The Procurement Act 2023 (the Act), which went live on 24 February 2025, reforms UK public procurement. For the rail sector, where long‑term programmes, regulated utilities and complex supply chains intersect – understanding impact of the Act is key to enabling suppliers to position themselves in the best way possible for future opportunities.

Published: 2 March 2026

At the heart of the new regime is a consolidated, modernised and transparent framework that replaces four sets of EU derived regulations with a single statutory structure, covering: public contracts; utilities; concessions; and defence/security procurement. The result is a procurement system that seeks to be more consistent, more accessible and more accountable.

A stronger, more structured transparency regime

One of the most immediate changes suppliers will notice is the scale and sequencing of notices which are now required to be published throughout the procurement lifecycle. These take the form of various mandatory and optional notices — covering everything from long range pipelines to contract termination.

The availability of this information purports to deliver significantly earlier visibility of commercial pipelines, clearer justification for direct awards, and enhanced transparency around contract performance and delivery. For suppliers working across multiple rail programmes, this visibility can be used to facilitate more informed bidding strategies and support better allocation of resources.

Simplified procedures with greater flexibility

The Act reduces procedural choice to three core routes: direct award; the open procedure; or the competitive flexible procedure (CFP). The CFP is expected to be most widely used, giving authorities greater scope to design a process proportionate to the complexity of the contract. This flexibility is expected to be particularly helpful in the context of complex rail projects.

A more formalised approach to performance and contract management

For contracts valued above £5 million, authorities must now publish at least three KPIs (unless they consider KPIs inappropriate), monitor performance annually, and publish assessments. Combined with publication of (redacted) contract copies, contract modification and contract termination notices, the intention is to provide greater insights into the contract lifecycle.

For the rail sector, where long delivery periods and multi party dependencies are the norm - this is likely to influence future competitions. Strong historic performance, evidenced by published assessments, may become increasingly important.

Statutory scrutiny of payment practices

The Act implies a mandatory 30 day payment term into all public contracts, supported by payment compliance notices (which must be published by contracting authorities on the central digital platform every 6 months). Crucially, this 30-day payment term is also implied into every sub-contract so applies throughout the supply chain.

Notices: what rail buyers must now publish

Key notices now include:

• Pipeline Notices (UK1): Mandatory for contracting authorities with over £100m annual spend, providing visibility of contracts expected to exceed £2m
• Preliminary Market Engagement Notices (UK2): Mandatory where a contracting authority intends to carry out market engagement before launching a competition
• Planned Procurement Notices (UK3): Optional notice which enables contracting authorities to shorten the minimum tender period later in the process, provided certain requirements are met
• Tender Notices (UK4): The central notice for launching a competition, which is mandatory for any above threshold procurement that uses either the open procedure or the competitive flexible procedure
• Transparency Notices (UK5): Mandatory and must be published before any planned or unplanned direct awards, replacing the former ‘voluntary ex ante transparency’ notice system
• Contract Award (CA) and Contract Details (CD) Notices: The CA notice must be published once the contract is awarded but before it is entered into, triggering an eight working-day standstill period (replacing the former ten calendar-day period). The CD notice must then be published after signature, and if the contract is valued above £5 million, a redacted copy of the contract itself must be published within 90 days of signature
• In life notices: must now be published to provide insight into most contract amendments, contract termination or natural expiration, KPI assessments, and payment compliance

Taken collectively, these notices should, if correctly used, provide a comprehensive suite of information, intended to make public procurement more visible than before. For the rail sector in particular, suppliers should expect significantly greater early visibility of upcoming opportunities, much clearer explanations for direct awards, and a more complete picture of contract performance and delivery across major programmes.

Frameworks, open frameworks & dynamic markets

The Act retains traditional closed frameworks but introduces open frameworks lasting up to eight years, which (among other criteria) must be reopened at least once to admit new suppliers.

Network Rail’s implementation approach

Network Rail has confirmed that all procurement activity starting on or after 24 February 2025 uses the new regime. Given Network Rail’s sector prominence, its approach is likely to heavily influence wider rail procurement practice.

Direct awards

Direct awards remain possible but are now more tightly defined, with a transparency notice required to be published before a direct award is made.

Exclusion grounds and the debarment list

The Act refines the exclusion grounds and moves away from “mandatory” and “discretionary” grounds in favour of introducing the concept of “excluded” and “excludable” suppliers.

An “excluded supplier” is a supplier which meets a mandatory exclusion ground and the contracting authority considers that the circumstances giving rise to the exclusion ground are likely to occur again. This is a change to the previous regime, where the contracting authority was obliged to exclude where any of the mandatory grounds apply.

The Act introduces a debarment list to which suppliers can be added in certain circumstances, including where a contracting authority has disregarded a tender from an excluded or excludable supplier or has excluded such suppliers from participating in a competitive tendering procedure. A minister carries out an investigation and can then add suppliers to the list, the consequences of which mean that the supplier cannot be allowed to bid for or be awarded any public contracts which it remains on the list. There is ample opportunity for suppliers to apply for interim relief and raise appeals against decisions to be added to the list.

Shift in focus from price as award criteria

The transition from the use of Most Economically Advantageous Tender to Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) award criteria removes the requirement for contracting authorities to prioritise price in every tender evaluation. Instead contracting authorities have some flexibility to place greater emphasis on award criteria such as quality, social value and sustainability, provided the criteria used relate to the subject matter of the contract and are a proportionate means of assessing tenders having regard to the nature, complexity and cost of the contract.

For rail suppliers, MAT offers real opportunities to differentiate beyond price, particularly where environmental or community focused benefits can be demonstrated.

Feedback from contracting authorities

Contracting authorities must issue assessment summaries to each assessed supplier, replacing the previous debrief and standstill letters. These summaries should set out the contracting authority’s assessment of the supplier’s tender and, if different, the assessment of the most advantageous tender.

Conclusion

The new regime purports to introduce a more transparent, flexible and continuously monitored procurement environment. For the rail sector, these changes are likely to influence the way buyers structure procurements and the way suppliers engage with opportunities.

The Act’s focus on transparency, early engagement, performance reporting and payment discipline is intended to encourage stronger, more resilient supply chains and deliver better value across the rail industry. The next 12 months will likely see further embedding of these processes as both suppliers and contracting authorities adapt to the new Act.