Despite the uncertainty with Brexit, in 2019 the public sector market grew by 17% and awarded £93 billion worth of contracts, according to a report by Tussell
In 2019, 2,076 public sector buyers awarded 45, 216 contracts worth £93 billion to 16, 218 suppliers. This was a 17% increase from 2018.
The wider public sector was responsible for more than half of the contracts. Despite Central Government being the biggest customer type, it awarded less than half of the total value of contracts.
The total can be broken down into the following:
- 43% Central Government
- 25% Local Government
- 10% Housing Association
- 8% NHS
- 14% Other
Largest contracts
The Ministry of Defence was the single largest buyer of the year, awarding 817 contracts worth a total of £14.6 billion. Its largest deal was worth £2.1 billion with Babcock for submarine engineering services.
Nearly a quarter of the value of contracts well on the construction sector with its biggest contract being Peabody Housing’s £8 billion project with Lendlease to develop the Thamesmead Waterfront.
103 contracts for advanced technologies were awarded, nearly twice as many as in 2016. Artificial intelligence served as the most popular emerging tech, with 46 contracts awarded this year alone.
What’s in store for 2020?
Expiring contracts are as follows:
- January – £1 billion
- February – £1.3 billion
- March – £3.6 billion
- April – £1.8 billion
- May – £1.5 billion
- June – £2.1 billion
- July – £1.2 billion
- August – £2 billion
- September – £2.3 billion
- October – £2.1 billion
- November – £0.7 billion
- December – £1.7 billion
The new government has promised further public investment, particularly for infrastructure and healthcare. So a further overall growth is expected in the year ahead, however, Brexit will have a big impact on public procurement and the economy.
