Source: https://tendernation.io/guides/procurement-act-2023-smes Guide # Procurement Act 2023: what SMEs need to know What actually changed when the new rules went live in February 2025, and how small suppliers can use them to win more public work. Updated 3 Oct 2026 The Procurement Act 2023 is the biggest change to UK public procurement in a generation. It went live on **24 February 2025** and replaced the old EU-derived rules (the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, plus the separate utilities and concessions regulations) for most buyers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. If you sell to the public sector, or want to, the changes are mostly good news. The government wrote the Act partly to make it easier for small businesses to win contracts. This guide covers what changed in practice, what it means for an SME, and what to do about it. > **Quick note on scope.** Scottish devolved bodies still follow Scotland's own procurement rules. Procurements that started before 24 February 2025 continue under the old regulations until they finish, so you will see both regimes in the market for a while yet. ## The short version - **One place to look.** Find a Tender became the Central Digital Platform. Notices across the whole lifecycle of a contract are published there, from early market engagement through to contract award and termination. - **Register once.** Suppliers create one profile on the Central Digital Platform with their core details and reuse it across bids, instead of retyping the same information into every buyer's portal. - **More visibility, earlier.** Buyers publish more notices than before, including pipeline notices and preliminary market engagement notices, so you can spot opportunities months before the tender opens. - **Simpler procedures.** The old menu of procedures shrank to two main options: an [open procedure](/glossary/open-procedure) and a flexible "[competitive flexible procedure](/glossary/competitive-flexible-procedure)" the buyer designs. - **Faster payment down the chain.** 30-day payment terms apply to public contracts and flow down to subcontractors. - **A tougher line on poor suppliers.** New exclusion grounds and a central debarment list. ## The Central Digital Platform The most visible change for suppliers is the Central Digital Platform, which runs on the Find a Tender service. Before the Act, a supplier wanting full visibility had to check Contracts Finder, Find a Tender and a scattering of buyer portals, and still missed things. Under the Act, buyers must publish a much wider set of notices on the platform. Think of it as the full story of a contract told in public: 1. **Pipeline notices:** large buyers (those spending more than £100 million a year) must publish their planned procurements above £2 million for the next 18 months. 2. **Preliminary market engagement notices:** the buyer wants to talk to the market before writing the specification. 3. **Tender notices:** the opportunity itself. 4. **Contract award and contract details notices:** who won, and for how much. 5. **Contract performance and change notices:** how the contract is going, including published KPIs for larger contracts. For an SME, the early notices are the most valuable. If you see a pipeline notice for a contract you could deliver, you have time to prepare, find partners and get involved in market engagement before anyone else is writing a bid. TenderNation imports Find a Tender data daily, including these early notices. Business plan users get them as **early signals**, separate from live tenders, so the next one you could win doesn't get buried. ## Registering as a supplier To bid for contracts under the Act you need to register on the Central Digital Platform and keep your supplier information up to date. Your profile holds your basic details, connected persons (such as directors and people with significant control), and declarations about exclusion grounds. Practical tips: - **Do it before you need it.** Registration is free, but you don't want to be finding your directors' details on deadline day. - **Keep it current.** Buyers can rely on your profile, so update it when directors change or a declaration becomes outdated. - **Use the share code.** When you bid, you share a code that gives the buyer access to your core information. You no longer re-enter the basics every time. ## The new procedures The Act replaced the old procedures (open, restricted, competitive dialogue, competitive procedure with negotiation and innovation partnership) with two: - **Open procedure:** a single-stage tender anyone can respond to, much like before. - **Competitive flexible procedure:** the buyer designs its own process. It might include a selection stage, negotiation, demonstrations or multiple rounds of tenders. The flexible procedure will vary a lot between buyers, which means **reading the tender notice and documents properly matters more than it used to**. Our guide to [writing a tender under the Act](/guides/how-to-write-a-tender) covers how bids are scored. The process should be set out up front, including stages, timelines and how bids will be judged. ## "Most advantageous tender" Contracts are now awarded to the **most advantageous tender** (MAT), rather than the old "most economically advantageous tender" (MEAT). In practice, buyers still weigh price against quality, but the wording gives them more room to value things like social value, innovation and delivery approach. Two things follow for SMEs: - **Price isn't everything.** A well-evidenced quality response can beat a cheaper bid. - **Read the award criteria closely.** Weightings must be published, so write to the scoring, not to what you think the buyer wants. ## What changed below the threshold Most SMEs win their first contracts in the below-threshold space. These are contracts under the values where the full regime applies, though the Act still regulates them above certain minimums. The Act includes protections that matter here: - When a buyer advertises a below-threshold contract, it **can't add a separate pre-qualification stage** to filter suppliers by suitability before tendering. Everyone who meets the conditions can submit a tender. - Advertised below-threshold opportunities above the relevant minimum values must be published on the Central Digital Platform, so they are easier to find. - Buyers are expected to consider the barriers SMEs face and look at ways to remove them, such as splitting contracts into lots. If you have been put off by heavy pre-qualification questionnaires on small contracts, take another look. ## Prompt payment Public contracts must include 30-day payment terms for undisputed invoices, and those terms must flow down the supply chain. If you are a subcontractor on a public contract, the prime contractor should pay you within 30 days. For a small business, this can matter as much as winning the work. Cash flow kills more SMEs than lost bids. ## Exclusions and debarment The Act tightened the rules on excluding suppliers. There are **mandatory exclusion grounds** (serious offences such as fraud, bribery and modern slavery) and **discretionary ones** (such as poor performance on previous contracts). A central **debarment list** names suppliers excluded from public contracts. For most honest SMEs this isn't a worry, but keep your declarations accurate and treat contract performance seriously. Buyers can now publish poor performance in public, and it follows you. ## What SMEs should do now 1. **Register on the Central Digital Platform** and complete your supplier profile. 2. **Watch the early notices.** [Pipeline](/glossary/pipeline-notice) and market engagement notices are your best head start (our guide to [every Procurement Act notice type](/guides/procurement-act-notice-types) explains which to watch). [Set up alerts on TenderNation](/register) so they reach you instead of you having to hunt for them. 3. **Follow the buyers you want to work with.** Each [buyer profile](/buyers) shows their live tenders, past awards and the categories they buy. 4. **Learn your sector's patterns.** Browse [tenders by sector](/sectors) to see who buys what you sell and how often. 5. **Read every tender's process carefully,** especially under the competitive flexible procedure. 6. **Know your rights on payment** if you subcontract. ## Further reading - [How to find UK government tenders (2026 guide)](/guides/how-to-find-uk-government-tenders) - [How to win your first public sector contract](/guides/how-to-win-your-first-public-sector-contract) - [Contracts Finder vs Find a Tender: what's the difference?](/guides/contracts-finder-vs-find-a-tender) *This guide is a practical summary, not legal advice. The official guidance on GOV.UK is the authoritative source, and it does get updated.* Put this guide to work Search UK, EU and World Bank tenders in one place, get AI summaries and a fit score for each one, and track bids in a pipeline. Professional comes with a 14-day free trial, no card needed. [Browse live tenders](/opportunities)[Start free trial ](/register) 14-day free trial, no card required Browse by sector - [Construction work](https://tendernation.io/sectors/construction-work)6907 - [Architecture, engineering & surveying](https://tendernation.io/sectors/architecture-engineering-surveying)3889 - [IT services](https://tendernation.io/sectors/it-services)1708 - [Business services](https://tendernation.io/sectors/business-services)2422 - [Health and social work](https://tendernation.io/sectors/health-social-work)1038 - [Sewage, refuse, cleaning & environmental](https://tendernation.io/sectors/sewage-refuse-cleaning-environmental)3349 [All sectors ](/sectors) ## More guides - [ 5 minHow to find UK government tenders (2026 guide)Where UK public contracts are actually published, which portals matter, and how to build a search that catches the right tenders without drowning you.Updated 3 Oct 2026](https://tendernation.io/guides/how-to-find-uk-government-tenders) - [ 5 minHow to win your first public sector contractA practical, step-by-step plan for small businesses going after their first government contract, from picking the right tender to using the feedback.Updated 3 Oct 2026](https://tendernation.io/guides/how-to-win-your-first-public-sector-contract) - [ 3 minContracts Finder vs Find a Tender: what's the difference?The UK's two official tender portals explained: what each one covers, how the Procurement Act changed them, and why you probably need both.Updated 3 Oct 2026](https://tendernation.io/guides/contracts-finder-vs-find-a-tender) - [ 13 minHow to write a tender: a step-by-step guide for UK SMEsA practical method for writing UK public sector tender responses that score well, with a before-and-after example, a social value section and a pre-submission checklist.Updated 14 Oct 2026](https://tendernation.io/guides/how-to-write-a-tender) - [ 11 minProcurement Act notice types: UK1 to UK17 explained for suppliersA supplier's guide to all 17 Procurement Act notices, grouped by stage, with what each one tells you and which ones an SME should act on.Updated 14 Oct 2026](https://tendernation.io/guides/procurement-act-notice-types) - [ 6 minFree vs paid tender alerts in the UK: do you need to pay?The government tender portals are free and send email alerts. For some suppliers that's enough. Here's what they do, what they don't, and when paying makes sense.Updated 14 Oct 2026](https://tendernation.io/guides/free-vs-paid-tender-alerts) - [ 9 minHow to bid for council contractsCouncils buy in value bands set by their own contract rules. Learn which band you are bidding in, where each is advertised, and what the council scores.Updated 14 Oct 2026](https://tendernation.io/guides/how-to-bid-for-council-contracts) - [ 8 minHow to get on a council approved supplier listWhat "approved supplier list" means in 2026: frameworks, dynamic markets, minor works lists and accreditations like Constructionline, and how to join each one.Updated 14 Oct 2026](https://tendernation.io/guides/council-approved-supplier-lists) - [ 8 minWhy you keep losing tenders, and how to fix itHow to get the feedback you are entitled to under the Procurement Act, read your scores against the winner's, and find what really keeps costing you contracts.Updated 14 Oct 2026](https://tendernation.io/guides/why-you-lose-tenders) - [ 10 minCan UK companies bid for EU tenders after Brexit?What the WTO Government Procurement Agreement and the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement give UK suppliers, which EU contracts they cover, and how to find and bid for them on TED.Updated 14 Oct 2026](https://tendernation.io/guides/eu-tenders-for-uk-companies) [Compare TenderNation with other tools ](/compare)