About the Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office sits at the centre of the British civil service, supporting the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to deliver policy across every department. It runs Whitehall's corporate functions, owns the civil service workforce strategy, hosts the Government Digital Service, and acts as the parent department for Crown Commercial Service. That last point matters for suppliers: Cabinet Office is both a buyer in its own right and the political owner of the framework infrastructure most of the UK public sector buys through. Cabinet Office tenders therefore split into two distinct streams: the department's own corporate and policy delivery spend, and the central procurement programmes that shape how every other buyer transacts.
Cabinet Office's own buying covers corporate professional services, communications, technology platforms supporting the Prime Minister's Office and the National Security Secretariat, statistical and policy research, and the operational running of 70 Whitehall buildings under the Government Property Agency. Cabinet Office also leads the Propriety and Ethics team's commissioning of independent reviews and the Civil Service Commission's recruitment exercises. Above all the corporate machinery sits the Government Communications Service, which runs annual paid-media and creative-agency procurements at significant scale.
Recent awards by the Cabinet Office
Cabinet Office award notices flow through Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, with the bulk landing under standard PCR (or now Procurement Act 2023) procedures. Recent awarded contract patterns from the department reflect its dual role. Corporate awards include the renewal of departmental shared services contracts, GCS communications and media-buying agreements, and assurance work for major government programmes. Central programme awards include CCS framework establishment costs, the contracted operation of the Find a Tender portal itself, and the running of central platforms such as GOV.UK Pay, GOV.UK Notify, and GOV.UK Verify successors under the Government Digital Service. Annual award volume is moderate by line count but high by total value, with several award notices exceeding 100 million pounds across multi-year terms.
| Recent award stream | Typical scale | Common CPV prefix |
|---|---|---|
| GCS media buying and creative | 10m to 100m | 79 |
| GDS platform operation | 5m to 50m | 72 |
| Independent reviews and assurance | 200k to 5m | 79 |
| Departmental shared services | 5m to 80m | 79 |
| Corporate consultancy | 100k to 5m | 79 |
Frameworks owned, operated, or used by the Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office sponsors Crown Commercial Service, the executive agency that owns most of the cross-government framework portfolio. That includes G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace, Technology Products and Associated Services, the Management Consultancy Framework, Public Sector Resourcing, the Network Services framework, and the legal, financial audit, and facilities management agreements that almost every department draws on. Cabinet Office itself buys via these same frameworks for its own departmental spend, so suppliers serving the Cabinet Office typically encounter them through CCS routes rather than bespoke department-issued competitions. The Cabinet Office also operates the Public Sector Resourcing managed service for interim and contractor placements across central government, and the Crown Representatives programme through which the most strategic suppliers are managed at senior commercial level.
Common CPVs procured by the Cabinet Office
The CPV mix on Cabinet Office award notices is dominated by 79 (business services), reflecting the volume of consultancy, audit, communications, and assurance work that the centre of government commissions. CPV 72 (IT services) and 48 (software packages) cover the Government Digital Service portfolio and departmental technology refresh. CPV 80 (education and training services) appears around civil service learning and apprenticeship commissioning. CPV 75 (public administration services) covers a small number of bespoke commissioning routes for cross-government programmes. Estates and construction CPVs are minimal because the Government Property Agency, although hosted within the Cabinet Office boundary, runs its own procurement programmes separately.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Cabinet Office publish its tenders?
Cabinet Office tenders appear on Find a Tender for above-threshold opportunities under the Procurement Act 2023 and on Contracts Finder for the full range including below-threshold awards. The department's preferred route to market for most spend categories is through Crown Commercial Service frameworks, which suppliers must be approved on before they can be considered for relevant call-offs. Bespoke departmental competitions outside CCS frameworks are less common and tend to be either highly strategic (Crown Representative engagements) or highly specialist (independent reviews).
How do I become a supplier to the Cabinet Office?
For most categories, the route to supplying the Cabinet Office runs through the relevant Crown Commercial Service framework. G-Cloud is the standard route for software and hosted services; the Management Consultancy Framework covers strategy, change, and transformation advice; Public Sector Resourcing covers interim and contractor placements. Suppliers should focus on getting approved on the framework that matches their offering, then monitor Find a Tender and the CCS framework call-off announcements for in-scope opportunities. For media and creative work, the Government Communications Service runs its own roster competitions which sit outside the standard CCS portfolio.
What is the Crown Representatives programme?
The Crown Representatives programme appoints senior commercial leaders to act as the single point of senior engagement between the Cabinet Office and the government's most strategically important suppliers. The programme covers a small number of suppliers across categories including defence, technology, professional services, and outsourcing. Suppliers under Crown Representative oversight receive structured senior-level engagement on contract performance, government-wide commercial concerns, and strategic alignment. Membership is by Cabinet Office invitation, not a competitive process.
How does the Procurement Act 2023 change Cabinet Office procurement?
The Procurement Act 2023, which Cabinet Office itself sponsored through Parliament, took effect in 2025 and changed the rules that the department, and every other UK public buyer, applies. The Act introduced new procedures (competitive flexible procedure, open procedure under the Act), revised exclusion grounds, the central digital platform for notice publication, and the supplier-feedback regime. Cabinet Office runs the central training and guidance programme for departments implementing the Act, so its own tenders are often the early-published examples of new procedural choices in action.
| Title | CPV category | Value | Award date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Sector Air Capability | Hire of fixed-wing aircraft with crew | £72,000,000,000 | 2026-06-22 |
| Data as of 01 Jun 2026 | |||
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Cabinet Office publish its tenders?
Cabinet Office tenders appear on Find a Tender for above-threshold opportunities under the Procurement Act 2023 and on Contracts Finder for the full range including below-threshold awards. The department's preferred route to market for most spend categories is through Crown Commercial Service frameworks, which suppliers must be approved on before they can be considered for relevant call-offs. Bespoke departmental competitions outside CCS frameworks are less common and tend to be either highly strategic (Crown Representative engagements) or highly specialist (independent reviews).
How do I become a supplier to the Cabinet Office?
For most categories, the route to supplying the Cabinet Office runs through the relevant Crown Commercial Service framework. G-Cloud is the standard route for software and hosted services; the Management Consultancy Framework covers strategy, change, and transformation advice; Public Sector Resourcing covers interim and contractor placements. Suppliers should focus on getting approved on the framework that matches their offering, then monitor Find a Tender and the CCS framework call-off announcements for in-scope opportunities. For media and creative work, the Government Communications Service runs its own roster competitions which sit outside the standard CCS portfolio.
What is the Crown Representatives programme?
The Crown Representatives programme appoints senior commercial leaders to act as the single point of senior engagement between the Cabinet Office and the government's most strategically important suppliers. The programme covers a small number of suppliers across categories including defence, technology, professional services, and outsourcing. Suppliers under Crown Representative oversight receive structured senior-level engagement on contract performance, government-wide commercial concerns, and strategic alignment. Membership is by Cabinet Office invitation, not a competitive process.
How does the Procurement Act 2023 change Cabinet Office procurement?
The Procurement Act 2023, which Cabinet Office itself sponsored through Parliament, took effect in 2025 and changed the rules that the department, and every other UK public buyer, applies. The Act introduced new procedures (competitive flexible procedure, open procedure under the Act), revised exclusion grounds, the central digital platform for notice publication, and the supplier-feedback regime. Cabinet Office runs the central training and guidance programme for departments implementing the Act, so its own tenders are often the early-published examples of new procedural choices in action.