Associate, Alex Reedrow explains three key lessons businesses should understand when challenging public procurement decisions, from acting quickly to building a robust, evidence-based case.
Public sector contracts offer significant opportunities for growing businesses, but procurement processes are highly regulated and the consequences of an incorrect decision can be substantial. Whether you are bidding for your first public contract or are an established supplier, understanding your rights and obligations is critical.
We recently helped a client successfully challenge its exclusion from a competitive public procurement exercise. The procurement related to a competitive selection process to establish a framework for the future award of contracts. The contracting authority had informed our client, a potential supplier, that it did not satisfy a condition of participation and therefore would not progress in the competition. Our client disagreed with this assessment, and we were able to persuade the authority to reverse its decision and avoid issuing proceedings.
The course that a procurement dispute can run is necessarily matter-specific, but this recent success highlighted three important lessons for businesses operating in this space.
1) Consider the value
First, businesses involved in procurement need to consider the value of contracts up for grabs and the consequences of missing out. If our client was excluded from the framework, which spanned multiple years and provided access to numerous public contracts, it would have been a substantial missed opportunity. Such contracts represented a key route to market, so participation was business-critical. This made a challenge both necessary and urgent.
Procurement accounts for about a third of public sector spending, according to a research briefing by the House of Commons Library. The latest data available, published last year, reported gross spending on public sector procurement was £434 billion in 2024/25 across the UK. There are significant sums available, and, with the Government Commercial Agency (formerly the Crown Commercial Service) targeting growth in SME suppliers, slices of the pie are there to be had.
2) Move quickly
Secondly, businesses that wish to challenge a public procurement award need to act fast, for the standard limitation period to issue proceedings is only 30 days. For our client, that meant quickly contacting us, their external legal advisors. Once instructed, we reviewed the factual background, assessed the merits of the potential claim, and built a case strategy. We also drew on the expertise of Leading Counsel. Within days, the course of action was clear.
Clients familiar with the longer limitation periods of other civil claims can sometimes be surprised by the tight timescales. But the statutory limits serve a practical purpose, to allow efficiency and avoid unnecessary delays. Fixed timescales give certainty to the authority, enable fairness for suppliers, and ensure that contracts for the supply of goods and services do not stay in limbo—important, given that they often serve essential public functions.
3) Be specific
Finally, businesses need to be specific. In our client’s case, for example, one argument we ran was that a particular tool used by the authority to assess suppliers’ financial capacity was disproportionate, and hence unlawful, contrary to section 22 of the Act which speaks to conditions of participation and the Cabinet Office’s published guidance. Indeed, the authority’s own tender documents allowed it broad discretion and provided for proportionate alternatives to the wholesale exclusion of suppliers based on the assessment tool.
Businesses can feel understandably aggrieved if they miss out on an award, especially if they have good relations with the contracting authority because they have contracted together before. But procurement is fundamentally process-driven and rules-based, so challenging a decision must focus there. The best challenges are forensic, and will connect the tender in question to the Procurement Act 2023 (the Act), any associated guidance, as well as principles of public law.
Conclusion
Public procurement disputes are rarely won through volume or emotion. Success comes from acting quickly, understanding the commercial importance of the opportunity, and building a clear, evidence-based challenge grounded in the relevant legal framework.
The Procurement Act 2023 is still relatively new, having only entered into force on 24 February 2025. As suppliers and contracting authorities continue to adapt to the new regime, businesses should seek advice as early as possible when concerns arise. The Cabinet Office has produced a range of supporting guidance documents, while Appendix H of the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) Guide provides a helpful overview of the procedures for public procurement cases.
At White & Black, we combine specialist procurement expertise with first-hand experience of operating in complex public sector environments. Through Phil Robbins and Andrew Bees, our wider team brings more than 40 years of combined experience across UK government, defence, intelligence and public sector organisations, providing valuable insight into how public bodies assess risk, compliance, innovation and strategic priorities.
Whether you are bidding for public sector work, challenging a procurement decision or looking to strengthen your approach to government and public sector opportunities, we’d be delighted to have a conversation – contact our team today.