Procurement

Public procurement law is changing. The reforms will improve the way procurement is done, so that every pound goes further for our public services.

If your business supplies goods, works or services to the Trust – or hopes to do so – you need to know about the changes.

The new Procurement Act will benefit suppliers of all sizes, particularly start-ups, scale-ups and small businesses.

It will create a central digital platform for suppliers to register and store their details so that they can be used for multiple bids, and see all opportunities in one place. Simplified bidding processes will make it easier to bid, negotiate and work in partnership with the public sector.

We expect the new regime to go live on 28 October 2024. The existing rules will continue to apply for procurements that are already in progress, so the changes won’t happen overnight.

Short videos on the changes to procurement regulations

Guidance designed to provide a high level overview of the changes to the procurement regulations and aimed at those who have regular interactions with procurement.

Knowledge Drops are designed to provide an overview of the Procurement Act 2023 for three audiences:

• contracting authorities (with accompanying fact sheets that outline specific differences for Wales, Northern Ireland, utilities, light touch, defence and security, concessions and schools)
• suppliers who deliver contracts to the UK public, utilities and defence sectors
• small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs)

Watch the videos on the gov.uk website.

Short guides

Short guides, videos and animations on the key benefits of the Procurement Act, covering timelines and suggested considerations and next steps for Contracting Authorities and Suppliers. Find out more on the gov.uk website.

Transforming Public Procurement

The Transforming Public Procurement programme aims to improve the way public procurement is regulated in order to:

• create a simpler and more flexible, commercial system that better meets our country’s needs while remaining compliant with our international obligations
• open up public procurement to new entrants such as small businesses and social enterprises so that they can compete for and win more public contracts
• embed transparency throughout the commercial lifecycle so that the spending of taxpayers’ money can be properly scrutinised.

The gov.uk website explains what the new procurement regime will mean, provides more detail about the learning and development programme that is supporting its introduction, as well as further guidance for both contracting authorities and suppliers.

It’s important that the Trust provides a transparent process to develop and maintain a structured and professional relationship with all external suppliers and their representatives. To support this, the team has introduced a guidance document – Supplier Engagement Guidance.

Suppliers’ code of practice: preventing fraud, bribery and corruption

Fraudsters have been sending emails to suppliers masquerading as a Trust. These emails are made to appear to be from the Accounts Team at the NHS organisation, but actually originate from the email account of a genuine Japanese company (##name##@regency-inc.com) who appear to have been hacked. The emails contain a link purporting to be a statement of account.

Advice: All NHS suppliers should maintain vigilance over the authenticity of the emails that they receive from NHS organisations, and any links / attachments contained in these emails. If in doubt, do not click on the link or open the attachments, and please telephone your existing contact at the NHS organisation to see if the email is genuine.

Any suspicious emails should be reported to [email protected].