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Public sector and not-for-profit procurementBook a Free Procurement Review
Procurement support for public bodies, housing associations and charities
Public sector procurement has to be compliant, transparent and defensible, and it still has to deliver value for money. The Procurement Act 2023 has rewritten the rules: new procedures, new notices, new transparency duties and new expectations of how contracting authorities plan, run and record their procurements.
Pro Outsourcing provides hands-on procurement support to councils, housing associations, NHS bodies, hospices, charities and other regulated buyers. Founder Tom Evans MCIPS is a certified Procurement Act 2023 practitioner and has delivered procurement frameworks, templates and training inside public and regulated organisations, including two of the UK's largest water companies.
5,835homes managed by Valleys to Coast Housing, where we rebuilt the procurement framework, templates and training
CertifiedProcurement Act 2023 practitioner leading the work
£300mof regulated tenders led end to end inside a UK water company's investment programme
The challenge
Why public sector procurement is hard
Public sector procurement is the purchasing of goods, services and works by contracting authorities such as councils, NHS bodies, housing associations and other publicly funded organisations, governed in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by the Procurement Act 2023, with duties of transparency, fair treatment of suppliers and value for money.
The regime has changed
The Procurement Act 2023 replaces the old regulations with new procedures, a central platform, more published notices and stronger contract management duties. Policies, templates and habits built for the old rules no longer fit.
Capacity is thin
Most councils, housing associations and charities have a small procurement team or none. Officers with other jobs run tenders, and compliance depends on templates and training rather than specialists.
Challenge risk is real
A flawed evaluation, an unpublished notice or an undocumented decision can void an award. Every procurement needs an audit trail that would stand up to a supplier challenge.
Value for money still has to be evidenced
Compliance is the floor, not the goal. Boards, auditors and regulators expect savings, social value and supplier performance to be demonstrated.
What we deliver
Public sector procurement support
Procurement Act 2023 readiness
Assessing policies, procedures and systems against the new regime, then updating procurement documents, templates and governance to comply.
Procurement frameworks and schemes of delegation
Designing the procurement framework, financial regulations alignment and scheme of delegation that give officers clear authority and the organisation control.
Tender delivery
Running tenders end to end, from strategy and specification through evaluation to award and notices, using compliant, competitive procedures.
Templates and toolkits
A full suite of compliant templates, from quotations to full tenders, so officers can run procurements consistently without a specialist on every one.
Training
Practical procurement and Procurement Act 2023 training for procurement staff, budget holders and evaluators, tailored to your organisation.
Supplier due diligence and social value
Financial, ethical and modern slavery checks, and social value and sustainability criteria built into evaluation where they belong.
Proof
Public and regulated organisations we have worked with
Valleys to Coast Housing
Not-for-profit housing association managing 5,835 homes across Bridgend, South Wales
- Full review of the procurement framework and tendering procedures against financial regulations and the scheme of delegation
- Procedures updated to current thresholds; a full suite of compliant templates designed
- Training plan created and sessions delivered across the organisation, so every relevant employee had the tools and the legislation
St Joseph's Hospice
Charity hospice, Business Central procurement implementation
- Established Business Central as the single buying route, aligned to the hospice's Scheme of Delegation
- Moved spend onto purchase orders with proper approval, reducing reliance on credit cards
- Supplier catalogues built in the system, starting with Lyreco and NHS Supply Chain, with training and permissions rolled out to budget holders
Regulated water utilities
Southern Water and United Utilities, procurement under the Utilities Contracts Regulations and the Procurement Act
- Procurement governance improvements aligned to the Procurement Act and Utilities Contracts Regulations at Southern Water
- £300m of complex commercial services tenders led end to end at United Utilities
- Balanced Scorecard supplier performance frameworks embedded across delivery partners
Why us
Why public bodies and charities choose Pro Outsourcing
We are practitioners. Founder Tom Evans MCIPS is a certified Procurement Act 2023 practitioner who has written schemes of delegation, run regulated tenders worth hundreds of millions and trained officers who had never run a procurement before. We work inside your organisation, produce the templates and procedures your officers will actually use, and leave the capability behind when we go.
Book a Free Procurement ReviewRelated services
Services that support this work
Procurement Act 2023 Compliance
Readiness, templates, notices and training for regulated buyers, led by a certified practitioner.
Procurement Governance
Controls, delegated authority and approval workflows that keep purchasing compliant and consistent.
Procurement Training
Practical training for buyers and budget holders, built on delivery experience.
FAQs
Public sector procurement: common questions
Who has to comply with the Procurement Act 2023?
Contracting authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including central government, local authorities, NHS bodies, utilities, and publicly funded bodies such as housing associations and some charities. If you spend public money above the thresholds, the Act applies to how you buy.
We are a small charity. Does public procurement law apply to us?
It depends on how you are funded and governed. Charities that are contracting authorities under the Act must comply; others follow funder rules and their own financial regulations. Either way, a clear procurement framework, thresholds and templates protect the organisation, and the buying system should enforce them. That is the work we are doing with St Joseph's Hospice, putting all purchasing through Business Central under its Scheme of Delegation. We can tell you quickly which regime applies to you.
Can you run a tender for us rather than just advise?
Yes. We run procurements end to end, from strategy and specification through evaluation, award and notices, and we have led £300m of regulated tenders inside a UK water company.
What did the Valleys to Coast work involve?
A full review of the housing association's procurement framework and tendering procedures against its financial regulations and scheme of delegation, updated procedures and thresholds, a complete suite of compliant templates, and a training programme delivered across the organisation.
Do you provide Procurement Act 2023 training?
Yes. Practical training for procurement staff, budget holders and evaluators, delivered by a certified Procurement Act 2023 practitioner and tailored to how your organisation actually buys.
Next step
Compliant procurement your officers can actually run
Book a free 30-minute procurement review with Tom Evans MCIPS. We will look at your procurement framework, your Procurement Act 2023 readiness and your upcoming tenders, and tell you where the risk is. No obligation, no jargon.
Book a Free Procurement Review