Procurement in a Nutshell: Scope and Remit of the Procurement Review Unit’s (PRU) Procurement Compliance Service (PCS)
20th February, 2026
What is the PCS?
The PCS is one of the services provided by the PRU which was established following the passing of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023). PA 2023 enables the PCS to conduct investigations into a contracting authority’s compliance, issue recommendations or publish guidance to assist with ensuring compliance with the Act.
What does the PCS investigate?
The PCS may investigate any procurements subject to the requirements of PA 2023.
Upon receiving a referral or becoming aware of a potential non-compliance, the PCS will conduct a review of information provided. This will be assessed against the following criteria:
- Does the issue concern a procurement process under the PA 2023, carried out by an in-scope authority?
- Does the issue raise matters of systematic or institutional non-compliance with requirements of the Act?
- Are there other reasons to support a PCS investigation?
Generally, only cases that meet these criteria will be investigated.
Which contracting authorities are in scope?
This includes most public sector bodies including local authorities, the emergency services and health bodies, as well as central government bodies including government departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
Investigations will be carried out (or recommendations made) on both a statutory (covered by powers In the PA 2023) and non-statutory basis (covered by existing oversight powers held by Ministers to oversee the contracting activities of government departments).
What happens during a PCS investigation?
An investigation may involve reviewing information and/or speaking with individuals in the contracting authority to understand the cause of compliance issues.
To aid an investigation, resources from other parts of the Government Commercial Function (GCF) and Senior Civil Service (SCS) personnel, may be asked to assist or inform investigations or recommendations.
Section 108 PA 2023 gives the PCS wide powers to compel a contracting authority to assist with a procurement investigation. It may issue a notice requiring the contracting authority to provide only relevant documents or other reasonable assistance needed for the investigation. Once the notice is given, the contracting authority must comply within the period set out in the notice. The notice period must be at least 30 days unless the appropriate authority agrees to a longer timeframe.
What happens after an investigation?
Following an investigation, the PCS will set out its findings and recommendations to the contracting authority via a report.
If recommendations are made, the PA 2023 obliges the contracting authority to have regard to those recommendations when considering how to comply with the requirements of the PA 2023.
The PCS can track how recommendations are implemented and can require progress reports from the contracting authority, detailing any action taken as a result of the recommendation.
Section 109(8) PA 2023 allows the PCS to publish these reports on GOV.UK and where a contracting authority fails to submit a progress report, section 109(8) also allows the PCS to publish notice of this failure.
For further information please contact Melanie Pears or Tim Care in our Public Sector team.
Procurement and public law update
Our in-person Procurement and Public Law Update covers the new procurement rules and their increased transparency requirements.
This seminar will look at what those changes have meant in practice since both the new Act and the new NHS regime came into force. We will give practical tips on how to manage procurements now and how to deal with the risks of challenge when the timescales are so tight.
Register here to join this free session with procurement law experts Tim Care and Matthew Brady.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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