Procurement Act 2023

The Procurement Act is legislation that aims to reform the way public authorities in the UK buy goods, services and public works, and came into effect on 24th February 2025.

The Open University is a sub-central contracting authority, and purchases for goods, services and works will be made in line with the Procurement Act 2023.

The OU Approach

For all procurements that go live after 24th February 2025, suppliers will notice some changes:-

Notices

Visibility of commercial pipelines published in the Governments Find a Tender Service (FTS)
A specific preliminary market engagement notice will be published for high value tenders. This will inform the supply chain of engagements scheduled to happen as well as engagements conducted to date.
Contract Details Notices will be published for all contracts over £30k including VAT.
A Contract Termination Notice will be published when a contract is terminated or expires.

Competitive Tendering Process

A reduction of procedures to: direct award, open framework, or competitive flexible procedure.
The new competitive flexible procedure allows the OU to design the procurement to suit the nature of what is being procured and the marketplace.

Supplier Registration

The Government central digital platform, the enhanced Find a Tender Service (FTS) where suppliers can register and store their details. This is so they can be used for multiple bids, and see all opportunities in one place for all public sector organisations.
In order to respond to procurement opportunities for the OU, suppliers need to be registered. Suppliers can do this on this system before submitting tenders.

The Act does not impact our existing contracts that were live prior to 24th February 2025.