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Innovation Marketplace

Crown Commercial Service · Central government

In brief

Crown Commercial Service has announced plans to buy research work. This is an early notice: there is nothing to bid on yet, but it tells you a tender may follow.

The estimated value is £900,000,000 excluding VAT.

The contract runs for 6 years, up to 8 years with extensions, starting 17 March 2027.

The buyer says it is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.

Built from the notice's own fields. Always check the official notice before you bid.

Can I win this?

Competition

Usually high: a median of 16.5 bids per contract for this buyer (from 126 awards in the last 12 months).

Dynamic purchasing system

Suppliers join a list the buyer can call on. You can usually apply at any time while it is open, and work is awarded later through smaller competitions between members.

What the notice says

The Commercial Innovation Hub (CIH) is a cross-government centre of excellence that is pioneering new approaches to service design and procurement, established to drive procurement of innovation across government and the wider public sector. The CIH was created in the context of the Procurement Act 2023 coming into force and is framed as a joint DSIT–GCA initiative announced as part of the National Procurement Policy Statement. The CIH will tackle a persistent set of barriers that limit procurement-led innovation Traditional procurement approaches are not suited for acquiring novel technologies and not always accessible for SMEs and Start Ups” and there is a perceived risk culture that…Read the full description
The Commercial Innovation Hub (CIH) is a cross-government centre of excellence that is pioneering new approaches to service design and procurement, established to drive procurement of innovation across government and the wider public sector. The CIH was created in the context of the Procurement Act 2023 coming into force and is framed as a joint DSIT–GCA initiative announced as part of the National Procurement Policy Statement. The CIH will tackle a persistent set of barriers that limit procurement-led innovation Traditional procurement approaches are not suited for acquiring novel technologies and not always accessible for SMEs and Start Ups” and there is a perceived risk culture that limits “psychological safety to ‘fail fast’”. The CIH rationale highlights the need to improve awareness and practical use of “commercial innovation opportunities” through briefs, tools and templates, and to help departments pilot innovations and contract with new supply chains. This agreement will provide a marketplace for public sector buyers to access suppliers who specialise in innovation covering a wide range of services. As part of the collaboration with DSIT, this will be preceded by collaboration areas, referred to as Digital Commercial Innovation Hub. In these sandboxes problems and solutions will be reviewed and the Innovation Marketplace will then provide the contractual route for any potential solutions that are taken forward to delivery. This part of the proposition will be owned and delivered by DSIT. There is no physical (IT solution or otherwise) between the Hub and Innovation Marketplace Dynamic Market When contacting GCA regarding this agreement, please ensure that you reference the agreement details in all correspondence

How to bid

  1. Read the full notice on Find a Tender, including any tender documents it links to.
  2. Register your organisation on the Central Digital Platform (through Find a Tender) if you have not already. Suppliers need to be registered to take part in procurements under the Procurement Act 2023.
  3. Follow the submission instructions in the notice; it does not name an e-tendering portal.

Timeline

  1. Pipeline notice · UK1, notice 064447-2026
  2. Pipeline notice · UK1, notice 070529-2026
  3. Preliminary market engagement notice · UK2, notice 076686-2026
  4. Pipeline notice · UK1, notice 099389-2026

Last time this was bought

The Marketplace

Awarded
1 October 2026
Value
£1,000,000,000
Contract ends
30 September 2030

Matched on Crown Commercial Service, the type of work and the title. Check the notice to be sure.

About the buyer

Procurements

63

Awards

33

Suppliers it has used most for research

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From notice 064447-2026 on Find a Tender, first published 9 July 2026, last updated 21 October 2026. We last checked for changes on 21 October 2026.