From 24 February 2025, new Procurement Regulations came into force. These rules explain how public organisations must buy goods and services.
All organisations that supply, or want to supply, goods or services to West Sussex County Council need to understand these changes. They also need to register and use the Central Digital Platform (Find A Tender service).
Current regulations will still apply to contracts and frameworks that are already in place or already underway. From February 2025, any new contracts must follow the new procurement regulations.
The new regulations include several key changes. The Central Digital Platform (Find A Tender service), makes bidding easier by letting suppliers register their company details once and use them for bids with all public sector buyers, and it gives one place to see all available opportunities.
The rules also create more chances for small businesses and social enterprises to compete for and win public contracts, with a focus on simpler and more flexible processes.
They increase openness about how public money is spent by adding more stages and detail to report on what happens during procurement and throughout the life of a contract.
They also simplify bidding so it is easier for suppliers to apply, negotiate, and work with the public sector.
The Cabinet Office leads the Transforming Public Procurement programme. It provides guidance, training, videos and regular updates. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to visit the Transforming Public Procurement pages and sign up for their mailing list.
The Central Digital Platform (Find A Tender service), is where all UK public bodies publish procurement information. It is also where supplier details and reference numbers are recorded, and where suppliers enter information they use often.
The platform links everything together in one place. It supports notices, sign in and registration, and supplier information. Most importantly, it gives suppliers one place to see upcoming opportunities across the UK, as well as details of contracts that have already been awarded, changes to contracts, and other useful information.
Supplier registration required from April 2026
From 1 April 2026, suppliers who work with the public sector, or want to do so, must register on the Central Digital Platform if the contract is worth £30,000 or more, including VAT. When bidding for council contracts, suppliers must share their unique number with us. This number is called a Public Procurement Organisation Number (PPON). We need this number to work with you and set up contracts.
Registering is quick and simple and takes about 5 minutes. You only need to do it once. We recommend that all suppliers who are interested in public sector work check that they are registered on the Central Digital Platform. We have created a short guide to help suppliers through the registration process.
It will:
- feature a simple registration and identification for both suppliers and buyers
- store suppliers’ core business details that can be used for multiple bids
- enable easy management and updating of core information quickly, and shared easily between suppliers, eSenders (for West Sussex County Council, this being ATAMIS) and buyers
- make public procurement opportunities visible making it easier to search at no cost and set up alerts for tenders of interest for suppliers
- allow for procurement noticing throughout the procurement lifecycle
- capture procurement data and eventually allow creation of dashboards to analyse that data