Market engagement is now an imperative part of the procurement process for suppliers looking to establish what opportunities are available to them and understand the requirements of each procurement exercise, and for buyers to establish what the market has to offer and encourage innovation.

The Act will also introduce a new procedure for running a competitive tendering process – the competitive flexible procedure – ensuring for the very first time that contracting authorities can design a competition to best suit the particular needs of their contract and market.

In this context, the Market Engagement and Innovation Zone will take a deep dive into the new procedure and inform delegates on what organisations can do differently from before, what good market engagement looks like for buyers and suppliers, and how organisations can maximise opportunities presented by transparency and data.