The new rulebook, from a bidder's seat
The Procurement Act 2023: A Small Business Guide
The Procurement Act 2023 went live on 24 February 2025 and rewrote how most UK public contracts are bought. For small businesses the headline is genuinely positive: the Act was explicitly designed to open public procurement to SMEs, and it contains protections you can rely on when a buyer over-asks.
This guide covers what changed, the numbers that matter, and the parts a small bidder should actually use - without the legal theatre. (Scotland runs its own separate regime; NHS clinical services in England follow the Provider Selection Regime instead - see our PSR guide.)
The thresholds that decide which rules apply
Full procurement rules apply above these values (current from 1 January 2026, and now VAT-inclusive - a quiet but real change when judging whether a contract is "above threshold"):
- Central government goods and services: £135,018
- Councils, NHS (non-clinical), wider public sector: £207,720
- Works (construction), all buyers: £5,193,000
- Light-touch services (certain social, health, education services): £663,540
- Below-threshold publication duty: contracts over £12,000 (central government) / £30,000 (others) must be published on the central platform
The SME protections worth quoting back at buyers
Three provisions matter most in practice. First, accounts: a buyer cannot require audited accounts from a company that is not legally required to have them - "we need three years of audited accounts" is no longer a lawful blanket demand against a small company. Second, insurance: cover need only be in place at contract commencement, not at bid - so you do not have to buy £10m of cover speculatively. Third, proportionality: conditions of participation must be proportionate to the contract; a £40k job demanding £10m turnover is challengeable.
Buyers must also now publish pipeline notices (large authorities flag contracts 18 months ahead), pay invoices in 30 days down the supply chain, and use a central supplier register - "tell us once" - so you stop re-typing the same company information into every bid.
Conditions of participation vs award criteria
The Act draws a hard line every bidder should understand. Conditions of participation are pass/fail gates about YOUR FIRM: financial standing, insurance, certifications, relevant experience. You either meet them or you do not - no amount of brilliant writing compensates for a missing mandatory certification.
Award criteria are comparative and about YOUR TENDER: quality, methodology, social value, price. This is where writing wins or loses marks. Read tender documents with this split in mind - clear the gates first, then spend your writing time where it scores.
When you lose: standstill and the clock
After an award decision, buyers must observe an eight-working-day standstill before signing the contract, and must send unsuccessful bidders an assessment summary - your scores and the winner's. Read it immediately: it is both your debrief and your evidence if something looks wrong.
If you believe the process was flawed, the clock is brutal: proceedings within the standstill window preserve the strongest remedies, and the general limit is around 30 days from when you knew (or should have known) of the problem. If a challenge is genuinely on the table, take advice fast - this is one of the few places in procurement where days decide outcomes.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Procurement Act 2023 apply in Scotland?
No - devolved Scottish authorities run their own regime (with lower thresholds: £50,000 for goods and services, £2,000,000 for works). Welsh and Northern Irish buyers are inside the Act, with some local variations.
Can a buyer demand audited accounts from my small company?
Not if your company is not legally required to prepare them. The Act prohibits it - politely citing this in a clarification question usually resolves the issue.
What is a transparency notice?
The notice a buyer must publish before making a direct award without competition. If you see one in your market and believe you could have competed, it is the trigger to act quickly.
We read the regime so you don't have to
BidSquirrel classifies every tender's regime automatically - Procurement Act, light-touch, Scottish rules, NHS PSR - and checks your eligibility against what the buyer can actually ask for.