You bid for council, NHS or government work. The rules changed, the portal changed, and nobody rang to explain. The Procurement Act 2023 rewrote how public contracts are awarded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It went live on 24 February 2025.
For SMEs in cleaning, facilities management and security, several changes work in your favour:
- one supplier registration
- 30-day payment terms through the supply chain
- a legal duty on buyers to consider the barriers small firms face
The Act also makes it easier for buyers to research you before they shortlist. This guide covers what changed, what it means for you and how to prepare before the next tender lands.
Key takeaways
- The Procurement Act 2023 replaced the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 for procurement’s started from 24 February 2025.
- Suppliers register once on the Central Digital Platform and reuse their details across bids.
- Buyers must consider the barriers SMEs face, and 30-day payment terms apply through the supply chain.
- Social value carries more weight, so your commitments need evidence behind them.
- Buyers can research suppliers more easily, so your online presence is part of your bid.
- Preparation beats a scramble when a tender lands.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Check the current gov.uk guidance, or take legal advice, before relying on it for a specific tender.
What is the Procurement Act 2023?
The Procurement Act 2023 is the law that sets how public bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland buy goods, services and works. It received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023 and came into force on 24 February 2025. For new procurement’s, it replaced the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the other EU-derived procurement rules.
A contracting authority is the public body doing the buying: a council, an NHS trust, a government department or a similar body. Public procurement is simply the process it follows to choose a supplier.
The government’s stated aim was one simpler set of rules in place of several. In its announcement of the new regime, it said the Act gives small businesses greater access to nearly £400 billion of public spend each year.
Two supporting documents sit alongside the Act. The Procurement Regulations 2024 set out what each published notice must contain. The National Procurement Policy Statement sets the government’s priorities, and contracting authorities must have regard to it.
One practical point on timing. Procurement’s started before 24 February 2025 carry on under the old rules until they finish. For a while, you will see both regimes in the tenders you track.
What changed for suppliers?
Three things changed most for suppliers: registration, notices and transparency. You now register your business once on the Central Digital Platform. Buyers publish standard notices there at each stage of a procurement. Far more procurement information is public, including who won which contract and which suppliers have been excluded.
Registration on the Central Digital Platform
The Central Digital Platform is the government’s online service for public procurement. It works through Find a Tender. Suppliers register their core details once, receive a unique supplier identifier, and reuse that information across bids instead of retyping it for every tender.
If you plan to bid, register before you need to. Completing core supplier information under deadline pressure is how mistakes creep in.
Notices at every stage
A procurement notice is a standard public announcement a buyer publishes about a purchase. Under the Act, buyers publish notices throughout the process:
- tender notices when they go to market
- contract award notices when they choose a supplier
- contract details notices once the contract is signed
- termination notices if a procurement is cancelled
Larger authorities also publish pipeline notices showing work coming up.
For a cleaning or security firm, pipeline information is useful. It shows what is coming months ahead, so you can plan staffing, accreditation’s and evidence instead of reacting.
Transparency and exclusions
More data is now published openly, and the public can scrutinise it. The Act also gives stronger powers to exclude and debar suppliers, including for poor performance, and introduces a central debarment list.
The commercial point is simple. Your track record is more visible than it used to be, to buyers and to competitors. Between tenders, keep your name in front of buyers and main contractors with useful, regular email marketing for B2B service firms. That way you are known before the notice appears, not introduced by it.
What does it mean for SMEs?
The Procurement Act 2023 gives SMEs three practical advantages. Buyers must have regard to the barriers small firms face. 30-day payment terms apply to public contracts and flow down the supply chain. Buyers cannot require contract performance insurance to be in place before award. Single registration also cuts repeat paperwork.
A duty to consider SME barriers
Section 12(4) of the Act requires contracting authorities to have regard to the particular barriers SMEs face and to consider whether they can be removed or reduced. That is a duty to consider, not a quota. It does not guarantee you a contract, but it gives buyers a reason to split work into lots and keep requirements proportionate.
The National Procurement Policy Statement goes further in spirit. It asks contracting authorities to maximise spend with SMEs and with voluntary, community and social enterprises. Central government departments now set SME spend targets under Procurement Policy Note 001.
Faster payment through the supply chain
The Act brings in 30-day payment terms for public sector contracts, and those terms are implied into public sub-contracts. If you work as a subcontractor on a public contract, the main contractor should pay you within 30 days. If you are the main contractor, you owe the same to your own subcontractors.
Imagine a hypothetical 20-person cleaning firm in Leeds subcontracting on a hospital contract. It pays staff every month. Being paid in 30 days rather than 60 or 90 frees working capital it can use to take on the next site.
Less up-front cost
Buyers can no longer insist that insurance relating to the performance of the contract is in place before award. For a smaller firm, that removes a cost that used to arrive before any revenue did.
Does your online presence back up your bid?
Buyers can research you in minutes, and a thin website undermines a strong submission. Our free audit shows what a buyer finds when they search for your business and where the gaps are.
Get your free audit
How does social value fit in?
Social value is the wider benefit a contract delivers beyond the service itself, such as local jobs, training, fair pay or lower emissions. Under the Procurement Act 2023, buyers must have regard to the National Procurement Policy Statement. That statement makes social and economic value a priority, so it carries real weight in how bids are scored.
For central government, Procurement Policy Note 002 sets a minimum 10% weighting for social value in the total score, where it is relevant and proportionate. This applies to procurement’s started on or after 1 October 2025. Other contracting authorities may choose to follow the same approach.
The NPPS also expects social value commitments to be delivered, not just promised. Whatever you commit to in a bid, expect to report on it.
For cleaning, FM and security firms, much of the social value is already there. Paying the Real Living Wage, hiring locally, training staff into supervisory roles and cutting chemical use or vehicle mileage all count. The problem is usually that nobody has written it down with numbers.
Start a simple record now: headcount from the local area, training hours, pay rates against the Real Living Wage, and any community work. That record becomes bid content, website content and case study material at the same time.
Why does your marketing matter in public procurement?
Your marketing matters because buyers research suppliers outside the tender documents. Before a tender, they look at who can deliver. During shortlisting, they check that a supplier is credible. The evaluation scores your submission, but your website, reviews and case studies shape the view a buyer forms before and around it.
The Act allows buyers to run preliminary market engagement. That means talking to the market before a tender is published, to understand what is possible and who can deliver it. Buyers find those suppliers the way anyone does: by searching.
We are clear about our lane. We do not write bids, and specialist bid writers do that job well. Our job is to make sure the business behind the bid is easy to find and easy to believe. That comes down to three things.
Findable
When a facilities manager at a council searches for a commercial cleaning contractor in your area, do you appear? You need clear service pages for each sector you serve, such as schools, healthcare and local authority buildings. Add local search visibility, and you are in the room before the tender is written. More buyers now also use AI search tools, which favour clear, specific pages.
Credible
A buyer who visits your site should see a current, professional business. That means:
- accreditation’s displayed and in date
- policies easy to find
- Google reviews that look recent
- named people rather than a generic contact form
Evidence-ready
Bids are scored on evidence. Case studies with measurable outcomes, a written social value record and references you have already asked for all save days when a tender lands. Marketing that produces this material all year makes every bid faster and stronger.
As Marcus puts it, “A strong bid from a business with a weak website still raises a question. The buyer wants to know the company in the document is the company in the real world.”
We have seen how much this matters in facilities management. SEO and email marketing helped take one business’s turnover from £9M to over £30M, including the largest tender in the company’s history at over £1M. These results were achieved by Marcus Lobow, some in-house as a senior marketer and some through Lobo Digital. You can read more in our facilities management and cleaning growth case study.
How should cleaning, FM and security firms prepare?
Prepare before the tender appears:
- Register on the Central Digital Platform and keep your core supplier information current.
- Gather your evidence and social value record.
- Make sure your website and search presence support what your bid will claim.
The checklist below sets out who should own each task.
| Item | Owner | Done |
|---|---|---|
| Register on the Central Digital Platform and complete core supplier information | Director or office manager | ☐ |
| Set up Find a Tender alerts for your services and regions | Sales or business development lead | ☐ |
| Check accreditations, insurance and policies are in date | Operations or compliance lead | ☐ |
| Write down your social value offer with numbers | Director with HR | ☐ |
| Build two or three case studies with measurable outcomes | Marketing | ☐ |
| Update sector and service pages on your website | Marketing | ☐ |
| Review payment terms with your own subcontractors | Finance | ☐ |
| Line up references and a bid writer, in-house or external | Director | ☐ |
Work through it in that order. Registration and alerts cost little and show you the market. Accreditations and social value take longer, so start them early. Website and case study work compounds: done once, it supports every bid that follows.
Imagine a hypothetical 15-person security firm in Bristol that spots a pipeline notice for a council estate patrol contract six months out. With the checklist done, it spends those months gathering references and refining its offer. Without it, the same firm spends the tender window chasing paperwork.
Where can you get official guidance?
The official sources are on gov.uk. The Cabinet Office publishes the Procurement Act 2023 guidance documents. Find a Tender is where you register and see notices. The Act itself is on legislation.gov.uk. Rules and guidance are still being updated, so check the current versions before you rely on any detail.
Start with the government’s Procurement Act 2023 guidance documents. They cover each stage of a procurement and include material written for suppliers. Then register through Find a Tender, the route into the Central Digital Platform.
For policy, read the National Procurement Policy Statement and Procurement Policy Notes 001 and 002, all published on gov.uk. If you bid in Wales, notices also appear on Sell2Wales. In Scotland, devolved bodies follow separate Scottish procurement rules.
Frequently asked questions
When did the Procurement Act 2023 come into force?
The Procurement Act 2023 came into force on 24 February 2025, after receiving Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. It applies to procurement’s started on or after that date. Procurement’s that began under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 before 24 February 2025 continue under the old rules until they finish. Suppliers will see both regimes running side by side for a time.
What is the Central Digital Platform?
The Central Digital Platform is the government’s online service for public procurement under the Procurement Act 2023, accessed through Find a Tender. Suppliers register their core business details once, receive a unique supplier identifier and reuse that information across bids. Buyers publish their notices there, and the public can view procurement data, which makes the whole process more transparent.
Does the Procurement Act help SMEs?
Yes, in several practical ways. Contracting authorities must have regard to the barriers SMEs face. 30-day payment terms apply to public contracts and flow down to subcontractors. Buyers cannot require contract performance insurance before award. Single registration also cuts repeat paperwork. None of this guarantees a contract, but it makes bidding cheaper and payment faster for smaller firms.
What is a procurement notice?
A procurement notice is a standard public announcement a buyer publishes on the Central Digital Platform about a purchase. Under the Procurement Act 2023, notices appear at each stage, including pipeline, tender, contract award, contract details and termination notices. Their content is set by the Procurement Regulations 2024. For suppliers, notices are the main way to spot upcoming opportunities early.
Does the Procurement Act apply in Scotland?
Mostly not. The Procurement Act 2023 does not apply to devolved Scottish authorities, such as the Scottish Government, Scottish councils and most Scottish public bodies, which follow separate Scottish procurement rules. It does apply in Scotland to UK-wide bodies, bodies with cross-border functions and authorities exercising only reserved functions. If you bid in Scotland, check which regime covers each buyer.
Get ready before the next tender lands
The Procurement Act 2023 rewards the firms that prepare. Registration, evidence and a credible online presence are cheap to sort out before a tender and expensive to fix during one.
When you work with Lobo Digital, the work is done by a senior marketer with 10+ years in B2B marketing, seven of them in-house across facilities management, commercial cleaning and property. The person you brief is the person who does the work. We make sure buyers can find you, believe you and see the evidence behind your bid.
