month in review
UK public procurement in March 2025
6,878 UK public sector tenders and contract awards were published in March 2025 by 1,385 buying organisations, 16% down on February 2025. 16.4% of those with a recorded route to market were awarded directly, without competition.
most active buyers
- Leicester City Council593
- UK Research and Innovation250
- Ministry of Defence152
- NHS Property Services Limited70
- UK Shared Business Services Limited63
- National Highways62
- NHS England59
- Surrey County Council56
- Hampshire County Council51
- FCDO Services45
who won most
- Skyline Taxis247
- Azoom Taxis138
- Hansom Airport Taxis Ltd78
- Softcat PLC58
- Victoria Cabs44
- Elite Taxi42
- Elite Taxis42
- Hansom Airport Taxis42
- Computacenter (UK) Limited41
- Shafi-Ullah Adam37
biggest changes on February 2025
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 | February 2025 | March 2025 | change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leicester City Council | 35 | 593 | +558 |
| UK Research and Innovation | 130 | 250 | +120 |
| University of the West of England | 93 | 12 | -81 |
| Milton Keynes City Council | 67 | 7 | -60 |
| Environment Agency | 83 | 32 | -51 |
| British Council | 53 | 8 | -45 |
| NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB | 46 | 1 | -45 |
| UK Shared Business Services Limited | 108 | 63 | -45 |
| Ministry of Defence | 194 | 152 | -42 |
| London Borough of Haringey | 43 | 1 | -42 |
what was bought
- transport services 800
- business and professional services 639
- construction work 637
- health and social care 613
- software and information systems 577
- IT services 471
- architecture and engineering 364
- repair and maintenance 237
- education and training 222
- vehicles and transport equipment 201
the biggest awarded contracts of March 2025
| contract | buyer | won by | value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army Collective Training Service (ACTS) | Ministry of Defence | Elbit Systems UK Limited +1 | £2,500,000,000 |
| Print and Digital Communications Award Notice - Lot 2 | Crown Commercial Service | named in the notice | £740,000,000 |
| Tender for the Provision of Sport and Leisure Services in Sheffield | Sheffield City Council | Sport and Leisure Management +1 | £420,000,000 |
| 704399451-24 - MSS/142 MRO012-CAN | Ministry of Defence | Scott Aerospace | £317,000,000 |
| 704399451-15 - MSS/142 MRO006-CAN | Ministry of Defence | Basetek Limited +1 | £317,000,000 |
| 704399451-37 - MSS/142 MRO045-CAN | Ministry of Defence | Scott Aerospace Ltd | £317,000,000 |
| 704399451-35 - MSS/142 MRO041-CAN | Ministry of Defence | BAE Systems Surface Ships Limited | £317,000,000 |
| 704399451-16 - MSS/142 MRO011-CAN | Ministry of Defence | Scott Aerospace | £317,000,000 |
| 704399451-28 - MSS/142 MRO005-CAN | Ministry of Defence | Basetek Limited +1 | £317,000,000 |
| 704399451-7 - MSS/142 MRO22-CAN | Ministry of Defence | CARWOOD MOTOR UNIT LTD | £317,000,000 |
Contracts published in March 2025 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 March 2025 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.