Procurement in a Nutshell – Procurement Review Unit: February 2025 Announcement
7th March, 2025
The Procurement Act 2023 came into force on 24th February 2025.
The Act, in particular, revoked the following:
- Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR)
- Concession Contracts Regulations 2016
- Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016
To ensure compliance with the new procurement regime, the Act has established the Procurement Review Unit (PRU) to oversee the implementation of the legislation by contracting authorities and suppliers (please see Section 108).
The Government have recently published additional guidance regarding the PRU to assist contracting authorities and suppliers with transitioning to the new regime. This Nutshell will review the PRU announcement.
Purpose
The announcement states that the PRU is designed to deliver the following benefits:
- Raising standards across public sector procurement through focus on, but not limited to, early identification and rectification of systemic and institutional breaches.
- The protection of public contracts and public money from suppliers who pose risk by:
- Central consideration of ‘self-cleaning’ evidence provided by suppliers; and
- Greater consistency and efficiency of supplier exclusions across the public sector, informed by a central debarment list and published investigation reports.
Structure
The PRU consists of three services:
- Public Procurement Review Service (PPRS): This service focuses on complaints by suppliers regarding a specific procurement and late payments. The PPRS will conduct investigations and may issue recommendations to promote legislative compliance and best practice. The PPRS may also refer a case to the Procurement Compliance Service for a formal investigation if, for example, it uncovers serious breaches in the course of its investigation.
- Procurement Compliance Service (PCS): This service investigates contracting authorities’ compliance with the requirements of the Act. They may issue statutory recommendations following an investigation, under Section 109, which a contracting authority must have regard to
- The PCS commenced operations on 24th February 2025 but during this initial period, no referrals will be accepted. The announcement stated that the PCS will need time to establish activity in accordance with the Act.
- Debarment Review Service (DRS): This service aims to protect public money by investigating suppliers who may be excluded or excludable under the Act as well as determining whether such a supplier should be added to the public debarment list.
National Security Unit for Procurement (NSUP)
The National Security Unit for Procurement (NSUP) is separate to the PRU and has responsibility for debarment, exclusion, and termination cases which engage national security grounds.
What does this mean?
Contracting authorities should ensure that they fully understand their obligations under the Act in order to avoid an investigation by the PRU. While any recommendations issued by the PRU are not legally binding, it is our advice that in order to uphold best practice, contracting authorities adhere to any determinations as much as possible.
We are yet to see how such investigations will be conducted in practice by the PRU, but it is clear that the overarching aim is to ensure fairness and transparency in public procurement, thereby aligning with the key aims of the Act.
For further information please contact Tim Care or Melanie Pears in our Public Sector Team.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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