It’s not lost on us here at Tender Victory that there have been lots of “one year in” posts and webinars on many of our feeds in the last few weeks, as 24th February 2026 was the first anniversary of the new Procurement Act 2023 being in force.
Whilst we don’t want to add to the “noise”, these regulations do mark the biggest shift in procurement regulation and transparency intentions since Vicki started working in procurement, back in 2005. So they are worthy of comment!
Read on to learn from our “one year in” observations and how they can improve your approach to public sector tendering and bid management.
Our findings so far:
The requirement to register on the Central Digital Platform, for most of our clients has been a mixed blessing. Whilst completing the Supplier Information itself is fairly straightforward and well explained, the requirement to the use GOV.UK One Login has presented a number of our clients with frustrating multi-factor authentication (MFA) hurdles.
- But you can learn from this. When registering, bear in mind how your business might need to use the One Login in the future. Which Government services will you use? Which device is best for MFA (e.g. log in security codes) and will this device ever go on holiday?
- More on CDP requirements below, in “Our recommendations for you”.
Find a Tender’s front-end usability and functions have not advanced considerably in the last year, other than the addition of more notice types and procurement stages to the search fields. However, more recently we have benefited from being able to search the notices of a single buying organisation, with one click, using their Procurement Identifier (OCID). With increased use of the system and notices by buyers, we look forward to such functions and links being more widely available and connected across the platform, improving search results, accuracy and relevance.
We welcome the increase in the number of market engagement and pipeline notices (UK1 – UK3) that have been published in the last year. These are helping us to support our clients to prepare and position themselves better for future/forthcoming tenders.
Contracts Finder seems to have suffered somewhat, with its saved search functionality not working as well as previously. Contracts Finder is still a relevant resource for a number of our clients.
- But you can learn from this: we now recommend bidders undertake periodic and frequent manual searches to fill this gap until normal service resumes.
The Act introduced a new “open framework” which is a structure of framework that can be re-opened (as the name suggests!) to new joiners at set points during its life. Our research indicates that take-up amongst buyers of this new open framework has been lower than use of the closed framework (which is more similar to the structure of framework under the previous regulations). We will continue to monitor this, as we see the merit in this structure of framework, for both buyers and suppliers.
Dynamic Markets, perceived as the evolution of the previously available Dynamic Purchasing Systems, have not gained much traction amongst the buyer community, with little use so far. Again, we will continue to monitor.
The Open Procedure (single stage tender process) is still being used far more than the new Competitive Flexible Procedure. Tussell reports only 20% of above threshold procurements selected Competitive Flexible in the first year.
The Procurement Review Unit and its component parts is now taking cases. This Unit now covers distinct and defined areas:
- Public Procurement Review Service (PPRS)
- Procurement Compliance Service (PCS)
- Debarment Review Service (DRS)
If you want to know more and better understand the regulations and different types of notices to improve your searches, chat to us about a tailored workshop for your organisation, led by one of our expert writers.
Moving forward
We welcome the intentions of greater transparency and the additional notice publishing requirements (that have been placed upon contracting authorities).
Whilst we understand that more notices present additional administration burdens and responsibilities on the contracting authorities, we believe that the intended level of transparency (when such notices are fully searchable and can be cross referred) will help bidders to more fully research and understand their target public sector customers.
For example, the availability of past data in the current Contracts Finder and Find a Tender systems does not support efficient research on buyer notices and awards. Furthermore, being able to understand the contracts awarded under Dynamic Markets and frameworks, will help bidders to understand if tendering for a place on such systems is a worthwhile resource investment for them.
Our recommendations for you
1. Make sure your business is registered on the Central Digital Platform
All businesses that want to submit tenders to the public sector, must register on the Central Digital Platform (CDP) by 1st April 2026, regardless of whether they bid for high or low value contracts. CDP registration, from 1st April 2026 applies to high value and low value tenders (above and below the Procurement Act 2023 thresholds), as buyers must publish details of awarded suppliers Public Procurement Organisation Number (PPON) on their Contract Details notices.
The PPON of your organisation will be required by the authorities that you submit all your bids to. The CDP registration is the only way to generate your PPON. Contracting authorities need this, as they are obligated to publish a Contract Details Notice for below threshold procurements (in addition to above).
If you haven’t yet registered, see our easy, step by step guide here.
2. Once registered, keep your Central Digital Platform (CDP) registration up to date
If your accountant has submitted your annual accounts to Companies House since your registration with the CDP, we advise that you update your Supplier Information on the Central Digital Platform and include the new accounts. Also check your certificates and trade assurances captured on there are current and up to date.
Don’t risk your submission without checking your CDP info is up to date – prior to submitting your bid.
Once you’ve updated the platform information and generated your new share code, we recommend that you make an easy to access not of your code and download your new supplier information zip folder.
3. Maximise the results from your saved searches
If you use Find a Tender as a source of tender notifications (through saved searches), do some housekeeping. Some suggestions include:
- Make sure the search results are wide enough, whilst also remaining relevant to your business.
- Check your CPV codes
- Check your search regions
- Check the notice types your search covers (make sure it includes UK1 to UK3 notice if you want advance notification before tenders go out for competition (a tender process starts when a UK4 Tender Notice is published)).
- Once the UK4 Tender Notice has been published, no dialogue can take place, any queries must be submitted as tender clarifications – which unless commercially confidential, will have to be shared with other bidders.
In summary
For buyers and suppliers alike, the Procurement Act 2023 places greater emphasis on good housekeeping when it comes to procurement. For buyers, this lies in greater transparency obligations and record keeping, for publishing in additional notices. For bidders/suppliers, this housekeeping lies in keeping up to date with the information within these notices and learning how to use it to best effect in preparing for tenders.
The additional notices will provide greater opportunities for detailed research into public sector opportunities and the habits of buyers.
- When more data and notices have been correctly published, we will be able to retrospectively research specific buyer procurements and notices to better understand their organisations and requirements.
- The opportunities to more fully engage at an early stage (pre-tender) should bring benefits to SMEs that can participate in market engagements – again helping suppliers and bidders to better understand the buying organisation’s journey to the point of procurement.
This means keeping your registrations up to date and assigning time to developing search criteria and skills to inform your engagement with buyers prior to tendering.
Don’t forget, that in some instances, the old regs (Public Contract Regulations (PCR) 2015) continue to apply and are enforceable as some live frameworks, DPSs and contracts remain governed by them (as the relevant procurement was published under the old scheme). So whilst we’re concentrating on the new regs here, be mindful that in some cases the old regs still apply. Award notices relating to contracts being awarded under PCR 2015 are being published on Contracts Finder (within 90 days of award, if above thresholds).
And finally… we’re happy to help…
If you’d like to understand procurement and bid writing from an SME’s perspective, check out our recent blog outlining the training workshops we can design and deliver, tailored for your business or industry.
We can help to build your understanding, please reach out on 07971 526587 or send us an email.
You can also check out our FAQs and blog page for further guidance and support, aimed at SMEs that tender to win public sector contracts.