The NHS is under growing pressure to balance cost efficiency with compliance, sustainability, and transparency - and nowhere is that more visible than in IT procurement, writes Simon O’Carroll, Chief Marketing Officer at Probrand.
Buying IT for a Trust isn’t as simple as getting multiple quotes anymore. The Procurement Act 2023 has raised the bar for how public sector organisations source goods and services, introducing a new level of accountability around transparency, auditability, and ethical supply chains.
And while the intention is positive - driving better value and fairer competition - the practicalities can feel overwhelming for procurement teams already stretched thin.
The Reality of Buying IT in the NHS
Most NHS Trusts don’t have a single, standardised way to buy IT. Different departments often follow different processes. Some rely on framework agreements, others on local suppliers, and many on manual spreadsheets or paper trails that make oversight difficult.
That fragmentation creates problems:
· Limited visibility of total IT spend or contract duplication
· Inconsistent governance where individual buyers might bypass frameworks or price entitlements
· Inefficient manual workflows that make it hard to validate competition or demonstrate value for money
The result? Procurement teams spend more time reconciling data and less time driving strategic improvement. And when audit or compliance checks arrive, proving transparency or demonstrating “best value” can quickly become a stressful exercise.
What the Procurement Act 2023 Really Means for NHS Buying Teams
The Procurement Act 2023 aims to simplify and modernise public sector buying, but it also places new responsibilities on NHS organisations. Key principles like transparency, integrity, equal treatment, and value for money aren’t just ideals - they’re measurable requirements.
Every purchase decision now needs a clear, traceable rationale. Framework usage must be transparent. Supplier selection must consider social value, environmental impact, and modern slavery commitments.
In short: compliance is no longer something you declare - it’s something you have to evidence.
For many Trusts, that’s the challenge. Legacy systems, siloed data, and manual reconciliation make it difficult to provide a full audit trail. Procurement teams know what good looks like; they just don’t always have the tools to deliver it efficiently.
Auditability: The Missing Link
Ask any NHS procurement professional what keeps them up at night, and “auditability” will be near the top of the list.
Under the new Act, buyers must be able to prove that every quotation, comparison, and decision followed due process. That means timestamped, tamper-proof evidence showing what was available in the market at the time, who it was compared against, and how the final decision was made.
When that’s captured manually - across emails, spreadsheets, and supplier portals - it’s not just time-consuming; it’s risky. Information can be lost, misunderstood, or impossible to validate months later.
Digital procurement platforms that automatically capture this data at the point of quotation and order can transform this from an administrative burden into a built-in safeguard.
Sustainability and Modern Slavery: Compliance Beyond Cost
Procurement now plays a vital role in supporting the NHS Carbon Reduction Plan and ensuring supply chain ethics. Yet, despite the clear intent, most Trusts lack the tools to actively prioritise sustainable and ethical suppliers during day-to-day buying.
Without digital support, checking whether products are eco-verified, suppliers are accredited, or shipments are grouped to reduce carbon impact becomes near impossible at scale.
Similarly, evidencing Modern Slavery compliance - ensuring suppliers meet their reporting obligations and that Trusts buy from responsible sources - often relies on manual declarations or outdated documentation.
This isn’t just a governance issue; it’s reputational. NHS organisations must be able to prove not only that they’re compliant, but that they’re buying responsibly and sustainably.
The Digital Path Forward
To meet the requirements of the Procurement Act 2023 and beyond, NHS organisations need to embrace digital procurement.
That doesn’t mean replacing procurement professionals - it means empowering them with the right tools. Systems that:
· Enforce framework and catalogue control to ensure compliance by design
· Provide real-time audit trails for every quotation and order
· Surface sustainability credentials and supplier verifications within the buying journey
· Offer central oversight of spend, approvals, and cost centres
These are the foundations of compliant, efficient, and transparent NHS procurement. They also free teams to focus on value creation - not admin.
Closing Thoughts
The Procurement Act 2023 presents an opportunity to reimagine how the NHS buys - one that aligns accountability with innovation. But it requires the systems and data to make compliance and auditability achievable in practice. That’s exactly what the Probrand Procurement Platform was built to deliver. It helps NHS organisations overcome these challenges - bringing compliance, governance, auditability, and sustainability together in one digital space.
The platform automatically captures and stores verifiable audit evidence for every quotation and order, providing a clear record of due diligence and demonstrating compliance with the Procurement Act 2023. If you’d like to see how it works in practice, you can book a quick demo here.
Date:28 October