The Cabinet Office's updated July 2026 guidance confirms that KPIs play a central role in the Procurement Act's new contract performance regime.For contracts within Section 52, contracting authorities must establish KPIs before entering into the contract. Performance against the three KPIs considered most material at the time of reporting must subsequently be published using the pres...

In June 2026, the Government Commercial Agency published guidance explaining the new procurement notices introduced by the Procurement Act 2023. The guidance highlights the importance of transparency throughout the procurement life cycle, including the management of contracts following award.For contractors, this creates an important change in the commercial environment. Public autho...

One of the most commercially significant changes introduced by the Procurement Act 2023 concerns the relationship between contract performance and future tendering opportunities. Under Schedule 7, certain serious contractual breaches and failures to improve performance can provide grounds for discretionary exclusion from future public procurement competitions.The government has expla...

The government has confirmed how public authorities must assess and report contractor performance under the Procurement Act 2023.For most new public contracts valued at more than £5 million, contracting authorities must establish at least three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), unless a statutory exception applies. Section 71 requires performance against the relevant KPIs to be asse...

Procurement Act 2023: Poor Contractor Performance Goes PublicThe Procurement Act 2023 has introduced a significant change in how public sector contractors are held accountable for their performance. From January 2026, contracting authorities became subject to new requirements to publish information about certain serious breaches of contract and failures to improve performance. Previo...

What happens when an organisation cannot demonstrate that expenditure has been properly contracted? Many organisations assume that because suppliers are delivering essential services and invoices are being paid, their contractual arrangements must be satisfactory. Havant Borough Council's experience demonstrates why this assumption is dangerous. In September 2026, the council revealed th...

Could your organisation identify £30 million in supplier overpayments? How confident are organisations that their suppliers are correctly accounting for public money received under their contracts?The Financial Reporting Council announced a £6.05 million financial penalty against Deloitte for serious failures in its audits of Go-Ahead Group. The investigation concerned financial repo...

The guidance explains the reporting of KPI performance and specifies serious contractual failures. This creates a practical challenge for public sector contract managers. Can the authority actually prove how its supplier has performed?Consider a £6 million outsourced cleaning contract.The supplier's monthly reports indicate 97% compliance with cleaning standards.However, comp...

One of the most important developments under the Procurement Act 2023 is the increased visibility of serious supplier performance failures. Section 71 provides for the publication of Contract Performance Notices in specified circumstances, including certain contractual breaches and failures to improve unsatisfactory performance.These notices are not merely administrative documents. T...

The Government's latest guidance on the Procurement Act 2023 reinforces a fundamental change in public sector contracting: supplier performance is no longer solely a matter between the contracting authority and its supplier.Under Sections 52 and 71 of the Act, contracting authorities must establish and publish KPIs for qualifying public contracts with an estimated value exceeding £5 ...