Public sector construction contracts
Councils, housing associations, schools and the NHS buy building work of every size, from a new classroom to repairs on thousands of homes. Jonty finds the contracts that fit your business, reads the tender pack and writes the bid with you.
21 days free. No card needed.
Read what the film says
An 86-second film. A voice speaks over footage of building and repair work, then over Jonty’s screens, which follow one contract from the day Jonty spots it to the day it is submitted. The voice is quoted. The other words on screen are listed under it.
A worker in a hi-vis vest works on a scaffold board beside a white building, with a paint tub next to him. Then a close view of a hand fixing the pipes under a sink.
Public sector work is steady work.
An aerial view over rows of red-brick terraced streets, then four short shots: a crew resurfacing a residential road with a roller, a worker in overalls and a mask spray-painting an empty room, a worker in a hard hat breaking plaster off a wall, and a hospital corridor. The fact moves to the top corner, and each buyer name appears as a label with its shot.
More than a quarter of new construction work is for the public sector.
Councils. Academy trusts. Housing associations. NHS trusts.
- Great Britain, 2025. Source: ONS construction statistics.
A man sits in a vehicle, talks on his phone and reads papers, and a closing-time stamp appears. Then a builder in a white hard hat and safety glasses studies a drawing in a room with plastic sheeting on the windows, while a list of tender files builds up beside him.
But by the time you hear about a tender, it closes on Friday.
Then the pack is longer than the job spec.
- Closes Friday 12:00
- Invitation to tender
- Specification
- NHF Schedule of Rates (v8)
- JCT Measured Term Contract
- Procurement Specific Questionnaire
- Pre-construction information (CDM 2015)
- + 8 more files
Close up, hands fill in a form on a clipboard beside a yellow hard hat, with two question labels above. Then, in black and white, a building site behind a hoarding is seen from the street with a locked card over it, and the picture darkens as one orange dot appears in the middle.
They want method statements and social value. You just want to build.
And if you’re not on the framework, you never see the call-offs.
- Q3.2 Method statement: damp and mould · max 1,000 words
- Q5.1 Social value · weighted 10%
- Repairs Framework
- Wyvernside Housing Partnership · Suppliers only
The film cuts to cream, and the orange dot becomes the full stop in the name “Jonty.”, with “Bid Manager” under it. Then the Set-up screen: an orange voice orb for a call with Jonty, beside a company profile with three trades ticked.
Meet Jonty Bid Manager.
Tell it what you do.
- Set-up
- On a call with Jonty
- Ellerwick Building and Maintenance Ltd
- Yorkshire · Councils and housing associations
- What you do
- Repairs
- Voids
- Roofing
One contract card, flagged before its tender, with the orange dot beside the date the current contract ends. In Find, the dot ticks off five sources, the results of a keyword alert are struck out, and the card turns into an open tender with a value and a match score, then grows to fill the screen.
It spots contracts coming back to market, often months before the tender.
No keyword lists: it finds the work that fits.
- Spot it early
- Pre-tender
- Re-tender · Housing services
- Responsive Repairs and Voids
- Hartwold Borough Council
- Contract ends 31 March
- Find
- Sources Jonty reads
- Find a Tender
- Contracts Finder
- Public Contracts Scotland
- EU-Supply
- TED (EU)
- Keyword alert: repairs
- Hearing aid repairs
- Photocopier repairs
- Piano repairs
- Tender
- Open
- £4.8m
- Match: 91/100
- Repairs and voids, in your area.
Qualify: the dot reads across the 14 documents in the tender pack, five hard gates tick one by one, and a dark “Bid” verdict appears. Write: a method statement answer types in with its source, and the next line leaves a highlighted gap for a number the firm must add.
It reads every page of the pack, checks your accreditations, and says: bid, or pass.
It drafts your method statements and social value from past bids. Where proof is missing, it leaves a gap.
- Qualify
- Tender pack
- 14 documents read
- Hard gates
- Pass/fail · checked against your Vault
- 5 of 5 cleared
- SSIP: Verified · Vault
- PL £10m: Verified · Vault
- EL £10m: Verified · Vault
- ISO 9001: Verified · Vault
- Turnover £2.4m+: Self-declared
- Bid
- Similar repairs contracts
- Spec, p.4
- Write
- Q3.1 Method statement
- Void turnaround
- Voids inspected two days from keys in.
- Source: Past bid, p.12
- Average turnaround: [Add: days]
- 1 gap to fill
Submit: an approval card where a cursor labelled “You” clicks Approve, then a progress bar runs to “Submitted” with a green tick. Frameworks too: the same Repairs Framework from before, now open, with an application ready to review.
You approve. Jonty submits.
And it helps you get on the framework.
- Submit
- Submit response to Hartwold Borough Council?
- Nothing changes until you approve this.
- Approve
- Dismiss
- You
- Submitting on the buyer’s portal
- Submitted
- Frameworks too
- Repairs Framework
- Wyvernside Housing Partnership
- Open framework · reopens in March
- What it takes: SSIP ✓ · Public liability £10m ✓ · Three case studies ✓
- Application ready to review
- Review
Back on site, a close view of a bricklayer setting a brick on fresh mortar along a string line, with scaffolding behind. Then the end card on cream: the Jonty Bid Manager name with its orange full stop, and a dark button that carries the last spoken line.
Jonty does the paperwork. You do the work.
You stay on site.
Get Bid Manager at askjonty.ai.
- Questions? Book a call.
- Illustrative screens. The buyers and figures on them are fictional.
Who buys it
Most construction work comes from four kinds of buyer.
Councils
New builds, extensions and refurbishments of schools, libraries, depots and offices.Housing associations
Responsive repairs, kitchens and bathrooms, empty homes between tenants, and planned maintenance.Schools and academy trusts
Roofs, windows, heating and refurbishments, often timed for the school holidays.NHS and emergency services
Refurbishments, extensions and maintenance across hospitals, stations and other estates.
What the tender pack asks for
Each buyer words it differently, but a construction tender usually asks for the same things.
Method statement and programme
How you will run the job, in what order and by when, and how you keep a live site safe for the people still using it.Health and safety
Your policy, your accident record, and an accreditation where the buyer asks for one, such as CHAS or SafeContractor.Case studies
Similar jobs you have done, usually two or three, with their value, the client and a reference.Insurance and finances
Liability cover at the levels the buyer sets, and a turnover big enough for the size of the contract.Social value
What the contract does for the area, such as apprenticeships, local labour and local subcontractors. It is scored as its own question.
How Jonty helps
Spotting and finding the work come with Scout. Qualifying, writing and submitting come with Bid Manager. Nothing goes to a buyer without your OK.
1. Spot it early
Jonty tracks contracts coming back to market, often months before the tender, and tells you who buys what.2. Find
Jonty watches Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland and EU-Supply, and TED once you switch it on. It emails you the contracts that fit. No keyword lists: tell Jonty what you do in a short chat or call.3. Qualify
Jonty fetches the tender pack, reads every page and checks it against your Vault, where you keep your certificates, policies and past bids. Then it tells you to bid or pass, and shows the page behind each reason.4. Write
Jonty drafts each answer from your past bids and evidence, and leaves out anything it can't back up. You check it, change it and approve it.5. Submit
Once you approve the bid, Jonty fills in the buyer's portal and submits it for you before the deadline.
Where it's filed
CPV codes buyers use
Buyers tag each notice with a CPV code. These are the ones this work most often sits under. Jonty reads every notice in full, so a contract filed under an odd code still reaches you.
Questions people ask
Where are public sector construction contracts advertised?
Larger contracts go on Find a Tender. Many smaller ones in England go on Contracts Finder, and Scottish ones on Public Contracts Scotland. Some work is given out through frameworks instead of a full tender. Jonty watches these sources and emails you the contracts that fit.
A lot of building work goes through frameworks. What can I do?
With Bid Manager, Jonty helps either way. For the frameworks you're on, Jonty brings you their call-offs with your other contracts. For the ones you're not on, Jonty tells you whether each is worth joining, gathers what you need, and fills in and submits the application once you approve.
Will Jonty find joinery and repairs work, not just big builds?
Yes. Jonty matches contracts to what you tell it you do, not to a fixed list of codes. So responsive repairs, joinery and planned maintenance reach you whichever code the buyer picked.
See the construction contracts that fit your business
Try Scout free for 21 days, no card needed. Tell Jonty what you do and your first matches arrive the same day.