Your delivery record is now public: KPIs and performance notices explained

One of the quieter but most consequential changes of the Procurement Act 2023 is what happens after a contract is signed. For most public contracts valued over £5 million, the buyer must now set and publish at least three key performance indicators (KPIs) — and then assess and publish how the supplier is actually performing against them at least once a year.

What gets published

Alongside the KPI ratings, buyers publish information about the contract's life: notices when a contract is amended, and — significantly — information about breach or poor performance, including where a contract was terminated early or damages were sought. Your delivery record on public work is no longer a private matter between you and one buyer.

Why it matters to your next bid

Poor performance is now a discretionary exclusion ground. A supplier that has seriously underperformed — and failed to put it right — can find that record raised in a completely different competition, by a completely different buyer. The flip side is just as real: a clean, published record of good delivery becomes an asset that follows you from bid to bid.

The intelligence opportunity

Transparency cuts both ways. The same published notices tell you how the incumbent on a contract you want has been performing — whether their KPI ratings are slipping, whether a contract was cut short. Before you decide to challenge for a re-tender, that context can change the whole bid/no-bid calculation.

What to do

Treat KPIs as part of the bid, not the aftermath: check what indicators a buyer proposes before you commit, make sure they are measurable and within your control, and raise problems early — buyers have discretion, and a documented, well-managed wobble reads very differently from a surprise failure.