Winston IntelligenceSupplier route guide
Win access to the route, then compete for the contract.
A framework place or dynamic-market membership makes a supplier eligible for future opportunities within its scope. It does not guarantee a call-off, revenue or even an invitation outside the lot, part and buyer coverage stated in the official documents.
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Choose the structure
Framework, open framework and dynamic market are different routes.
This comparison describes the Procurement Act 2023 regime. Scottish and legacy arrangements can retain earlier framework and dynamic purchasing system terminology.
| Route | What it is | When suppliers can join | Typical term | Future contract access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard framework | An above-threshold, non-exempt framework is a public contract setting terms for future contracts | Suppliers are fixed when the framework is awarded | Generally four years; eight for utilities or defence and security, with stated exceptions | Only appointed suppliers can receive a call-off |
| Open framework | A scheme of successive frameworks on substantially the same terms | Suppliers can join when a successive framework is awarded, not continuously | Up to eight years, with reopening rules and a shorter limit after a single-supplier framework | Suppliers on the current framework can compete or be selected under its rules |
| Dynamic market | A list of suppliers that meet published membership conditions; not itself a public contract | Applications remain open throughout and supplier numbers cannot be capped | No statutory maximum term | A tender notice advertises each procurement; the supplier must be admitted to the relevant market or part |
Before you apply
Check four boundaries in the official documents.
Directories can help you discover a route. Only its current notices and documents establish eligibility and process.
- 1
Eligibility to use or join
Identify the buyer organisations, goods, services or works, geography and lots or parts covered. A familiar framework name does not prove that this buyer or requirement is in scope.
- 2
Entry window
A standard framework closes to new suppliers after award. An open framework has stated reopening points. A dynamic market accepts membership applications throughout, subject to the published process and enough time before a particular procurement deadline.
- 3
Conditions and evidence
Read the conditions of participation or membership, exclusions, technical requirements and required evidence. Appointment to one lot or part does not qualify a supplier for every other one.
- 4
Fees
Under the Procurement Act, access or membership cannot be sold to a supplier. A framework or dynamic market may instead state a fixed-percentage fee tied to contracts awarded under it, within the statutory rules.
Lots and parts
The subdivision sets the real competitive boundary.
A lot is a separately described part of a procurement or framework. Under the Procurement Act, a buyer must consider before publishing a tender notice whether the requirement could reasonably be supplied under more than one contract and whether lots are appropriate.
Read each lot's scope, value, location, capacity rules and any limit on how many lots one supplier may win. Dynamic markets can instead be divided into parts. Appointment to one lot or part is not evidence of appointment to the rest.
Call-off contracts
A framework award and a call-off award are separate wins.
The framework's tender notice and documents must state how future contracts can be awarded.
- Without further competition
- Available only where the framework contains the core call-off terms and an objective supplier-selection mechanism. Being on the framework does not mean every supplier is considered for every award.
- Competitive selection
- The buyer invites every framework supplier capable of meeting the requirement, including the relevant lot. Proposals use the framework's award criteria, which may be refined but not replaced with new criteria.
- Publication
- A call-off does not use a new tender notice under the framework route. The buyer publishes the applicable award and contract notices; a mandatory standstill is not required for a framework call-off, although a voluntary one may be used.
Current thresholds
Procurement Act amounts in force on 2 September 2026.
Figures are estimated contract values including VAT. The revised GPA-aligned amounts apply to procurements commenced from 1 January 2026 and run to 31 December 2027; the listed light-touch amounts remain current but are not all part of that biennial change.
| Contract type | Threshold including VAT |
|---|---|
| Central-government goods or services | £135,018 |
| Sub-central goods or services | £207,720 |
| Works | £5,193,000 |
| Utilities goods or services | £415,440 |
| Utilities works | £5,193,000 |
| Concession works or services | £5,193,000 |
| Defence and security goods or services | £415,440 |
| Defence and security works or concessions | £5,193,000 |
| All other light-touch contracts | £663,540 |
| Light-touch utilities contracts | £884,720 |
| Light-touch concession contracts | £5,372,609 |
Below threshold
Lower value does not mean no rules or no opportunity.
Part 6 of the Procurement Act gives regulated below-threshold procurement a lighter set of rules. Where a buyer advertises a notifiable below-threshold contract, the notice boundary is £12,000 including VAT for a central-government authority and £30,000 including VAT for other contracting authorities. The buyer may also use a closed quotation or framework route where the Act and its own policies permit it.
Those figures are publication triggers, not the main Schedule 1 thresholds above. Schools, utilities, concessions, transferred Northern Ireland procurement and other cases have specific exclusions or rules. Verify the buyer, regime, route and current guidance rather than assuming every lower-value requirement must be openly advertised.
Use directories as examples, not proof of complete market coverage.
The Government Commercial Agency, formerly Crown Commercial Service, maintains agreement and supplier directories; the Digital Marketplace exposes G-Cloud services and lots. Scotland separately publishes Scottish Government frameworks and still operates dynamic purchasing systems under its regime. These are official discovery routes, but Winston does not claim a complete framework directory or measured call-off coverage before task W57 supplies that evidence.
Primary sources
Check the current route, amount and documents at source.
Winston checked the law and guidance on 2 September 2026. This page is reviewed within 30 days and sooner after a threshold, framework, dynamic-market or territorial-rule change.
- Cabinet Office: frameworks guidance
- Cabinet Office: dynamic markets guidance
- Cabinet Office: lots guidance
- Cabinet Office: thresholds guidance
- Cabinet Office: PPN 023 — 2026 threshold amounts
- Cabinet Office: below-threshold contracts guidance
- Scottish Government: 2026–27 procurement thresholds
- Government Commercial Agency: search agreements and suppliers
- Digital Marketplace: G-Cloud services and suppliers
- Scottish Government: frameworks and contracts
Connect the route to the wider process.
See where frameworks sit in the procurement lifecycle, then use the bid/no-bid checklist for a specific framework or call-off opportunity.