Procurement Pulse UK – October 2026

Welcome to Procurement Pulse, DLA Piper's bulletin for clients with an interest in developments in public procurement law. In this issue, we examine the first significant Procurement Act 2023 judgments, recent Cabinet Office guidance and policy developments, and a major proposed overhaul of the EU procurement regime.

 

CASE LAW DEVELOPMENTS

First High Court guidance on the Procurement Act 2023 automatic suspension regime

In ParkingEye Limited v Velindre University NHS Trust, the court refused to lift an automatic suspension arising under the Procurement Act 2023. The judgment is significant as the first substantive consideration of the Act's new suspension regime.

The court held that the statutory test requires particular weight to be given to the public interest in ensuring compliance with procurement law. This marks a departure from the familiar approach under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, where the adequacy of damages often played a central role in determining whether a suspension should remain in place.

By contrast, in Cyberfort Ltd v The Lord Chancellor, a challenge brought under the previous procurement regime, the court applied the traditional American Cyanamid principles and lifted the suspension after concluding that damages would provide an adequate remedy.

These decisions suggest that contracting authorities may face a higher hurdle when seeking to proceed with contract award where a challenge is brought under the Procurement Act 2023.

Direct awards under scrutiny

In Apasen Ltd v London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the High Court refused to strike out a challenge concerning the use of the "extreme and unavoidable urgency" direct award ground.

Although the substantive claim remains to be determined, the court accepted that it was arguable that a contract award notice may be defective where it does not properly explain the factual basis relied upon for the direct award.

The judgment highlights the importance of ensuring that transparency notices and contract award notices accurately reflect both the legal justification and underlying factual circumstances supporting a direct award.

Transparency breach found but challenge unsuccessful

In Involve Visual Collaboration Ltd v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the court identified a breach of transparency obligations arising from a re-moderation exercise but concluded that the breach did not affect the outcome of the procurement.

The court also upheld the exclusion of a supplier that had failed to comply with agreed conflict-management measures.

The decision serves as a reminder of the importance of maintaining clear audit trails around evaluation activity and ensuring that conflict mitigation measures are consistently monitored and enforced.

 

POLICY, GUIDANCE AND LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS

New guidance on "known risk" contract modifications

The Government Commercial Function has published guidance on the use of the "known risk" contract modification ground under Schedule 8 to the Procurement Act 2023.

The guidance confirms that authorities may rely upon this ground where a risk was identified before contract award and the possibility of subsequent modification was sufficiently described within the procurement documentation. Authorities must nevertheless satisfy all applicable statutory requirements before implementing any modification.

The guidance provides useful clarification on one of the Procurement Act's most novel and potentially flexible contract modification mechanisms.

Debarment Review Service updates operational protocol

The Debarment Review Service has updated its operational protocol, providing further information on investigation and referral procedures under the Procurement Act 2023.

The revised protocol offers additional detail regarding how supplier referrals will be assessed and processed. It will be of particular interest to both contracting authorities considering referrals and suppliers seeking to understand the operation of the debarment regime in practice.

New Procurement Policy Notes published

The Cabinet Office has published several significant Procurement Policy Notes affecting central government contracting authorities:

PPN 024: Public Interest Test and Insourcing Strategy introduces a requirement for in-scope organisations to consider insourcing options during procurement planning from April 2027.

PPN 025: Protecting the UK's National Security through Public Procurement provides guidance on the use of procurement to strengthen national resilience and supply chain security.

PPN 026: The Social Value Model introduces a revised approach to social value assessment, with greater emphasis on jobs, skills and economic opportunity.

Together, these developments are likely to influence procurement strategy, business case development and evaluation approaches across central government.

 

EU DEVELOPMENTS

European Commission publishes proposed EU Public Procurement Act

The European Commission has published its proposed EU Public Procurement Act, representing the most significant proposed reform of EU procurement law since the 2014 directives.

Among other objectives, the proposal seeks to simplify procurement procedures, reduce administrative burden, encourage greater use of digital tools, strengthen strategic and resilience-focused procurement, and place increased emphasis on quality-based award criteria.

The proposal remains subject to negotiation and is unlikely to take effect in the near term. Nevertheless, it provides an important indication of the future direction of EU procurement policy and will be of interest to organisations operating across UK and EU markets.

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