Scotland has set new cross‑border procurement rules to remove uncertainty for buyers and suppliers when public bodies in different parts of the UK purchase together. The Cross‑Border Public Procurement (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2025-Scottish Statutory Instrument 2025/392-were made on 3 December and take effect on 20 December 2025, according to legislation.gov.uk. They amend the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015, the Utilities Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016, the Concession Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016 and the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

Why now? The rest‑of‑UK Procurement Act 2023 went live on 24 February 2025 after a short delay, and its cross‑border provisions-sections 114 and 115-were already in force. Those sections define what counts as a “procurement arrangement” and empower Scottish Ministers to apply or disapply Scottish legislation in defined cross‑border cases. The new Scottish regulations are the practical follow‑through on that framework.

In practical terms, if a UK contracting authority runs a joint procedure with a devolved Scottish authority, or awards via a central purchasing body acting as a contracting authority, under a devolved Scottish arrangement, the Scottish regulations apply without modification. That position is now written into new regulation 3A across the public, utilities and concessions regimes, as set out on legislation.gov.uk.

Where the purchase is a call‑off from a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing or market system created under a devolved Scottish arrangement, only specified parts of the Scottish rules apply and some are tweaked. The instrument inserts schedules that list which provisions apply and which are switched off for those call‑offs, providing a rulebook suppliers can check before bidding.

Conversely, when a devolved Scottish authority buys under a reserved, Welsh or Northern Irish arrangement, the instrument disapplies named parts of the Scottish regime via a new regulation 3B and companion schedules. The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 also gains a new section 3A to the same effect, dovetailing with section 115A of the Procurement Act 2023, which applies the UK regime to devolved Scottish authorities in those scenarios.

What this means for suppliers is straightforward. A Glasgow council drawing services from a Crown Commercial Service framework set up under the UK regime will run its call‑off under the Procurement Act 2023 rather than PC(S)R 2015. Bid teams should expect UK‑style notices, documentation and exclusion grounds on those competitions, while Scottish‑led procurements keep the familiar Scottish templates.

Now flip the picture. If HMRC runs a joint procedure with a Scottish health board using a framework awarded by a Scottish central purchasing body, the Scottish rules take primacy-either in full for a joint procedure or in the tailored form set out in the new schedules for framework and dynamic systems. That clarity aims to reduce duplication and the risk of challenge around which rulebook applies.

For SMEs, the immediate to‑do is to label each opportunity in the pipeline: devolved Scottish arrangement or reserved/other. That single classification decides the paperwork, the notices platform you use-Public Contracts Scotland for Scottish‑led processes or the UK platform for Procurement Act competitions-and the right record‑keeping. Treat those as two playbooks and train teams to spot which one to use from the tender or framework documentation.

Expect some one‑off costs as bid teams refresh templates and internal approvals to cope with two regimes. The UK regime introduces a broader family of notices and staged transparency, while the Scottish rules retain the 2015‑style structure. The friction sits in process rather than pricing, so the practical win is cleaner internal routing from opportunity triage through to final sign‑off.

Two dates matter for planning. The cross‑border rules start on 20 December 2025. Then, on 1 January 2026, separate GPA‑linked changes adjust Scottish thresholds for supplies and services under a different instrument (SSI 2025/299). If public contracts form a meaningful revenue line, factor both dates into your Q1 bid calendar and refresh boilerplate accordingly.