Procurement Fridays: Building stronger processes under the Procurement Act 2023
Over 500 people dialled in for the first Procurement Fridays session of 2026 which focused on building stronger procurement processes under the Procurement Act 2023.
Procurement law expert Kieran McGaughey returned to deliver a detailed and thought‑provoking presentation, covering everything from Invitations to Tender (ITTs), quality to pricing models, and procurement termination notices (and how to avoid them!)
Why a robust ITT matters
Kieran opened by framing the ITT as one of the most critical documents in the public procurement lifecycle. While the Procurement Act no longer contains an explicit duty of transparency, the ITT remains central to ensuring bidders understand the authority, its needs, and the rules of engagement.
He emphasised the importance of crafting clear, well‑structured documents that include:
- A strong introduction to the authority and the procurement
- Clear, modern submission instructions
- A well‑designed tender timetable
- Transparent scoring metrics
- Precise rights to reject bids
- Well‑defined contract terms
He explained that each of these elements helps minimise ambiguity, improves market engagement, and reduces the risk of challenge.
Price/quality weightings
Kieran compared different price/quality splits and the surprising outcomes they can generate, with a live demonstration using fictional scores.
He showed how adjusting the weighting between quality and price can significantly alter a procurement’s outcome highlighting the importance of stress‑testing scoring approaches before publishing an ITT.
He encouraged procurement teams to:
- Consider what is genuinely most important to the authority
- Ensure that priorities are reflected in specifications and evaluation criteria
- Test proposed models with fictional scores
- Avoid overweighting price at the expense of quality
Striking the balance between price, quality and social value
The session explored the ongoing challenge of achieving the right mix between price and quality, particularly with the growing prominence of social value. Kieran shared worked examples and invited delegates to predict likely winners, using the exercise to underline how counter‑intuitive some outcomes can be without careful model design.
He also highlighted guidance that advises caution when relying on relative price scoring, noting that contracting authorities should use this method only where there is clear business justification.
Alternatives he suggested include:
- Price per quality point
- Sequential evaluation (minimum quality thresholds followed by price scoring)
- Fixed‑price procurement models where budgets are tight or inflexible
Procurement Termination Notices
The final segment of the presentation examined procurement abandonment, with Kieran highlighting that 807 Procurement Termination Notices have been issued since the new Procurement Act went live – accounting for around one in every 20 procurements.
Kieran reviewed the reasons behind these notices, exploring common themes such as:
- No bids, no suitable bids, or no compliant bids
- Changes in scope or legislation
- Internal errors in the procurement process
- Legal challenges
- Funding being withdrawn
- Decisions to deliver services in‑house
He stressed the continuing importance of providing clear reasons when abandoning a procurement, even though the new regulations do not make this mandatory.
How to avoid abandonment
Kieran outlined several practical recommendations, to help organisations to avoid abandonment:
- Warm up the market using pipeline notices and pre‑engagement activity
- Quality check procurement documents thoroughly
- Avoid rushing procurement processes before they are ready
- Secure funding before going out to market
- Train evaluators and keep contemporaneous records
- Identify and manage conflicts of interest
- Address abnormally low tenders appropriately
Failures in evaluation remain one of the top causes of legal challenge, he said, making training and record‑keeping essential elements of any procurement strategy under the new regime.
The next session in this series will take place on Friday 27 February at 10am.
