Regulated procurement | UK Regulatory Outlook June 2024

UK general election 2024: regulated public procurement aspects

The two leading parties competing to form the next government after the general election on 4 July have published their manifestos. Any change in government is unlikely to impact the Procurement Act 2023 coming into force on 28 October 2024, but there are interesting changes set out in their manifestos to be aware of.

Both Labour and the Conservatives focus on defence procurement, with the Conservatives looking to integrate ESG considerations into defence procurement to make it faster and more innovative. The manifesto then goes further by adding in a goal to become the largest defence exporter in Europe by 2030. Labour's manifesto notes it will prioritise UK businesses for defence investment and to supplement this, on 3 June, Labour published its defence policy which outlines its plans to cut waste and duplication within defence procurement as well as directing investment to British industry. It therefore seems likely that alongside the roll out of the new procurement regime, defence procurement will be high up on the new government's public procurement agenda.

Both parties' manifestos flag the intention to expand the use of AI in the public sector to drive efficiency. The Conservative manifesto states that it will double digital and AI expertise in the civil service. The Labour Party highlights the opportunities from harnessing new technology in the public sector. These ambitions will likely necessitate significant relationships between government departments and AI developers and providers.

The Labour manifesto also pledges to reform public procurement processes to ensure smaller businesses are not closed out of tendering for government contracts. The Conservatives did not go as far to say they would reform the rules, but would encourage the public sector to focus on SMEs where "possible and practical".

Further, Labour has said it will develop an NHS innovation and adoption strategy, which will encompass a strategy for procurement, providing a more transparent pathway for introducing products into the NHS, as well as ensuring quicker regulatory approvals for new technologies and medicines. The Conservative party outlined its intention to implement a new medtech pathway. This focus on digitalising the life sciences and healthcare sector will be welcomed by businesses looking to bring innovative products on the UK market and essentially could mean an increase in tenders in this area. See our Insight for more on the implications of the general election for the life sciences and healthcare sector.

Procurement – will an 'Office for Value for Money' be the same as the PRU?

If elected, Labour intends to introduce an "Office for Value for Money" (OVM) which will "look at the use of procurement rules and contracting, investigating whether competitions were conducted properly [and] whether contracts were being managed appropriately". In an interview last year, Rachel Reeves described the OVM as a "hit squad".

The Procurement Act 2023 has seen the creation of a new oversight unit, the Procurement Review Unit (PRU). The PRU will have the responsibility of overseeing three key areas within the new regime: reviewing contracting authority compliance; public procurement review service; and debarment review service. At time of writing, Labour has not commented as to how the PRU will interact with the OVM, or whether the OVM will essentially be the PRU, or if we will have two public procurement watchdogs – if that were the case, authorities would be under more scrutiny to get procurement done right.