The Procurement Act 2023 marks the most significant reform of public procurement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in a generation. In force since February 2025, the legislation reshapes how contracting authorities procure works, services and supplies. This has significant implications for social housing providers, local authorities and other public bodies delivering housing projects.
For organisations responsible for maintaining and developing social housing stock, procurement is no longer simply about compliance and cost control. The new regime places stronger emphasis on transparency, tenant outcomes, social value, supplier integrity and long-term public benefit. From retrofit programmes to new developments and responsive repairs, procurement teams must now rethink how projects are scoped, tendered and managed.
This guide explores what the new rules mean in practice for social housing procurement and how organisations can adapt successfully.
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Increased accountability in tenant safety
Tenant safety is central to social housing procurement strategy, now more than ever. The introduction of Awaab’s Law in 2025, requiring landlords to address serious hazards such as damp and mould within strict timescales, has fundamentally changed expectations around maintenance and asset management. While this change isn’t directly connected to the Procurement Act 2023, the outworking of it in practice certainly overlaps with new requirements.
Procurement teams commissioning repairs, maintenance and facilities management services must now ensure that contracts embed:
Clear compliance with statutory response times
Defined escalation processes for health hazards
Robust performance monitoring mechanisms
Data reporting requirements
Sufficient capacity to respond to urgent works
Failure to reflect these obligations within procurement documentation risks not only contractual underperformance but regulatory action and reputational damage.
The Procurement Act 2023 reinforces this shift by placing greater emphasis on contract management and supplier performance. Authorities must consider how suppliers will deliver outcomes, not simply whether they meet selection criteria.
For maintenance frameworks and long-term asset management contracts, this means moving toward outcome-based specifications focused on tenant wellbeing and building safety.
Social value as a core procurement objective
Under the new framework, procurement decisions are expected to deliver broader public benefit as well as the practical work delivered. Social value is no longer a supplementary consideration; it is central to demonstrating value for money.
For social housing providers, this aligns closely with organisational missions around community development and economic inclusion.
Procurement strategies increasingly prioritise:
Job creation and apprenticeships for local residents
Opportunities for SMEs and voluntary sector partners
Environmental sustainability and net zero commitments
Skills development and training
Community investment initiatives
This approach shifts supplier evaluation away from lowest price toward long-term value and lifecycle outcomes. For example, a retrofit contractor offering energy savings, local employment and skills transfer may represent better public value than a lower-cost alternative delivering only minimum compliance.
Embedding these requirements early, within pre-market engagement and tender design, is essential to achieving meaningful outcomes rather than just fulfilling symbolic commitments.
Greater transparency and reporting requirements
Transparency is a cornerstone of the new procurement regime. Contracting authorities must publish more information across the procurement lifecycle, from planning notices through to contract performance data.
For social housing projects, this increased visibility affects:
Development partnerships
Maintenance contracts
Consultancy appointments
Contracting authorities must maintain clear audit trails demonstrating fair competition, objective evaluation and effective contract management.
This also places new expectations on suppliers, who must be prepared for greater scrutiny of delivery performance, subcontracting arrangements and compliance with contractual commitments.
For procurement teams, investment in systems, governance and training will be necessary to meet these obligations efficiently.
Early market engagement and innovation
One of the most significant cultural shifts encouraged by the new legislation is the use of early market engagement.
Engaging suppliers before formal tendering can help to:
Improve specification quality
Encourage innovative solutions
Identify delivery risks early
Enable SMEs to prepare competitive bids
Highlight supply chain constraints before
For complex housing programmes, particularly retrofit schemes involving new technologies, early engagement is critical to ensuring informed evaluation of bids and deliverability.
Authorities must conduct engagement transparently and fairly, ensuring no supplier gains an unfair advantage. When done properly, it leads to more realistic pricing, stronger competition and better outcomes.
Ethical standards and supply chain responsibility
The new framework strengthens expectations around ethical procurement throughout supply chains. Social housing providers must consider labour standards, modern slavery risks and fair working practices when selecting suppliers.
Contracts should include provisions addressing:
Ethical employment practices
Compliance with labour laws
Responsible subcontracting
Supply chain transparency
Given the scale of construction and maintenance supply chains, monitoring these commitments requires ongoing active contract management, as set out in the Procurement Act 2023, rather than a ‘one and done’ reliance on declarations at tender stage.
Expanded grounds for supplier exclusion
The Act introduces new and clearer exclusion grounds, enabling authorities to bar suppliers involved in serious misconduct, poor performance or legal breaches from bidding on future contracts.
For housing procurement, this is particularly relevant where contractor failure could jeopardise tenant safety or project delivery.
Authorities must carry out proportionate due diligence and maintain records supporting exclusion decisions. At the same time, the regime allows suppliers to demonstrate remediation and regain eligibility, encouraging improvement across the market.
Implications of the Act for social housing retrofit programmes
Retrofit programmes present unique procurement challenges due to technical complexity, resident engagement requirements and evolving funding streams.
Under the new rules, authorities procuring retrofit works should prioritise:
Whole-life value and energy performance outcomes
Supplier capability in emerging technologies
Resident communication and safeguarding
Delivery capacity at scale
Integration with decarbonisation strategies
Outcome-based specifications and performance monitoring will be essential to ensure projects deliver the intended environmental and social benefits.
Implications of the Act for new social housing developments
For new developments, procurement strategies must align with stricter expectations around quality, sustainability and community impact.
Authorities should consider:
Modern methods of construction and innovation
Design quality and long-term maintenance costs
Social value commitments during construction
Risk allocation within contracts
The emphasis on transparency and performance reporting also means that project delivery will be subject to closer scrutiny from stakeholders and the public.
How Procurement Hub can help with procurement for housing associations and local authorities
For housing associations and other social housing providers, the new regulatory framework creates both challenges and opportunities. Organisations that adapt quickly, embed tenant-focused outcomes into procurement processes and build strong supplier relationships will be best placed to deliver successful housing programmes in the years ahead. The great news is that this isn’t something that needs to be navigated alone.
At Procurement Hub, we can support housing organisations at every stage of the procurement lifecycle. From strategy development through to compliant route-to-market solutions, our frameworks and other solutions are designed to align with the requirements of the Procurement Act 2023 while enabling providers to deliver safe, high-quality homes, whether maintaining existing stock, delivering retrofit programmes or building new developments. We help social housing providers reduce risk, accelerate project timelines and achieve long-term value for residents and communities.