- UK public procurement is worth over £300 billion annually — and the spend data is published by law
- Award notices name the winning supplier, contract value, and duration: the raw ingredients of competitive intelligence
- CPV codes let you define and size any market category across the public sector
- Contract renewal windows are calculable: award date plus contract duration equals your re-procurement radar
- A procurement data strategy transforms reactive tender-spotting into forward market intelligence
In the private sector, market sizing relies on analyst reports, commercial databases, and educated guesswork. Public procurement is fundamentally different. Buyers are legally required to publish what they spend, on what, from whom, and for how much — creating one of the richest open datasets in the British economy.
The UK government spends over £300 billion annually on public procurement, according to HM Government estimates: roughly one third of all public expenditure. Yet most suppliers still rely on gut instinct or rough sector estimates when sizing their addressable market. The result, as BD teams across the supply chain describe it, is running blind — on price, on incumbents, on pipeline, and on timing. This guide explains a systematic methodology for using open data to produce far more accurate market sizing, and to build the competitive intelligence infrastructure that turns reactive BD teams into proactive ones.
Why Market Sizing in Public Procurement Requires a Different Approach
Private sector market sizing typically relies on secondary estimates — analyst interpretations of commercial activity that is not required to be disclosed. Public procurement operates on entirely different principles. Above defined financial thresholds, contracting authorities are legally required to publish contract notices, award notices, and spend data. This obligation — deepened significantly by the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force in February 2025 — means the core data for market sizing is not estimated. It is declared.
The implication for suppliers is significant. Rather than relying on a trade body’s estimate of government IT spending, or a market research firm’s view of the facilities management sector, BD teams can work directly from the published record. Award notices provide actual contract values, not ranges. Buyer-level spend data shows who is buying what and from which suppliers. The result is a market sizing exercise grounded in declared public spend rather than extrapolation.
This does not mean the open data is complete — important gaps exist, particularly around framework call-offs and single-source awards in classified procurement. Those gaps, and how to account for them, are addressed in the methodology section below.
What Is Public Procurement — and Why Is It a Data-Rich Environment?
Public procurement is the public procurement process by which government and public sector bodies purchase goods, services, and works from external suppliers. It encompasses central government departments, local authorities, NHS trusts, schools, police and fire services, and a broad range of arm’s length bodies. Unlike private sector purchasing, it is subject to legal transparency obligations that create a rich published record of government buying activity.
The scale of this open dataset is substantial. According to HM Government figures, UK public procurement accounts for over £300 billion in annual spend — approximately one third of all public expenditure. Even after accounting for classified contracts, below-threshold purchases, and the residual unpublished spend, the published record covers the majority of significant purchasing activity.
Despite this transparency, market access remains unequal. Direct government spend with SMEs totalled £45.4 billion in 2024 — just 20% of total procurement spend — and for MOD procurement specifically, that figure falls to 5%, according to Tussell’s SME Procurement Tracker (2024 data). For mid-sized and smaller suppliers in particular, systematic data intelligence is the most practical route to identifying and competing for the spend that does not automatically flow to established incumbents.
Where to Find Public Procurement Data in the UK — and How DCI Brings It Together
Public procurement data in the UK is real, substantial, and largely open — but it’s fragmented across multiple publishing channels, each covering different thresholds, buyer types, and contract categories. The Procurement Act 2023, implemented in February 2025, significantly expanded the number of notice types published, making the data landscape materially richer than it was two years ago. The challenge isn’t access — it’s consolidation. That’s where DCI’s intelligence layer does its most important work.
Find a Tender and Contracts Finder — What Each Covers
Find a Tender Service (FTS) covers above-threshold contracts under the Procurement Act 2023 regime — the primary portal for high-value notices and awards across central government, local authorities, NHS bodies, and utilities. Each notice includes buyer name, CPV code, contract value, duration, and the winning supplier. Contracts Finder covers lower-value awards from £10,000 for central government and £25,000 for other public bodies, making it particularly relevant for suppliers targeting smaller buyers or building a granular picture of category spend.
Together these two sources form the core open data infrastructure for UK public procurement. Monitored separately, they generate significant noise. DCI consolidates both into a single monitored feed, so suppliers see the complete picture without managing portals independently.
Cabinet Office Spend Data and Transparency Returns
Central government departments publish monthly spend data for transactions over £25,000 — a practice in place since April 2010. Unlike contract-level awards, this data covers individual supplier transactions, revealing purchasing frequency, departmental spend regularity, and the practical split between framework call-offs and direct awards. It’s one of the most underused intelligence sources in supplier BD — and one DCI integrates alongside live contract data to give a fuller view of where departmental spend is actually flowing.
Since 1 April 2026, the Government Commercial Agency — formed through the merger of Crown Commercial Service and the Cabinet Office’s central commercial teams — has oversight of this transparency infrastructure, leveraging over £400 billion in annual public sector purchasing power.
The New Transparency Notices Under the Procurement Act 2023
The Procurement Act’s implementation introduced notice types that materially change what’s visible in the open data landscape. Planned Procurement Notices create early pipeline intelligence before a contract is formally tendered. Preliminary Market Engagement Notices signal buyer intent even earlier. Transparency Notices — required before any direct award or single-source contract — mean that non-competitive awards, which previously went largely unpublished, now generate a data trail.
Mandatory KPI reporting for contracts worth £5 million or more adds a further layer of supplier performance intelligence. Classified defence contracts under the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations remain exempt, but for the vast majority of public spend, the dark matter gap in market sizing has meaningfully narrowed.
DCI captures all of these notice types as they publish — meaning suppliers monitoring through DCI see the full benefit of increased transparency without building their own multi-source data infrastructure to do it.
How to Use Procurement Data Analysis to Size Your Addressable Market
Procurement data analysis is not a single search — it is a structured process moving from category definition through to spend aggregation and forward projection. The following steps form the core of a repeatable market sizing methodology.
Using CPV Codes to Define Your Market Category
CPV codes — the Common Procurement Vocabulary — are the classification system used across UK and EU public procurement notices. With over 10,000 codes in the system, selecting the right ones is the foundation of any data-driven market sizing exercise. Too narrow a code set and significant adjacent spend is missed; too broad and unrelated categories introduce noise. CPV codes also support supplier segmentation by enabling organizations to categorize suppliers based on the specific goods and services they provide, which helps optimize sourcing strategies and improve decision-making.
For defence, security, and civil infrastructure suppliers, the relevant CPV ranges include: 35xxx (defence and security equipment), 45xxx (construction works), 72xxx and 73xxx (IT services and research and development), and 79xxx (facilities management). Notably, public sector AI procurement reached £1.17 billion in 2025 — more than doubling the prior year’s figure, according to Tussell’s AI Procurement Tracker (2025 data) — making CPVs 72xxx and 73xxx a live indicator of rapidly growing buyer demand.
It is also important to distinguish between framework call-offs and open-tender contracts. Both may share the same CPV code but appear as different notice types. Including both in a market sizing exercise produces a more complete picture of category spend — particularly given that £46 billion of public contracts were awarded through frameworks in 2024 alone, according to Tussell’s Public Sector Frameworks Report (2025 analysis).
Reading Award Notice Data to Understand Real Spend — and Who Is Winning
Award notices contain four commercially valuable data fields: the awarded supplier name, the contract value, the contract duration, and the buyer organisation. Used together, these fields answer the most important BD question in any market: who currently holds the work, for how much, and for how long?
The awarded supplier field is the most under-used source of competitive intelligence available in open procurement data. Mapping incumbents by CPV code and buyer gives a direct view of market concentration. Supplier databases can be used to consolidate and analyse awarded supplier information, enabling deeper insights into supplier performance, market share, and risk. In UK defence, for example, where 39% of MOD procurement expenditure went to just ten suppliers in 2024/25 (MOD Trade, Industry and Contracts 2025), award notice analysis quickly identifies where prime contractor incumbency is entrenched and where challenger positions exist. Aggregating this field across a category over three years produces supplier market share estimates that no secondary report can replicate.
Calculating Contract Renewal Windows
One of the most practical applications of open procurement data is renewal forecasting. Every award notice includes an award date and a contract duration. From those two data points, the approximate re-procurement window is directly calculable: award date plus contract duration equals expected return to market. Effective contract management relies on tracking these dates to ensure timely re-procurement and compliance.
A contract awarded in January 2022 with a three-year term, for instance, re-procures in approximately Q1 2025. Layering this calculation across a full category produces a forward pipeline of re-procurement events — opportunities that most BD teams currently discover only when the notice appears. For framework agreements, the same logic applies: framework end dates are published, and suppliers who track them know when category spend returns to market well in advance of the next advertisement.
Accounting for Below-Threshold and Undisclosed Awards
Not all public spend is visible in the open record. Below-threshold direct awards, framework call-offs without individual transparency notices, and classified defence contracts all fall outside the standard published data. In UK defence, this gap is substantial: in 2024/25, 45% of MOD core department spend — £18.4 billion — was awarded non-competitively through single-source contracts, according to MOD Trade, Industry and Contracts 2025. The majority does not appear in competitive tender notices.
Suppliers sizing the defence market from open tender data alone will systematically underestimate total category spend. A more accurate approach applies benchmark ratios — using the published competitive and non-competitive split from MOD’s own transparency data — to estimate the non-visible portion. For non-defence public procurement, the Transparency Notice requirement under the Procurement Act 2023 is progressively closing this gap. Additionally, external data—such as information from third-party platforms, government agencies, and industry sources—can be used to supplement open data and provide a more complete picture of total category spend.
Building a Procurement Data Strategy for BD and Market Intelligence
A one-off market sizing exercise has value. A procurement data strategy is transformative. The distinction lies in moving from a reactive posture — downloading a CSV when a market question arises — to a continuous intelligence function that tracks category spend, buyer activity, and renewal pipelines routinely. Procurement teams and procurement departments play a key role in implementing and maintaining this strategy, leveraging analytics and technology to optimize processes and drive better outcomes.
For suppliers who miss a framework entry window, the lock-out period can extend to three to five years — making proactive framework monitoring not a nice-to-have, but a commercial necessity.
A data driven procurement approach involves four ongoing activities. Category tracking monitors award notice data in defined CPV ranges on a regular basis to observe spend trends and buyer shifts. Buyer watchlisting focuses on the highest-priority public bodies and monitors their procurement activity specifically. Renewal forecasting maintains a rolling calendar of contracts due to re-procure. Competitor monitoring tracks which suppliers are winning in priority categories and buyer organisations, building an evidence-based picture of competitive positioning. Procurement operations can be further optimized through continuous data analysis, enabling better oversight and management of purchasing activities.
Together, these activities shift procurement intelligence from a discovery function to a strategic one. Rather than waiting for the phone to ring, a systematic procurement data strategy creates the pipeline visibility to engage buyers and prepare bids well before a notice is published. Analytics can also be scaled across multiple business units, providing greater visibility and tailored insights for diverse teams and stakeholders.
A data-driven approach not only enhances decision-making but also improves operational efficiency throughout the procurement lifecycle. Best practices in public procurement include using e-procurement systems, ensuring fair supplier treatment, and conducting thorough market engagement.
Procurement Data Analytics — Turning Raw Notices Into Market Insight
Pulling and aggregating award notice data is necessary, but it is not sufficient. Procurement analytics—the interpretive layer applied to procurement data—transforms raw information into actionable insights that drive procurement performance, cost savings, and strategic procurement decisions. Analytics in procurement helps organizations uncover trends, optimize procurement strategies, and continuously improve the procurement function.
Four analytical approaches are particularly valuable for BD and market intelligence teams:
- Descriptive analytics summarizes historical data to identify spending patterns, supplier performance, and procurement outcomes.
- Diagnostic analytics explains the ‘why’ behind procurement results, such as cost overruns or delays, by analysing underlying factors.
- Predictive analytics uses historical data and trends to forecast future outcomes, such as demand forecasting, price changes, or supplier risk.
- Prescriptive analytics recommends specific actions based on predictive insights, helping organizations optimize procurement strategies and make strategic procurement decisions.
Procurement analytics tools, procurement analytics software, procurement analytics systems, and procurement analytics solutions automate data extraction, analysis, and reporting, enabling procurement teams to leverage real time data, business intelligence, and advanced analytics for better decision-making. These analytics tools support procurement professionals and procurement analysts in interpreting internal data, external data, financial data, and historical data from sources like ERP systems, supplier databases, and spreadsheets.
Spend trend analysis—using spend analysis and spend analytics—reveals whether a category is growing or contracting, informing go/no-go decisions on market entry and helping identify spending patterns and cost reduction opportunities. Buyer concentration analysis identifies whether a few large buyers drive most spend or whether it is broadly distributed, directly shaping targeting strategy. Supplier market share mapping leverages supplier management, supplier performance, supplier risk, supplier risk management, supplier relationship management, and supplier relationships to reveal incumbent concentration, competitive gaps, and improve supplier relationships. Renewal forecasting converts award notice data into a forward pipeline of re-procurement events, utilizing demand forecasting and predictive analytics to anticipate future procurement needs.
Procurement analytics solves common challenges such as cost reduction, contract compliance, and supplier risk by providing actionable insights and supporting continuous improvement. Key performance indicators (KPIs) and procurement KPIs—such as cost savings, spend under management, supplier performance, purchase order cycle time, contract compliance, procurement ROI, risk exposure, and ESG metrics—are essential for measuring procurement performance. Procurement teams rely on analytics tools and business intelligence platforms to benchmark, track, and optimize procurement activities.
Implementing procurement analytics requires a systematic approach, including data cleansing and classification to ensure data quality, as raw data often contains errors and inconsistencies that degrade the quality of insights. High-quality data is foundational for effective procurement analysis and continuous improvement.
Organisations that use procurement analytics typically see improved performance, including cost savings, enhanced supplier relationships, and better procurement decisions. Companies that effectively leverage procurement analytics can achieve a return on investment (ROI) of up to 63 times, particularly in large-scale or high-complexity environments, by identifying savings opportunities and tracking realized financial impact.
Procurement analytics enables organizations to identify trends, market trends, future trends, and spending patterns, supporting strategic procurement decisions and optimizing procurement strategies. Procurement analytics tools and solutions are essential for driving operational efficiency and continuous improvement in procurement performance.
The distinction between procurement data analysis (the methodological steps: CPV selection, data aggregation, calculation) and procurement data analytics (the interpretive, insight-generating layer) matters for how teams structure their intelligence function. The analytical layer requires consistent data inputs—which is precisely why moving from ad hoc downloads to a structured data infrastructure produces compounding intelligence returns over time.
What to Look For in Procurement Database Software — and Why DCI Is Built for It
Manual market sizing — downloading CSVs from Contracts Finder, cross-referencing notices in spreadsheets, tracking renewal dates in a shared calendar — is feasible for a one-off exercise. For teams running this as a continuous intelligence function, it becomes unsustainable fast. DCI is built specifically to replace that process.
What DCI Consolidates
DCI aggregates data from Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, Cabinet Office spend data, and buyer portals into a single searchable environment — removing the need to manage multiple sources simultaneously. The capabilities that matter most in a procurement intelligence platform are exactly what DCI is structured around: aggregated coverage across open data sources rather than a single portal; CPV and category filtering to define precise market scope; buyer profiling that surfaces award history and spend patterns for individual contracting authorities; incumbent mapping through supplier award history; and pipeline alerts that flag new notices and approaching renewal windows automatically.
Where DCI’s Value Is Most Visible
The practical case for DCI isn’t that manual analysis is impossible — it’s that a continuous intelligence function requires consistency that ad hoc processes cannot reliably deliver. DCI automates the data pipeline, so procurement analysis can be refreshed without a manual download cycle and renewal alerts arrive without anyone needing to remember to check. That shift — from periodic exercise to always-on intelligence — is where DCI changes how BD teams actually operate, rather than simply giving them another data source to manage.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Public Procurement Data
Where can I find free public procurement data in the UK?
The two primary free sources are the Find a Tender Service (gov.uk/find-a-tender) for above-threshold contracts and Contracts Finder (gov.uk/contracts-finder) for lower-value awards from £10,000 (central government) or £25,000 (other public bodies). Cabinet Office monthly spend data for transactions over £25,000 is also published on GOV.UK. Since April 2026, these services are managed under the Government Commercial Agency (GCA), which also oversees the central procurement frameworks available to public sector buyers.
How do I find out how much the government spends on a particular category?
Use CPV codes to define the category, then aggregate award notice data from Contracts Finder and Find a Tender for that CPV range over a defined period — typically three years. Sum the awarded contract values to produce a total category spend estimate, and apply a benchmark ratio to account for below-threshold and non-competitive spend not captured in the open record.
What are CPV codes and how do I use them?
CPV codes are the Common Procurement Vocabulary: a standardised classification system used across UK and EU public procurement. Over 10,000 codes are in use, organised into divisions, groups, classes, and categories. Selecting the relevant CPV codes for your market defines the data set for any market sizing or competitive intelligence exercise.
What is procurement data analytics used for?
Procurement data analytics applies interpretive analysis to aggregated award notice data. Common applications include spend trend analysis (is this category growing?), buyer concentration analysis (which buyers drive most spend?), supplier market share mapping (who is winning?), and renewal forecasting (when does current spend return to market?).
Start Using Public Procurement Data to Size and Win Your Market
Open procurement data is the most underused asset in supplier business development. The UK’s public procurement market publishes the majority of significant government spend in structured, searchable form — award notices, buyer-level transparency data, and framework information that collectively provide a more precise view of market size than any secondary estimate can offer.
The methodology in this article — CPV-based category definition, award notice aggregation, incumbent mapping, and renewal forecasting — is available to any supplier with access to the published record. The challenge is not access; it is the consistency and rigour of the analysis. Data driven procurement intelligence, applied as a continuous function rather than a one-off exercise, is what separates BD teams that know their market from those still running blind.
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