month in review

UK public procurement in March 2026

11,110 UK public sector tenders and contract awards were published in March 2026 by 1,711 buying organisations, 21% up on February 2026. 25.2% of those with a recorded route to market were awarded directly, without competition.

notices

11,110

buyers

1,711

named a winner

9,781

awarded directly

25.2%

median value

£200,000

most active buyers

who won most

biggest changes on February 2026

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 2026	March 2026	change
West Sussex County Council	167	42	-125
UK Research and Innovation	433	316	-117
Department for Education	22	100	+78
NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board	6	66	+60
The University of Birmingham	2	54	+52
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	73	120	+47
NHS England	107	60	-47
The National Archives	0	45	+45
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science	7	50	+43
NHS Property Services Limited	47	89	+42

what was bought

the biggest awarded contracts of March 2026

contract	buyer	won by	value
Offsite Construction Solutions - Lot 6 modification	Crown Commercial Service	Not Applicable	£10,000,000,000
Technology Services 3 - Lots 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d & 4	Crown Commercial Service	2020 Delivery Ltd.	£6,400,000,000
CHFS3 - Contract award notice	Transport Scotland	CalMac Ferries Limited	£3,900,000,000
Care and Support Services Flexible Framework Agreement NEW ENTRANTS	Scotland Excel	24hr Dynamic Care Ltd +30	£1,500,000,000
National Framework Agreement for the Provision of Autism and ADHD Assessment Services	COUNTESS OF CHESTER HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST	25Eight Medical Group Ltd +60	£915,000,000
Synergy Business Process Services (BPS)	DWP	Capita Business Services Ltd	£873,410,000
Civil Engineering Framework (Scotland)	Scottish Government	Amalgamated Construction Ltd +8	£600,000,000
Supply and Delivery of Fuel to Rail and Bus Depots	FIRST GREATER WESTERN LIMITED	GREENERGY FUELS LIMITED	£467,908,000
Property Repairs and Maintenance	Moat Homes Limited	MEARS LIMITED	£420,000,000
Care Homes for Adults Flexible Framework Agreement (2122)	Scotland Excel	Aberdeen Association of Social Service (operating as VSA) +22	£390,000,000

Contracts published in March 2026 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 2026 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.