Data story · Find a Tender, Contracts Finder and Public Contracts Scotland award notices · Nov 2024 – Oct 2026
69,773 awards in the United Kingdom went to 21,458 suppliers from November 2024 to October 2026. 64% of the 21,458 suppliers won exactly one award. Together they hold 20% of the awards. The United Kingdom is above the median: the top 1% of suppliers won 25%, against 19% in the median country (39 countries).
By number of awards, the top 1% hold 25%. By stated value, the top 1% hold 64%. The largest supplier, Softcat plc, won 805 awards (1%).
- Awards
- 69,773
- Contract awards from Nov 2024 – Oct 2026, each counted once.
- Winning suppliers
- 21,458
- Suppliers with one or more awards, counted by normalised name.
- Won one award
- 64%
- Share of winning suppliers with exactly one award.
- Top 1% of suppliers
- 25%
- Share of awards won by the 214 suppliers with the most awards.
- Gini coefficient
- 0.61
- Inequality of awards across suppliers: 0 = each wins the same number, 1 = one supplier wins all.
- Stated value (GBP)
- GBP 212 billion
- From the 93% of awards that state an amount, capped at the 99.9th percentile.
- Top 1% by stated value
- 64%
- Share of stated value won by the top 1% of suppliers by value.
How the awards spread across suppliers
The United Kingdom ranks 19th of 48 countries for the Gini coefficient and 13th for the top 1% share. 1st is the most concentrated.
Who wins the most awards
| # | Supplier | Awards | Share of awards | Stated value (GBP) | Share of value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Softcat plc | 805 | 1% | 1.23 billion | under 1% |
| 2 | INSIGHT DIRECT (UK) LTD | 376 | under 1% | 342 million | under 1% |
| 3 | PHOENIX SOFTWARE LIMITED | 329 | under 1% | 1.38 billion | under 1% |
| 4 | CIVICA UK LIMITED | 275 | under 1% | 73.1 million | under 1% |
| 5 | Constellia Limited | 255 | under 1% | 173 million | under 1% |
| 6 | COMPUTACENTER (UK) LIMITED | 254 | under 1% | 333 million | under 1% |
| 7 | CDW Limited | 250 | under 1% | 335 million | under 1% |
| 8 | Hansom | 250 | under 1% | 4.76 million | under 1% |
| 9 | WSP UK Limited | 247 | under 1% | 319 million | under 1% |
| 10 | Ove Arup & Partners Limited | 238 | under 1% | 162 million | under 1% |
Who buys the most
| # | Buyer | Awards | Share of awards | Stated value (GBP) | Share of value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suffolk County Council Passenger Transport | 1,945 | 3% | 186 million | under 1% |
| 2 | UK Research & Innovation | 1,514 | 2% | 162 million | under 1% |
| 3 | National Highways | 1,267 | 2% | 2.53 billion | 1% |
| 4 | Leicester City Council | 1,251 | 2% | 640 million | under 1% |
| 5 | Ministry of Defence | 1,188 | 2% | 13.2 billion | 6% |
| 6 | UK SHARED BUSINESS SERVICES LIMITED | 1,015 | 1% | 1.94 billion | under 1% |
| 7 | Environment Agency | 1,005 | 1% | 793 million | under 1% |
| 8 | HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL | 982 | 1% | 908 million | under 1% |
| 9 | Ministry of Justice | 973 | 1% | 8.88 billion | 4% |
| 10 | Leicestershire County Council | 821 | 1% | 341 million | under 1% |
Stated value: the amount in each award notice, split between joint winners and capped at the 99.9th percentile.
Sectors
5 sectors have 300 or more awards and 50 or more suppliers in the window, and a sector page. Each row links to that page, where the sector has its own numbers, charts and tables.
| CPV sector | Awards | Winning suppliers | Top 1% of suppliers | Won one award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transport & Logistics | 836 | 548 | 8% | 79% |
| IT & Software | 732 | 474 | 10% | 82% |
| Professional Services & Consulting | 590 | 408 | 6% | 76% |
| Construction & Public Works | 372 | 274 | 3% | 81% |
| Healthcare & Medical | 343 | 285 | 5% | 89% |
CPV sector: the sector of the award's CPV code, the EU classification of what a contract buys. Our keyword sector labels elsewhere on the site can give other counts.
How we counted
- Find a Tender, Contracts Finder and Public Contracts Scotland award notices for the United Kingdom. One record is one contract award: a buyer, a supplier, a date and, where the source gives it, an amount.
- November 2024 to October 2026. This is the latest 24 months of our data for the United Kingdom, up to the last month with a normal number of awards.
- 5% of the award records for the United Kingdom in this window have a CPV code. A record without a code is in no sector. Each award counts in one sector only, by the strict CPV rules of the ART-1 audit. We do not use our keyword sector labels: a hand check found too many wrong labels for most sectors.
- We count each award once: one notice, one amount, one date. We leave out awards with no supplier name, placeholder names such as "persona natural", names that are only a legal form, and names that appear on thousands of unrelated awards.
- We count suppliers by normalised name. A firm under two spellings counts as two suppliers, so the "won one award" share is an upper bound.
- Stated value is the amount in the award notice, in GBP. It is often the ceiling of a framework agreement, and the money paid can be lower. When several winners share one notice and one amount, we split the amount. We cap each award at the 99.9th percentile of the awards in the United Kingdom. 93% of the awards state an amount, GBP 212 billion in total.
- These numbers show how the awards spread across suppliers. They do not show why.
The method is the method of our study of 39 countries: who wins government contracts. Other countries: who wins, country by country. The sector pages show the same numbers for each country and sector with enough data.
Snapshot 4 November 2026. Awards from November 2024 to October 2026. The numbers change when we add new awards.