National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) survey now open

The Government Commercial Function has issued its latest Transforming Public Procurement email in which it invites contributions to the development of a new National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) through a dedicated survey. This follows the announcement that the Procurement Act 2023 will now commence on 24 February 2025 to allow time to produce a new NPSS. The survey aims to collect views from contracting authorities, suppliers and the wider procurement community.

In our previous blog, we noted how the Government had stated that the reason for the delay in the implementation of the Procurement Act 2023 was the desire to publish a new NPPS that "clearly sets out this Government’s priorities for public procurement in support of our missions". The Government Commercial Function email confirms that the Government wants the new procurement regime to commence with a NPPS that "meets the challenge of applying the full potential of public procurement to deliver value for money, economic growth, and social value". The NPPS is an important document in the new procurement regime as all contracting authorities (with some minor exceptions) must have regard to the NPPS when carrying out a procurement.

The NPPS survey is structured around four open questions designed to prompt ideas and insights from stakeholders and experts on how best to shape the NPPS to support a new, mission-driven approach to public procurement through increased value for money, social value, innovation and collaboration:

Question 1. Maximising value for money: How can mission-driven procurement help us achieve greater value for money for the taxpayer in the delivery of public services?

Question 2. Delivering social value: How can we use public procurement to achieve greater social value to support delivery of the missions?

Question 3. Enabling collaboration: How can we accelerate collaboration in public procurement (between central and local government, between local anchor partners (e.g. in health and education) and in partnership with suppliers), to support delivery of the missions?

Question 4. Fostering innovation: How can we help policy-makers/commissioners identify challenges that can be put to the market to support mission outcomes through innovation, and improve commercial capability to deliver mission-driven procurement?

Responses to the NPPS survey are invited by midday on 4 November 2024, with responses informing the development of the NPPS.  It will inevitably take time to review the responses that will be submitted and to analyse their impact on the Government's procurement priorities.  Although it is yet to be seen, this process seems to increase the risks of the Procurement Act 2023 being further delayed.

If you are considering making a submission on the survey and wish to discuss or obtain help with this submission, please get in touch with any of the contacts below.