Three public furniture contracts open now: Staffordshire, Police Scotland estate and a £60.7m housing framework

Public sector furniture is mostly bought through frameworks: a buyer appoints a panel of suppliers for several years, then places orders through it. Getting on a framework at the start matters, because it can be years before the next chance. Three are open or about to open.

Staffordshire County Council: office, educational and library furniture

• Estimated value £9 million excluding VAT, in three lots: office furniture (£1 million), educational furniture (£2 million) and library furniture (£6 million).
• Suppliers must supply, deliver and install the products in each lot. The library lot includes a full design service.
• Contracts run from 1 March 2027 to 28 February 2029, with possible extension to 28 February 2031. Any public sector body in the UK may use the framework.
• Clarification questions by noon on 22 October. Tenders by noon on 29 October, through the council's Proactis eTendering portal. Reference IA3675.

Scottish Police Authority: office furniture across Scotland

• Estimated value £6 million for a single-supplier framework to supply, deliver and install office furniture and associated equipment.
• The supplier must cover the whole of Scotland, including the Highlands, Islands and other remote locations. The current arrangement ends on 31 March 2027.
• Initial term of three years, with an option to extend by up to twelve months.
• Tenders by noon on 2 November, through Public Contracts Scotland.

Northern Housing Consortium: furniture and flooring framework 2027 to 2031

• Estimated value £60,739,124 over a framework running from 1 October 2027 to 30 September 2031.
• Scope may include manufacture and supply of products, delivery, installation, repair or replacement, and recycling, disposal and redistribution, in homes, workplaces and community settings.
• This is a preliminary market engagement notice, not yet a tender. Supplier sessions of about 30 minutes run by Microsoft Teams from 16 to 20 November, booked first come, first served by email to the consortium's procurement team (address on the notice).

Repair is named in the housing framework's scope. A workshop that wants a say in how that part is written has until 20 November to book a slot.