How we score buyers and markets

Buyer scorecards

A buyer gets a figure only when at least 5 notices, awards or suppliers are behind it, and every figure says how many. "Typical" means the median: half the buyer's notices are above it and half below.

Time to bid

Typical days between the tender notice and the deadline.

Bids per contract

Typical number of bids received for a competed contract.

Advertised openly

Share of procurements open to any supplier, rather than a framework call-off, invited quotes or a direct award.

Direct awards

Share of procurements awarded to one supplier without competition.

Won by small firms

Share of winning suppliers that the notices describe as small or medium-sized.

Split into lots

Share of advertised tenders divided into lots, which lets smaller firms bid for part of the work.

Cancelled

Share of tenders later cancelled before a contract was awarded.

Comparing similar buyers

We compare each buyer only with buyers of the same type, and only with those that also have enough data. We say "Longer than 72% of local authorities" only when at least 10 buyers can be compared. A buyer's type comes from its name first, then from how the notice classifies it. The types are:

• Local authorities
• NHS and health bodies
• Central government buyers
• Schools, colleges and universities
• Housing providers
• Police and fire services
• Other public bodies

The scoreboard ranks only buyers with at least 10 notices behind a figure, so one unusual month can't put a buyer at the top or bottom of a list.

How we read the procedure

We sort every procurement by how it reached the market, using the procedure the notice names:

• Advertised openly: open, restricted and competitive flexible procedures, and below-threshold open competitions. Any supplier could ask to take part.
• Framework call-off: awards under a framework or dynamic market. Only suppliers already on it could bid.
• Invited quotes: below-threshold limited competitions, where the buyer chose whom to ask.
• Direct award: awards without competition or without a published call for competition.

Notices that don't state the procedure are left out of these figures.

Market figures

Trade and region pages show the same measures for all the notices in that trade and region, plus the ones below. A notice can belong to several trades and regions, and it counts in each one.

Tenders advertised

Tender notices published in the last 12 months.

Typical contract value

Median value of contracts signed, as the notices state it.

Typical contract length

Median length of contracts signed, without optional extensions.

Buyer profiles

Every buyer with a tender or an award in the last 12 months has a profile, rebuilt every night.

Tenders published

Tender notices published. "About one every 9 days" spreads them over the period we hold data for.

Value awarded

The stated value of contracts awarded. We leave out frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems, because their values are ceilings on what might be spent, often in the billions. We also leave out any single contract of £1bn or more. Call-offs from frameworks are real spend, so they're included.

Typical contract

The median value of those contracts: half were worth more and half less.

Mainly buys

The trade with the most of the buyer's procurements, judged by each procurement's main category code.

What its tenders ask for

Accreditations and conditions named in the buyer's notices, such as ISO 9001, Cyber Essentials, CHAS or TUPE. We find them by matching words in the notice text, so a mention isn't always a requirement. Always check the tender documents.

Supplier rankings

We rank suppliers by the number of contracts they were awarded in the last 12 months, then by the number of different buyers. A supplier needs at least two contracts to be ranked. We list only companies with a Companies House number and large organisations. We don't list sole traders, because their business name is often their own name.

What the figures can't tell you

• They are only as complete as the notices. Many notices don't give the number of bids or the award value, so those figures rest on smaller samples.
• Small contracts only have to be published above £12,000 for central government and £30,000 for other public bodies, so smaller purchases are missing.
• A high share of direct awards or framework call-offs isn't wrong. The law allows both. It tells you how much of a buyer's work you can bid for without being on a framework.
• The figures describe the past 12 months. They don't predict whether you will win.

If a figure looks wrong, tell us and we will check it against the notices within a day.