Blog
Opinion
Miguel Santos
by
Regulator Lead

Published
Apr 3, 2026
The UK Procurement Act 2023 commenced in February 2025, replacing the regime that had governed public buying since the 1990s. For Iberian companies that sell to UK public bodies, whether directly or through UK-based subsidiaries, the change is significant and mostly positive. The old framework had a built-in complexity for non-UK suppliers. Dynamic Purchasing Systems and framework agreements often required local presence or references that international companies struggled to provide. The new Act introduces open frameworks, which allow contracting authorities to add new suppliers to an existing framework at any point during its life, not just at the initial award stage. This is a meaningful shift. A Portuguese medical device company that missed the window on a five-year NHS supply framework no longer has to wait for the next cycle. If the framework is structured as open, they can apply to join mid-term. The Act also introduces a new central debarment register and a much more standardised approach to procurement notices. All UK public contracts above £25,000 must now be published on a single platform called Find a Tender. For Iberian companies that previously found UK tender monitoring fragmented across dozens of authority-specific portals, this is a genuine improvement. The practical implication is that the UK public sector market is now more accessible for international suppliers than at any point in the last decade. The barrier is no longer structural. It is informational: knowing which opportunities exist, which frameworks are open, and which contracting authorities are active buyers in your category.

