Pagabo opens tender for £2bn small to medium works framework with 40 regional sub-lots

Pagabo has invited contractors to tender for places on its National Framework for Small to Medium Works 2026, a four-year agreement valued at up to £2bn that it expects to launch in April 2027.

The procurement specialist said the framework would carry individual contracts of up to £20m and offer up to 75% of contractor appointments to regional businesses. Tender submissions close on 5 January 2027 through the InTend portal.

It is the third iteration of the framework, which Pagabo manages on behalf of the contracting authority The Education Alliance. Pagabo said the new version has been designed to comply with the Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement Regulations 2024. According to the Cabinet Office, the Act came into force on 24 February 2025.

Jason Stapley, chief procurement officer at Pagabo, said: "This is a framework that explicitly focuses on ensuring regional lots are reserved for regional firms, in the form of having national procurement assurance with a focus on local delivery."

The lots

The framework has five main lots. Lot 1, which Pagabo calls the Collaborative Partner lot, is reserved for national contractors and covers Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales with contract values from £0 to £20m.

Lots 2 to 5 are each split into 40 geographic area sub-lots and banded by value: £0 to £1m, £1m to £5m, £5m to £10m and £10m to £20m. Pagabo said the structure allowed procurement to take place with contractors close to projects, while keeping a national option open for clients.

The scope covers new build, refurbishment, highways, public realm, accessibility, decarbonisation, and mechanical and electrical engineering. Bids will be scored 70% on quality and 30% on price.

Pagabo said the framework would be open to local and combined authorities, central government, housing associations, NHS trusts, education providers, policing, ambulance and fire and rescue services, public utilities, museums, leisure facilities and prisons, as well as the third sector and organisations in the highways, infrastructure and aviation sectors.

The agreement will be run through Pagabo+, the company's digital delivery model, which it said would provide a single environment for management, delivery, reporting and compliance under the Act. Stapley said the platform created "space for contractors to take advantage of faster and greater visibility of public sector opportunities, reduced administrative overheads through our digitised process".

He also linked the framework to what he described as the government's focus on fiscal devolution in the recent Autumn Budget.

How it compares

The new framework is a step up from the current Medium Works framework. Pagabo's framework page describes that agreement as fully compliant with the Public Contracts Regulations, covering building works valued between £50,000 and £10m, with 94 regional and national contractors across four value bands.

When Pagabo announced those 94 suppliers in January 2023, it put the total value of the framework at £1bn and said 66% of the appointed firms were SMEs. It said at the time the framework would run for four years.

The tender also follows Pagabo's announcement in October 2026 of 56 suppliers for its National Framework for Major Works 2026, which it said had estimated total values of up to £5bn. That framework is also Procurement Act 2023 compliant and was brought to market after Pagabo formed a 10-year strategic delivery partnership with YPO, which acts as contracting authority while Pagabo is framework manager.

Pagabo framework	Estimated total value
Medium Works (2023)	£1bn
Small to Medium Works 2026	£2bn
Major Works 2026	£5bn

Pagabo says it has enabled more than £6bn in social value for public sector organisations since 2013.

Contractors have until 5 January 2027 to submit bids, with the framework expected to go live in April 2027 and run for four years.