UK Government releases new National Procurement Policy Statement
CIPS 14 February 2025
The UK Government has released the new National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS), setting out its strategic priorities for public procurement.
The NPPS will come into force alongside the Procurement Act 2023 on 24 February 2025.
The new NPPS was published on 13 February 2025, following a period of consultation, after the original statement was withdrawn in September 2024 by the newly elected Labour Government.
Within the new NPPS, the UK Government acknowledges the role public procurement plays in driving social and sustainable economic value through the country. It also links public procurement’s role directly to supporting the Government deliver on its five key missions.
Ben Farrell, CIPS CEO says, “The ambitions of the government's policy hinge on ensuring we have properly trained and accredited procurement professionals throughout the public sector, delivering the highest possible standards. CIPS will be on hand to ensure best practice is adhered to, ensuring the best possible results for the public purse that drives economic and social change.”
Delivering value for money the priority for public procurement
The NPPS sets out that contracting authorities “must have regard to the importance of delivering value for money” when carrying out a procurement covered by the Procurement Act. This must include “consideration of outcomes and quality to avoid waste” and “wider socio-economic and environmental benefits and impacts”.
Under the overarching aim of delivering value for money, the NPPS identifies three priorities to do so:
- Driving economic growth: strengthen supply chains by giving SMEs and VCSEs a fair chance, creating high quality jobs and championing innovation
- Deliver social and economic value: support the government’s missions by working in partnership across organisational boundaries (for example, by working with other contracting authorities or the private sector)
- Building commercial capability – ensuring the right commercial capability and standards are in place to procure and manage contracts effectively and to collaborate with other contracting authorities to deliver best value (for example, by accessing training on commercial skills and benchmarking organisational capability)
Focus on SMEs
The publication was also announced via a statement by Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office, Georgia Gould.
Gould’s statement made clear the expectation on the public sector to maximise procurement spend with SMEs and VCSEs, with new rules that will require government departments to set direct spend targets.
Among other announcements made by Gould, a new Commercial Innovation Hub is expected to “foster procurement innovation”, while a Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence will also be explored to bring together “digital and commercial expertise... to buy once and well”.
Jonathan Morgan, CIPS Markets Director UK, Europe & N. America “The new commercial freedoms that the UK Public Procurement Act can unlock, along with commitment to foster innovative procurement in Gould’s announcement today, has the potential to create public sector procurement reform the rest of the world will aspire to.”
Scope of the NPPS
All contracting authorities must have regard to this statement as mandated in the Procurement Act, with the exception of the authorities and procurements set out at section 13(10):
- Private utilities
Contracts awarded under a framework or dynamic market - Procurements under devolved Welsh or transferred Northern Irish procurement arrangements
- Devolved Welsh authorities or transferred Northern Irish authorities
Download our special report to find out more about how the Procurement Act will affect public sector practitioners.