The UK public sector is one of the largest and most accessible markets in the country.
Since 2020, Crown Partners' research has covered more than £1 trillion of advertised public sector framework opportunity across some of the UK's largest procurement organisations.
That includes frameworks operated by:
These frameworks cover virtually every major area of public sector procurement, including technology, professional services, construction, healthcare, facilities management, recruitment, infrastructure, transport, energy, and business services.
The £1 trillion figure represents the cumulative published estimated values of framework opportunities researched since 2020. It represents potential procurement capacity rather than guaranteed spend. It's an important distinction, because advertised framework value is commonly presented as actual public sector spend when it isn't. It merely represents the potential value of purchasing that can take place through the framework.
Don't be put off though, because the amount actually being spent through public procurement is substantial.
Advertised framework values should not be confused with actual expenditure.
Government figures demonstrate that enormous amounts of real purchasing take place through these agreements.
Between 2020/21 and 2024/25, total expenditure through Crown Commercial Service / GCA commercial agreements alone was approximately:
2020/21 — £19.96bn
2021/22 — £25.51bn
2022/23 — £27.92bn
2023/24 — £33.58bn
2024/25 — £36.19bn
That's approximately:
spent through CCS/GCA commercial agreements in just five financial years.
And that's just one major public procurement organisation. It does not include expenditure through NHS Shared Business Services, YPO, ESPO, NEPO, LHC Procurement Group, HealthTrust Europe or the many other national, regional and sector-specific procurement organisations operating across the UK.
Public sector procurement isn't reserved for the UK's largest companies.
Between 2020/21 and 2024/25, approximately £16.64 billion was spent directly with SMEs through CCS/GCA commercial agreements alone.
Annual direct SME expenditure through those agreements was:
2020/21 — £2.22bn
2021/22 — £2.70bn
2022/23 — £3.63bn
2023/24 — £4.19bn
2024/25 — £3.91bn
Again, those figures relate only to CCS/GCA agreements.
They do not represent the entirety of UK public sector expenditure with SMEs.
One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding government procurement is that frameworks are dominated by enormous multinational suppliers.
The data says different.
As of 2024/25, approximately 75% of suppliers on CCS commercial agreements were SMEs.
They comprised approximately:
33% micro businesses
28% small businesses
14% medium-sized businesses
In total, 9,905 of the 13,142 suppliers recorded across CCS agreements were SMEs.
So SMEs actually represent the majority of suppliers on these frameworks.
In 2024/25, central government spent approximately £2.33 billion directly with 1,459 SMEs through CCS agreements.
That equates to approximately:
in central government expenditure during a single year.
Of course, suppliers may receive multiple contracts or call-offs during the year and expenditure will vary significantly between businesses. It does, however, demonstrate the potential commercial scale of successful participation in public sector procurement.
Government procurement is not one homogeneous market.
Public sector contracts range from relatively small requirements worth tens of thousands of pounds through to national programmes worth hundreds of millions or billions.
For smaller businesses, the opportunity can therefore be very different from the headline values associated with major national frameworks.
Individual SME public sector contracts and call-offs frequently fall within the hundreds of thousands of pounds, while successful SMEs can accumulate significantly greater public sector revenue across multiple awards.
The important distinction is this:
A £5 billion framework does not mean suppliers need to be capable of delivering £5 billion of work.
The framework creates a procurement marketplace through which hundreds or thousands of individual requirements can subsequently be awarded.
Depending on its structure, those requirements may be divided by service, geography, specialism, contract value or buyer requirement.
This is precisely why frameworks can create significant opportunities for SMEs.
Understanding this distinction is fundamental.
Imagine a framework advertised with a value of:
That does not mean there is one £5 billion contract available.
Instead, the framework might operate for four years and be accessible to hundreds or thousands of public bodies.
Those organisations can then purchase individual requirements through the framework.
One supplier might secure a £75,000 requirement.
Another might win £400,000.
Another might receive a £3 million call-off.
A major supplier could secure tens of millions.
Collectively, purchasing across the framework can ultimately reach billions.
The opportunity for a business therefore isn't necessarily the headline framework value.
The opportunity is gaining access to the marketplace through which that expenditure will take place.
Public sector frameworks can fundamentally change how an organisation sells to government.
Without an appropriate procurement route, winning public sector work can require responding repeatedly to individual competitive tenders.
Securing a position on the right framework can give a supplier access to a defined market of public sector buyers for several years.
Depending on the framework and requirement, buyers may then award contracts through further competition or, where the framework permits it, through direct award.
But there is a major constraint.
Many traditional closed frameworks have fixed application windows.
Miss the procurement and another opportunity to join that particular framework may not appear for several years.
The Procurement Act 2023 has introduced open frameworks and dynamic markets which can provide additional opportunities to enter certain procurement routes, but significant closed framework opportunities continue to exist.
That makes timing one of the most important factors in public sector growth.
Finding an advertised contract is the final stage of a much larger process.
Long before an individual opportunity appears, it is often possible to identify:
That information can allow businesses to prepare for opportunities months or sometimes years before the resulting contract is advertised.
This is the difference between simply searching for tenders and developing a structured public sector growth strategy.
There has been more than £1 trillion of advertised opportunity across the major framework portfolios researched by Crown Partners since 2020.
More than £143 billion was actually spent through CCS commercial agreements alone between 2020/21 and 2024/25.
More than £16.6 billion of that CCS expenditure went directly to SMEs.
And approximately three quarters of suppliers on CCS / GCA commercial agreements are SMEs.
The question for an individual business isn't whether sufficient public sector opportunity exists.
It is:
Crown Partners identifies the frameworks, contracts, buyers and future opportunities that align with an organisation's capabilities and helps businesses build the commercial, procurement and bid strategy required to pursue them.
If you want to understand where your organisation fits into the UK public sector market, Crown Partners can assess your capabilities against relevant frameworks, buyers and forthcoming opportunities and identify where the strongest routes to market exist.
Talk to Crown Partners about your public sector growth strategy today.
Figures on this page are based on published procurement notices, government reports and procurement organisation data.
The £1 trillion+ figure is a rounded estimate of the cumulative advertised maximum or estimated values of major framework opportunities researched by Crown Partners since 2020 across Government Commercial Agency/Crown Commercial Service, NHS Shared Business Services, YPO, ESPO, NEPO, LHC Procurement Group and relevant HealthTrust Europe frameworks.
It should not be interpreted as actual expenditure or guaranteed contract value.
CCS expenditure and SME statistics are based on published Crown Commercial Service and Government Commercial Agency data.
Framework values represent the maximum or estimated potential purchasing capacity specified by contracting authorities. Actual expenditure may be materially lower.