Shifting to the new Government Procurement Rules

Transition period

The new Rules came into effect on 1 December 2025.

We’re here to support you. For more information on transitioning to the new Rules, look at the webinars and guidance below. You can also reach out to your account manager or send us an email.

Contact us

Latest changes to support the 5th edition

Searching for the Rules

We identified an issue with our website search function. This has now been fixed and you can now search for rule specific information instead of referring to the PDF copy.

Economic benefit field now in GETS

A new field has been added in GETS so that agencies can report information about the economic benefits their procurement activities bring to the New Zealand economy.

This update minimises the reporting burden on agencies, while also gathering accurate and up-to-date information about economic benefits at the same time.

This automatically supports requirements in Rule 8 of the Government Procurement Rules.

Rule 8: Economic benefit to New Zealand

GETS — GETS.govt.nz

Guidance and templates

New guidance

Updated templates

Where needed, all main templates have been updated to reflect the new Rules. The versions linked on our Templates page are up to date.

Templates

Our guidance and template for writing your agency’s procurement policy are also up to date. 

How to write a procurement policy

We may publish more updates as the new Rules continue to be embedded. We’ll let you know when new information is available.

Historic templates

In some instances, your agency may require a previous version of our templates. Copies of the previous versions are available:

Templates

Differences between the 4th and 5th edition

The 5th edition of the Rules is more streamlined, user-friendly and accessible. This should make it easier to understand and apply good practice. The Rules can be right-sized to all procurements.

Benefits of the new Government Procurement Rules

Provides a flexible framework that enables agencies to:

• make good commercial decisions
• maintain accountability and public trust in spending taxpayer money through fair procurement practices.

Highlights the importance of commercial and procurement functions within agencies that:

• manage efficient and effective third-party contracts
• enable the delivery of agencies’ strategic outcomes.

Highlights how procurement meets Government expectations by:

• delivering high quality public services
• enabling the Government objective to grow the New Zealand economy.

Key shifts to improve procurement practice and achieve greater public value

• Support New Zealand’s economic growth by seeking economic benefits in each procurement and engaging New Zealand businesses where they can deliver (Rule 8). 
• Ensuring procurement is efficient. The new Principle sets the expectation that every procurement will be proportionate and right-sized based on the value, risk and complexity. In other words, that there is an appropriate cost and resourcing impact on your agency and on suppliers. Use this principle to adapt current policies, practices and approaches to engaging with suppliers to achieve efficiencies (Rule 1).
• Fairer operation of supplier panels and transparency of secondary procurement spend. Most agencies have set up panels of suppliers for their own use, which can be efficient and cost effective. However, suppliers can find their operation inconsistent and market distorting. The Rules introduce good commercial disciplines in establishing and managing them well and providing greater visibility of spend to improve transparency and insights (Rules 22 and 23). 
• Delivering value through effective contract management. There are new requirements to improve the New Zealand public sector’s contract management practices to realise value over the life of the contract, improve delivery and manage risks (Rules 34 and 35).  
• Stronger integrity, transparency and accountability requirements, aligned to international standards, will enhance public confidence and trust in procurement (Rules 1, 2, 3, 25 and 45).

Government Procurement Rules consultation

The consultation documents and a summary of the submissions received can be found on the MBIE website:

Government Procurement Rules consultation —  Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment 

Using the previous edition

The new Rules came into effect on 1 December 2025.

The introduction of the 5th edition has no impact on contracts entered into prior to 1 December, and the 4th edition of the Rules will continue to apply. This includes the supply and service agreements for All-of-Government (AoG) panels and contracts, Syndicated contracts, and other Common Capability contracts.

A PDF version of the previous edition of the Government Procurement Rules is available for your reference.

If you need advice on the use of the previous edition, use the online form to email us. We'll reply within 5 working days — or sooner if we can.

Email us

Webinars and question and answer sessions

We ran webinars to help agencies understand and apply the new Rules. These sessions covered key updates, practical guidance, and opportunities to ask questions.

The webinars covered:

• high-level overview of the new rules, the process undertaken, and new requirements
• contract management
• Rule 8: Economic benefit.

Living Wage

Public Service Agencies, listed in Schedule 2 of the Public Service Act, must continue to ensure suppliers and their sub-contractors comply with the Living Wage policy.

We’ve updated the 5 year projection of increases to the living wage to help agencies and providers with their budget planning.

Paying a living wage in contracts