Christmas can be a wonderful time of merriment, relaxation and time with family. Possibly overindulgence, too. For most of us, it’s also a break from the day-to-day. Surely, then, a time when there’s a moratorium on public sector tender deadlines.

Or at least, a pause on tenders closing between Christmas and New Year. Well… not quite.

But, how many tenders really close over Christmas?

We’ve looked back over the last few years to see how many public sector tenders have been published with a closing date between 20 December and 10 January. In other words, deadlines that almost guarantee a bid team will be working through the festive season.

So who’s issuing these curmudgeonly tenders, and which suppliers are bearing the brunt?

Which sectors are most affected?

Based on data up to 17 December this year, a whopping 41% of tenders closing during the festive period include at least one lot affecting suppliers in the Buildings market. That’s up from 34% at the same point last year.

Civil Defence suppliers are next in the firing line, with 28% of tenders including a Civil Defence component. Culture and Leisure suppliers, along with suppliers in the Corporate space, are each affected by 13% of festive-period tenders.

Are these even worth bidding for?

Turning to contract value, just under a quarter of tenders closing over Christmas have an estimated maximum value of under £100,000. With relatively modest rewards on offer, the temptation to shut the laptop and stick on another repeat of The Snowman must be strong.

That said, 44% of these tenders are valued between £100,000 and £1 million, 21% fall between £1 million and £10 million, and 13% are valued at £10 million or more. Those higher-value contracts are far harder to ignore, which probably means a handful of bid managers are facing a fairly grim Christmas.

Who’s issuing these festive deadlines?

More than half of these festive-period tenders, 56%, are issued by local government. Just under a quarter come from central government, with 13% from the NHS.

Looking more closely at local government, 16% of these tenders come from councils in the South East of England, 13% from Greater London, and another 13% from the North West. The East Midlands accounts for 12%.

Which councils are playing Scrooge?

Unitary authorities are responsible for 42% of local government tenders closing over the festive period, up from 31% last year. Metropolitan councils account for 18%, unchanged year on year. Shire districts, meanwhile, have dropped from 26% last year to 17% this year.

Is the problem getting worse?

Actually, no. Compared with recent years, we’ve seen noticeably fewer tenders closing over the festive period. With only a handful of working days left before Christmas, it seems unlikely that many more will appear. That drop may be partly explained by an exceptionally busy year for procurement teams, grappling with the Procurement Act and the implications of local government reorganisation. Some may simply have decided to close their laptops a little earlier. Christmas 2024 also saw fewer tenders closing over the holidays than the year before.

Of course, for those bid managers still racing to submit a compliant and comprehensive bid between the mince pies and mulled wine, that’s cold comfort. Bah! Humbug!

PS: Want early visibility of upcoming public sector procurements – before Christmas-ruining tenders land? Oxygen Insight’s pre-procurement service tracks meeting minutes, forward plans, strategy papers and other signals to flag opportunities early, giving your sales team timely plenty of time for targeted outreach.