Scottish procurement thresholds double from 1 April 2027

Scottish contracting authorities will face far fewer regulated procurements from 1 April 2027Legislation. The threshold for a public contract other than a works contract doubles from £50,000Legislation to £100,000Legislation, and the threshold for a public works contract doubles from £2,000,000Legislation to £4,000,000Legislation.

A contract is regulated only where three conditions are all met: it is a public contract, its estimated value under section 5 of the 2014 Act is equal to or greater than the applicable threshold, and it is not an excluded contract under section 4. Contracts below the new figures therefore fall outside the regulated-procurement duties altogether, including the duties around seeking offers, selecting economic operators and awarding the contract.

For suppliers and bid teams, spending in the £50,000 to £100,000 band for goods and services and the £2,000,000 to £4,000,000 band for works by Scottish contracting authorities will no longer trigger a regulated procurementLegislationLegislation, with lighter process, advertisement and award duties than a contract at or above the threshold. Authorities should still check whether a contract is excluded or how its estimated value is calculated before treating it as unregulated.

Procurements already under way are protected. The new figures do not apply to a contract whose regulated procurement commenced before 1 April 2027.Legislation A procurement counts as commenced before that date where, before that date, a contract notice has been submitted for publication on the Public Contracts website to seek offers or requests to participate, the authority has published any form of advertisement seeking offers or expressions of interest, or the authority has contacted an economic operator to seek offers or to respond to an unsolicited offer.

The change arrives as a draft Order laid before the Scottish Parliament for approval by resolution, made under sections 3(3) and 44(1) of the 2014 Act. Section 44(2) subjects an order under section 3(3) to the affirmative procedure, so the new thresholds take effect only once approved and then only from the 1 April 2027 commencement date stated in the OrderLegislation.

Procurement and compliance teams should update threshold tables, delegation limits and template notices for the 2027-28 financial year, diary the April start date for pipeline contracts, and keep evidence of when each live procurement commenced so the saving provision can be applied file by file.

Legal basis: Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, ss. 3 and 44; The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (Thresholds) Amendment Order 2027, arts. 1-3.