News
Tussell releases report on strategic suppliers to UK government 2018-19
- 17 September 2019
- Posted by: Helen Nicol
- Category: Resources

Quite how the new report from Tussell will make you feel probably depends very strongly on whereabouts in the commissioning ecosystem you find yourself — but there’s valuable information for you in there, whichever side of the fence you’re on. Tussell, if you weren’t aware, are a “research and insight” outfit specialising in UK government contracting; they take all that open data the government releases and slowly and painstakingly turn it into advice for companies looking to “penetrate” — to use their own word — the public sector.
This latest report looks at the 34 big-cheese “strategic suppliers” to the government — lots of names familiar from building-site hoardings, and/or vaguely panicky items on the nine o’clock news — and how they did over the previous financial year. The headline findings, in Tussell’s own words:
- Central & Local Government spent more than £10bn on the 34 Strategic Suppliers in the 2018/19 financial year.
- However their strong market positions are under pressure – their market share declined by 15% year on year.
- There is considerable variance in their go-to-market strategies, even amongst those operating in the same sector.
- While Central Government is the main source of revenue for the Strategic Suppliers, Local Government appears to be under-penetrated by several of them.
- Four Central Government departments are responsible for three quarters of all spend with the strategic suppliers – the MoD, DfT, Home Office and DWP.
- Looking ahead, while some of the Strategic Suppliers face risk from upcoming contract expirations, others have seen particularly positive rates of revenue replacement from new contracts won.
Lots more exciting goodies in the full report; all you’ve gotta do to get a copy is sign up for their mailing list.