United Kingdom tender market report, September 2026
Published 22 Oct 2026 · computed by FreeTender from 2,644 notices
- Notices published
- 2,644
- +154% vs August 2026
- Still open
- 1,344
- at the time of this report
- Median bid window
- 29 days
- middle half: 21–33 days
- With a stated value
- 1,981
- 75% of notices
Summary
In September 2026, FreeTender recorded 2,644 new procurement notices from buyers in United Kingdom (+154% on August 2026). The largest sector was Healthcare & Pharma with 326 notices (12% of the total). The fastest growing was Media, Printing & Advertising, up 340% to 44. Half of all notices gave bidders 29 days or less to respond. Tuesday was the busiest publishing day (23% of notices).
Notices by sector
- Healthcare & Pharma326 notices+122%
- Construction & Infrastructure316 notices+85%
- Financial & Professional Services252 notices+174%
- Transport & Logistics233 notices+145%
- Education & Training225 notices+192%
- Water & Environment146 notices+192%
- IT & Telecom138 notices+146%
- Sports, Recreation & Events105 notices+169%
- Energy & Power97 notices+273%
- Facility Management & Cleaning72 notices+260%
- Real Estate & Facilities67 notices+205%
- Manufacturing & Supply61 notices+85%
- Agriculture & Food50 notices+213%
- Media, Printing & Advertising44 notices+340%
- Defence & Security42 notices+223%
Change is against August 2026.
How buyers tendered
- Open tender1,573 notices
- rfi704 notices
- Grant / funding call135 notices
- Standing arrangement48 notices
- Expression of interest6 notices
- Request for quotation4 notices
- Invitation to bid3 notices
- Contract award3 notices
- Consultancy1 notices
Publishing day
- Monday476 notices
- Tuesday599 notices
- Wednesday586 notices
- Thursday452 notices
- Friday510 notices
- Saturday7 notices
- Sunday14 notices
Most active buyers in United Kingdom
- East Sussex County Council52 notices
- Ministry of Defence30 notices
- Natural England28 notices
- NHS England26 notices
- Post Office Limited21 notices
- City & County of Swansea21 notices
- Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board18 notices
- Caerphilly County Borough Council16 notices
Stated values
1,981 of 2,644 notices stated an estimated value. Figures are in the currency the buyer used.
| Currency | Priced notices | Median | Largest | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GBP | 1,977 | 600 thousand | 100.0 billion | 224.3 billion |
| EUR | 4 | 1.5 million | 83.1 million | 86.1 million |
Largest notices of the month
- UK1 Pipeline Notice - Stoke on Trent City Council · GBP 100.0 billion · closes —
- NEPRO Total Talent · GBP 25.0 billion · closes —
- Workforce Solution 2 · GBP 20.0 billion · closes —
- NEPRO Four · GBP 6.0 billion · closes —
- Consultancy and Professional Services · GBP 5.0 billion · closes 9 Nov 2026
Other months
Method: counts are notices first published in the month, by the buyer's country, across all sources FreeTender reads. Bid window means days from publication to the deadline. Coverage grows as we add sources, so part of any rise can be new coverage rather than new demand. You may quote these figures with a link to this page. The underlying rows are in our open dataset.