One Market, Four Rulebooks
“We are targeting the UK public sector.” It is the most common sentence in a market entry deck, and it describes four buying systems with different statutes, different transparency obligations, different tests of value and different budget calendars. Which of the four you meant is a commercial decision, whether or not anyone made it deliberately.
In this briefing
- Introduction
- Where the legal line sits
- Wales: same statute, different obligations, and a date worth knowing
- Scotland: the duty that shapes everything above it
- Northern Ireland: inside the Act, outside several of its obligations
- Four calendars, four tests of value
- Health is four systems, not one
- Frameworks do not travel as far as people assume
- The one thing that does travel
- What an investor should be asking
- The cheap advantage
- References
Introduction
A founder said it to us in a first meeting last year, in the confident tone of someone reporting a decision already taken. UK public sector. Board approved. Regulatory work done. We just need to get on a framework.
The question we asked back was not a difficult one. Which nation?
There was a pause, and then a reasonable answer, which was that surely it was one country with one set of rules. The regulator had been UK-wide. The company had a UK entity. Everything in the diligence pack said United Kingdom.
The buying system does not work that way, and it has not for over a decade.
Where the legal line sits
The Procurement Act 2023 came into force on 24 February 2025 and governs public procurement by contracting authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.[1] Section 126 extends the legislation to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the legislation does not make provision for all public procurement in Scotland — it reaches contracting authorities in Scotland only where they are cross-border bodies or exercise wholly reserved functions.[2]
Public procurement was never expressly reserved under the Scotland Act 1998, and Scotland retained its own regime. Devolved Scottish authorities continue under the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and their utilities and concessions equivalents, alongside the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.
Section 115 of the Procurement Act exists precisely because two regimes now operate in the same geography, and cross-border arrangements needed a mechanism.[3] Scottish regulations addressing that intersection came into force on 20…
Continue reading, free
Enter your email and we will send a 6-digit code to open the rest of this briefing.
Confirm your email to read briefings in full. No password or account needed. You’ll also receive a digest of new releases. Unsubscribe at any time; we never sell or share your information. Privacy notice
This briefing reflects the author's analysis and understanding of the market, based on professional experience and information available at the time of publication. It is provided for information and discussion and is not legal, financial, investment or other professional advice. Full disclaimer.