month in review
UK public procurement in December 2019
3,354 UK public sector tenders and contract awards were published in December 2019 by 954 buying organisations, 23% down on November 2019. 6.4% of those with a recorded route to market were awarded directly, without competition.
most active buyers
- Newcastle University71
- London Borough of Enfield68
- UK Shared Business Services Limited64
- FCDO Services49
- Defra Network eTendering Portal47
- UK Research and Innovation43
- Derby City Council38
- National Highways38
- Buckinghamshire County Council37
- Suffolk Sourcing37
who won most
- Prestige Domestic Property Maintenance20
- Capita Business Services13
- Harvey Nash10
- Lura Constructions Limited10
- AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited9
- Insight Direct (UK) Ltd9
- LA International Computer Consultants Ltd9
- Softcat PLC9
- Specialist Computer Centres PLC9
- Wilkin Chapman LLP8
biggest changes on November 2019
Change in the number of notices published, against the month before. Measured as an absolute change and shown only where it is at least ten notices — a buyer going from one notice to four is a 300% rise and means nothing.
| buyer | November 2019 | December 2019 | change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle University | 6 | 71 | +65 |
| SE Shared Services | 98 | 33 | -65 |
| UK Shared Business Services Limited | 102 | 64 | -38 |
| Ministry of Defence | 65 | 28 | -37 |
| Ministry of Justice | 69 | 36 | -33 |
| City of London Corporation | 43 | 15 | -28 |
| FCDO Services | 73 | 49 | -24 |
| UK Research and Innovation | 20 | 43 | +23 |
| Quadrant Construction Services Limited | 25 | 3 | -22 |
| Derby City Council | 16 | 38 | +22 |
what was bought
- construction work 493
- business and professional services 360
- architecture and engineering 238
- IT services 202
- software and information systems 191
- health and social care 171
- research and development 134
- vehicles and transport equipment 129
- education and training 124
- transport services 108
the biggest awarded contracts of December 2019
| contract | buyer | won by | value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network Services 2 (Lots 5, 10 & 13) | Crown Commercial Service | APD COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED +12 | £5,000,000,000 |
| RM6017 Postal Goods, Services and Solutions | Crown Commercial Service | N/A | £4,140,000,000 |
| Link: Solutions 2 | NHS Shared Business Services Ltd (NHS SBS) | Amicus ITS Limited +27 | £500,000,000 |
| YPO - 000986 Supply of Gas | YPO | Corona Energy Retail 4 Limited | £400,000,000 |
| Cambridgeshire County Council Home and Community Support Services | Cambridgeshire County Council | Alpha Health & Social Care Services Ltd +6 | £300,000,000 |
| Contract Extension for HM Treasury Core IT Service ref HMT1163 Lot 1 | Crown Commercial Service | NTT DATA UK LIMITED | £250,000,000 |
| 192_23 Mains Gas | ESPO | Total Gas and Power Ltd | £248,000,000 |
| Minor Building Works | Telford & Wrekin Council | Garvey Demolition Ltd +5 | £200,000,000 |
| 000982 - ICT Managed service for Education | YPO | Capita Business Services Ltd | £200,000,000 |
| YPO - 001001 - Office Supplies | YPO | Banner Group Limited +4 | £200,000,000 |
Contracts published in December 2019 that name a winning supplier, ranked by the value the buyer published, excluding those flagged as a maximum rather than a price. Figures are as published; gvtcx does not adjust them. A large contract is often a multi-year framework, so the value is what may be spent over its whole life — and where several suppliers share one framework, each is shown against the framework's full value rather than its own share.
how this was counted
Notices published in December 2019 across Contracts Finder, Find a Tender, Public Contracts Scotland and Sell2Wales, under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts are of contracting processes, not published notices: a tender and its award notice are one contract and are counted once.
There is no total value on this page, deliberately. Published values repeat a framework's entire ceiling against every supplier on it, so a month containing one large framework would read as a spending spike that never happened. The median excludes anything flagged as a ceiling, and the reasoning is set out in full here. Where a total IS defensible — contracts awarded to a single supplier, with no framework — it is on the direct awards page.
A month stays open to revision: publishers backdate, so figures for the current month and the one before it may still move.