Compliance Is Not Enough: How Procurement Leaders Can Turn the Confidence Gap into Competitive Advantage

Compliance and confidence are not the same thing — and a new survey makes that gap impossible to ignore. A year after the Procurement Act 2023 came into force, Procurement Hub’s Pulse Report, drawn from 107 public sector organisations, finds that 71% are already procuring under the act, yet only one in ten procurement teams feel confident applying it day to day. Nine in ten say they would benefit from further guidance. For procurement leaders the message is clear: the flexibility and strategic opportunity the act creates are real, and organisations that close the confidence gap fastest will be best positioned to exploit them.

The act itself represents a genuine structural improvement. It consolidates four existing procurement regulations into one, streamlines procedures from six to two, and gives contracting authorities significantly more discretion over competitive process design. It requires organisations to formally weigh social value alongside cost and quality — embedding local jobs, community outcomes, and environmental improvements as standard criteria. Supplier performance is now publicly rated on a five-point scale, and a central digital platform lowers barriers for SMEs throughout the supply chain.

The Pulse Report identifies three pressure points. Around 27% of respondents cited increased administrative workload, 18% greater regulatory complexity, and 16% transparency and reporting requirements as adding to daily demands. A further 12% highlighted resource constraints and 9% flagged skills gaps. These are practical, solvable challenges rather than structural objections. As Procurement Hub’s managing director Alan Heron observed, compliance is high but confidence is not — addressing that gap is the defining task for the procurement profession in 2026.

The confidence gap is an opportunity. Organisations that invest now in upskilling teams, embedding flexible procedures into standard practice, and engaging suppliers early through preliminary market engagement will move from compliance to competitive advantage. The act’s transparency requirements, though initially burdensome, create an environment where strong performers are visibly rewarded — a dynamic that benefits high-performing buyers and their supply chains alike.

Three actions will accelerate progress. Procurement leaders should prioritise training on the competitive flexible procedure, which opens new possibilities in how contracts are designed and awarded. Contract management teams need briefing on KPI publication obligations, since supply chain transparency is now a compliance requirement. And CPOs should position the act’s social value requirements as a strategic lever, aligning procurement outcomes with organisational purpose and community impact.

The Procurement Act sets a high bar, but it is a bar worth clearing. Organisations that treat this adjustment period as investment in capability rather than a compliance burden will be better placed to use the act’s flexibility, transparency, and social value provisions to deliver outcomes that matter. The confidence gap is real — and it is closeable.

(The views expressed by the writer are his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of BusinessRiver.)