Beyond Compliance: Is Your Leadership Ready for the Procurement Act?

investigate "systemic and institutional non-compliance"

The Procurement Act 2023 has ushered in a new, demanding era of oversight for every contracting authority in the UK. The focus is no longer just on process; it is on performance. With the establishment of the proactive and data-driven Procurement Review Unit (PRU), the lens of scrutiny is now firmly fixed on institutional effectiveness (Civil Service World, 2025).

The PRU’s mandate to investigate "systemic and institutional non-compliance" means it will look past isolated incidents and search for patterns of behaviour that suggest underlying weaknesses (Civil Service World, 2025). While many are rushing to update their IT systems, they are missing the fundamental point: systems are only as good as the people and the organisational culture that operate them. True compliance and high performance under this new regime will not be found in a piece of software, but in a profound shift in the behaviours of leadership and senior management. This is a human challenge, not a technical one.

The Uncomfortable Truth: When Ineffective Behaviours Create Risk

In my experience advising major projects, the data trail that the PRU will now analyse—high volumes of contract modifications, delays, and disputes—often points back to the effectiveness of the client organisation itself (Open Government Partnership, 2023). Contracts like NEC4 are built on principles of collaboration and mutual trust, but these principles are tested when the client's own house is not in order.

We see common patterns of behaviour that lead to poor outcomes:

• Delayed Decisions: Internal stakeholders with conflicting priorities create decision-making paralysis, leading to inaction that directly causes delays and compensation events.

• Broken Commitments: Management information and access promised in the contract are not delivered on time, directly causing delays and compensation events, undermining trust and hindering the supplier's progress.

• Inconsistent Governance: Project governance models are often not fit for purpose, failing to empower the right people to make timely and effective decisions.

These are not minor administrative failings. In the new world of the PRU, they are data points that paint a picture of institutional weakness. They are evidence of a client culture that is not equipped to meet its obligations, driving inefficiency and creating precisely the kind of negative record that invites investigation.

Reshaping the Culture: A New Approach to Client

Effectiveness

Fixing these issues requires more than a new process map. It requires targeted behavioural change coaching for the leadership and senior management who set the tone for the entire organisation. At Black Pear Advisory, my focus is on developing the capabilities of leaders to become more effective clients and to build a culture of accountability and effective collaboration from within.

My coaching is not about procurement rules; it’s about rewiring the ingrained behaviours that hold organisations back. I help leadership teams to:

• Reshape Governance and Process: I work with you to diagnose the flaws and constraints in your current governance models and decision-making pathways, helping you create lean and effective processes that empower your teams.

• Master Internal Collaboration: An aligned client team is essential for project success. I introduce powerful collaborative tools to transform how your internal stakeholders work together:

  • Choosing by Advantage: This systematic decision-making process allows teams to make complex choices transparently and robustly, creating a clear, defensible audit trail for key decisions.

  • Collaborative planning: What does flow look like? Where are the value streams and how are they mapped? Actively involving all the people int he process to understand how they impact and enable the other tasks owners around them int he planned flow of work, what helps you and helps the people following you to exceed production targets.

  • Making and Keeping Reliable Promises: I help build a culture of profound accountability. This is a simple but powerful framework for ensuring that when a commitment is made internally, it is tracked, met, and trusted.

  • Dealing with Broken Promises: When commitments are inevitably missed, I provide a non-confrontational framework for stakeholders to address the breakdown, learn from it, and get back on track before it impacts the project.

The Leadership Challenge for 2025 and Beyond

The Procurement Act 2023 is a catalyst for change. It compels every leader in every contracting authority to look inward. The greatest risk you now face may not be a non-compliant tender document, but an organisational culture that inadvertently drives inefficiency and creates a public record of its own shortcomings.

Meeting this challenge is the responsibility of leadership. It requires an honest assessment of your internal processes, your governance, and, most importantly, your ingrained behaviours. The first step is to recognise that becoming a high-performing client in this new era requires a new way of thinking, collaborating, and leading.

Dr Martin Perks FRICS. MICW

References

Civil Service World. (2025) New unit launched as Procurement Act goes live. Available at: https://www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article/new-unit-launched-as-procurement-act-goes-live (Accessed: 21 August 2025).

Open Government Partnership. (2023) Open Contracting through the Procurement Act (UK0107). Available at: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/members/united-kingdom/commitments/uk0107/ (Accessed: 21 August 2025).