act 2023’s transparency focus, the organisations that do best will be the ones that plan early, document clearly, train widely, and keep their records tidy.

Disclaimer: Anything posted in this blog is for general information only and is not intended to provide legal advice on any general or specific matter.