Public procurement
Public procurement covers the contracts and concessions UK and Irish public bodies award. Governing law, objectives, thresholds and what they mean for an SME.
Primary market: United Kingdom
Updated on September 10, 2026
United Kingdom: Scoutee gathers the open public tenders from the official sources and matches them to your activity.
See the open tenders: United KingdomPublic procurement is the whole set of contracts through which public bodies, and some private bodies financed or controlled by them, buy works, goods and services or hand over the running of a service. It covers two families: public contracts, where the buyer pays a price, and concessions, where the operator is paid by exploiting the service.
How it works
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the governing statute is the Procurement Act 2023, in force since 24 February 2025, which replaced the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the separate utilities, concessions and defence regulations with a single regime. Scotland kept its own framework, the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. Ireland, still an EU member state, applies the 2014 directives through statutory instruments and the Office of Government Procurement's circulars.
Section 12 of the Procurement Act sets the objectives every buyer must have regard to: delivering value for money, maximising public benefit, sharing information so that suppliers can understand its procurement, and acting, and being seen to act, with integrity. Buyers must treat suppliers equally unless a difference is justified, and must consider removing barriers to participation for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Buyers are the contracting authorities: departments and their agencies, councils, NHS bodies, police and fire services, universities, housing associations, plus utilities operating in water, energy, transport and postal services. Bidding companies are suppliers.
How formal the process is depends on value. The thresholds since 1 January 2026 are ÂŁ135,018 including VAT for central government goods and services, ÂŁ207,720 for other authorities, ÂŁ415,440 for utilities and ÂŁ5,193,000 for works, with a below-threshold duty to advertise from ÂŁ12,000 for central government and ÂŁ30,000 for other authorities in England (verified 2026-09-05, PPN 023 and SI 2025/1200). In Scotland the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 makes a procurement regulated from ÂŁ50,000 for goods and services and ÂŁ2,000,000 for works, excluding VAT.
What it means for a bidder
Public procurement is a very large market spread over thousands of buyers, from parish councils to the Ministry of Defence. Its rules constrain you but also protect you: a buyer cannot reject a bid without reasons, cannot favour an incumbent, and cannot change the published criteria mid-competition.
For an SME the task is to find the buyers and contract types that fit your size: lotted requirements, below-threshold work, local frameworks. Everything is digital: notices, documents, questions and submissions run through the Central Digital Platform and the buyers' e-tendering portals, and you register once as a supplier.
Find tenders for your business
Example
A waste disposal authority renews its arrangements in 2026. It awards a public contract for wheeled bins, worth about ÂŁ180,000, advertised as a below-threshold requirement on Find a Tender, and separately a concession for the operation of its household recycling centre, where the operator is paid from the resale of recovered materials. Both are public procurement, but they follow different rules.
Frequently asked questions
Is a public contract the same thing as public procurement?
No. A public contract is one category. Public procurement also covers concessions, frameworks and dynamic markets.
Is a charity subject to the rules?
Only if it meets the definition of a contracting authority, typically when it is mainly publicly funded or publicly controlled and meets needs in the general interest. Housing associations are the common example.
Can a foreign company bid?
Yes. Suppliers from countries covered by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement or a UK trade agreement, including Ireland and the EU, have treaty-protected access, and buyers may not require a local establishment as a condition of bidding.