Design Tenders and Contracts

Design tenders cover RIBA-stage building design teams and engineering or structural design consultancy, which make up most of the volume, alongside exhibition and museum design, user experience and interface design, interior design frameworks and audio-visual media design.

Stotles brings together design tenders and contracts from 100+ portals into one search, so you do not have to check each portal separately, and you can set alerts for new opportunities across the UK and Ireland.

If you want to search the government portals directly, Find a Tender carries higher-value contracts across the UK and Contracts Finder carries lower-value contracts in England. Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales and eTendersNI cover Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Ireland's eTenders covers Irish public bodies, and many councils, NHS bodies and housing associations publish on their own e-tendering portals such as ProContract. Many design buyers appoint rosters or call off from creative frameworks, so smaller briefs then go only to agencies already listed.

Design tenders are scored on portfolio and creative response, understanding of the brief, process, accessibility and price. Buyers often appoint a roster or call off from a framework, so getting listed is the main way into repeat work.

Design tenders usually set minimum insurance cover, check financial standing and ask for portfolios and evidence of similar projects at selection stage, and digital design for public bodies must meet accessibility requirements. Under the Procurement Act 2023, suppliers can be excluded for certain criminal convictions, insolvency or failure to pay tax.

The Communications Marketplace dynamic purchasing system is a route for buying graphic design and wider creative and design services. Buyers such as the National Wealth Fund and the British Business Bank have run further competitions under it for graphic design, branding, marketing collateral and event materials.

Design work such as exhibition and museum design is more often appointed project by project, so a single framework does not cover the whole topic.

Councils and central government commission the bulk of building and public realm design work. Museums, galleries and cultural bodies buy exhibition and interpretive design. NHS trusts and housing associations buy design services as part of capital and refurbishment programmes, and digital teams across the public sector buy UX and UI design for services and websites.

Read capital programmes, communications strategies, exhibition and digital programmes and framework renewal dates, which show design work coming due ahead of a notice. On Stotles you can track those signals and the buyers behind them, then follow a notice from pre-tender through to award.

Design notices carry 79822500 (Graphic design services) for creative and graphic work and 79415200 (Design consultancy services) for design consultancy.