Two questions small firms ask before they bid: how many others will I be up against, and can I ever beat the firm that holds the contract now? Here are the answers from the public award notices, with the method. Updated 31 October 2026.
From 4,611 open and selective competitions on Find a Tender that recorded the number of bids (awards published June to October 2026):
| Trade (competitions) | Median bids | 2 or fewer |
|---|---|---|
| Community services (70) | 3 | 47% |
| Vehicles and equipment (108) | 3 | 42% |
| Public services (53) | 3 | 38% |
| Arts, culture and events (34) | 3 | 32% |
| Repair and maintenance (240) | 4 | 33% |
| Health and social care (583) | 4 | 32% |
| Training and education (224) | 4 | 29% |
| Machinery and equipment (258) | 4 | 28% |
| Finance and insurance (80) | 4 | 26% |
| Property (40) | 4 | 22% |
| Catering (119) | 4 | 18% |
| Building and construction (638) | 5 | 23% |
| Cleaning, waste and environment (282) | 5 | 22% |
| IT and software (279) | 5 | 22% |
| Grounds and landscaping (70) | 5 | 19% |
| Medical equipment and supplies (108) | 5 | 17% |
| Research (65) | 6 | 23% |
| Business services (397) | 6 | 21% |
| Transport (380) | 6.75 | 31% |
| Architecture, engineering and surveying (266) | 7 | 16% |
Method: one figure per procurement (the median across its lots). Direct awards and call-offs are left out, and so are notices that don't record the number of bids. Trades are grouped from the notices' CPV codes. "Supplies and other" (292 competitions, median 4) is not shown.
Yes, a lot. Of the buyer types I've counted, NHS tenders are the least contested: a median of three bids, and more than a third got two or fewer. Housing associations and schools are the busiest.
| Buyer (competitions) | Median bids | 2 or fewer |
|---|---|---|
| NHS bodies (395) | 3 | 37% |
| Universities (211) | 4.5 | 23% |
| Parish and town councils (42) | 5 | 19% |
| Schools and colleges (299) | 5 | 12% |
| Housing associations (234) | 6 | 13% |
| Whole public sector (4,611) | 5 | 26% |
Buyer types are matched by name (for example "NHS", "hospital" or "health board"; "housing", "homes" or "living", without councils, Homes England or the regulator). Parish councils mostly buy below the Find a Tender threshold, so their sample is small. Each buyer name links to the tenders open from that type of buyer now.
Yes. Buyers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales see noticeably fewer bids than buyers in England. In Northern Ireland, two in five open competitions drew two bids or fewer.
| Buyers in (open competitions) | Median bids | 2 or fewer |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Ireland (172) | 3 | 40% |
| Scotland (394) | 4 | 31% |
| Wales (284) | 4 | 28% |
| North East (171) | 5 | 29% |
| South West (310) | 5 | 24% |
| South East (343) | 5 | 23% |
| West Midlands (260) | 5 | 22% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber (248) | 5 | 20% |
| East of England (288) | 5 | 19% |
| East Midlands (252) | 5 | 17% |
| London (770) | 5.5 | 19% |
| North West (335) | 6 | 20% |
| Whole UK (3,887) | 5 | 23% |
Open procedure only (anyone could bid), so the UK figure differs slightly from the table above, which also counts competitions with a selection stage. Buyers are placed by the postcode in the award notice, so national bodies count where their office is. Figures from Find a Tender award notices published June to October 2026. Each place links to every tender open there now, of any size.
We matched 732 public service contracts that came round again: the same buyer awarding the same service again, both contracts a year or more long, the new one starting within nine months of the old one's end. Source: Contracts Finder awards, 2022 to 2026.
| First contract's value (contracts) | Holder kept it |
|---|---|
| Under £20,000 (60) | 50% |
| £20,000 to £100,000 (289) | 67% |
| £100,000 to £1 million (265) | 67% |
| Over £1 million (118) | 69% |
| Type of service (contracts) | Holder kept it |
|---|---|
| IT services (78) | 78% |
| Software (127) | 69% |
| Training and education (89) | 66% |
| Repair and maintenance (31) | 65% |
| Business services (99) | 64% |
| Architecture and engineering (44) | 61% |
| Health and social care (51) | 51% |
Method: pairs are matched on title words (ignoring the buyer's name and generic words), the same CPV division and the dates above. Building works, single routes, placements and look-alike series are left out. A holder "kept it" when any supplier on the first contract also won the second. It's a rough measure: some re-tenders are split into lots, renamed or published elsewhere, so read the percentages as a guide, not to the decimal place.
Of 8,330 tenders published on Find a Tender from June to October 2026 (each counted once): 38% used the open procedure (one stage, everyone bids by one deadline), 35% were below-threshold open competitions, 16% used the competitive flexible procedure, and about 1% the restricted procedure. The rest didn't say. A competitive flexible tender can have several stages, often a questionnaire first and the full tender later, so its first deadline can come weeks before the date most listings show. How the stages work.
How to read them. Each figure counts competitions whose award notice on Find a Tender published how many bids it received, from June to October 2026. Where a notice has lots, I take the median bids across its lots, so a big multi-lot tender counts once. The headline, trade and buyer-type figures count open competitions (anyone could bid) and competitions with a selection stage. The by-place table counts open competitions only, which is why the UK share with two or fewer bids is 26% in one and 23% in the other. Buyers are placed by the postcode in the notice, so national bodies count where their office is. Contracts below the Find a Tender thresholds, and buyers that publish elsewhere, are not included, so read small samples (under about 50 competitions) with care.
You're welcome to quote them in articles, guides or training. Please credit "Kindling (kindling-bid.uk/data)" with a link to this page. If you'd like a figure for one trade, region or buyer that isn't here, email me and I'll run it if the notices allow.
Want the tenders, not just the numbers? Every open tender marked suitable for small firms, by trade and area, updated every weekday. Free.
Sources: Find a Tender and Contracts Finder award notices (Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). Figures are counted by Kindling from the published data and may change as notices are corrected.