Ships Tenders and Contracts

Ship notices include chartering a vessel with crew for a specific operation, dry-docking and repair work at a shipyard, design and build of ferries and research vessels, and ongoing operating and maintenance support for a naval fleet. Much of the operating and support work runs through a framework rather than a single open tender.

Stotles brings together ship 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. Naval support runs through Ministry of Defence frameworks on the Defence Sourcing Portal, while councils and research bodies tender new vessels and refits as standalone contracts.

Ship tenders are scored on technical design, yard capacity, delivery programme, through-life support and price. Refits run to fixed dry-dock windows, so programme certainty matters.

Vessels must meet Maritime and Coastguard Agency rules, such as the Workboat Code for small commercial craft, and refits are often surveyed against a classification society's rules. Tenders usually set minimum insurance cover, check financial standing and ask for evidence of similar contracts at selection stage. Under the Procurement Act 2023, suppliers can be excluded for certain criminal convictions, insolvency or failure to pay tax.

Some ship repair and operating contracts are open competitions, but a lot of this work moves through long-running frameworks and call-off orders rather than a single advertised competition.

Central government defence and maritime safety bodies are frequent buyers, alongside state-backed shipyards and ferry operators. Some contracts respond to a specific incident, such as a vessel needed at short notice for pollution response.

Read fleet replacement and refit programmes, ferry service strategies, dry-docking schedules and prior information notices for vessel replacement, which show 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.

Ship notices carry 34510000 (Ships), 34512100 (Ferry boats), 34511100 (Marine patrol vessels) and 50241000 (Repair and maintenance services of ships).