Updated 2026-08-02
Two national services carry the vast majority of public sector notices:
Beyond open tenders on these two services, a significant share of EV charging procurement runs through frameworks — most notably ESPO's Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (VCI) framework, which lets eligible public bodies call off pre-vetted suppliers by direct award or mini-competition rather than running a full open procurement. Other sector-specific frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems (DPSs) also exist at regional or sector level (for example, some local authority-led consortia and transport bodies run their own). Suppliers serious about this market should monitor FTS and Contracts Finder continuously, hold or pursue a place on relevant frameworks, and set up saved searches/alerts rather than relying on manual checking.
The Procurement Act 2023 came into force in February 2025 and introduced the Central Digital Platform (CDP), now built into Find a Tender. The core change for suppliers: instead of submitting the same core organisational information (company details, financial standing, accreditations, exclusion-ground declarations) separately for every single bid, suppliers register once on the CDP and reuse that core data across multiple procurements, sharing it only with the buyers they choose to share it with. Contracting authorities also have new obligations to publish more procurement information (pipeline notices, contract details, performance data) than under the previous regime, which in practice gives suppliers earlier visibility of upcoming EV charging opportunities before the formal tender notice lands. Any supplier not yet registered on the CDP should do so before bidding, since registration is now a practical prerequisite rather than optional admin.
Public sector EV charging tenders are near-universally evaluated on a combination of price (commercial) and quality, with the split stated in the tender documents and varying by buyer — one procurement might weight 80% price / 20% quality, another the reverse, depending on how standardised or complex the requirement is. Quality criteria typically cover technical delivery (equipment reliability, network/OCPP compatibility, installation methodology, project management), track record (case studies and references from comparable public sector installations), and social value.
Social value deserves particular attention: under Procurement Policy Note 06/20, central government procurements must weight social value at a minimum of 10% of the quality score, and many local authorities, NHS trusts and other public bodies weight it as high or higher in practice. For EV charging specifically, social value responses commonly need to address things like local employment and apprenticeships during installation, community engagement around charge point siting, and environmental/carbon commitments beyond the baseline of the contract itself — generic corporate social responsibility boilerplate tends to score poorly against buyers looking for commitments specific to their area and contract.
Expect most EV charging tenders to request: case studies of comparable public sector (or equivalent-scale commercial) installations, with references contactable by the buyer; evidence of financial standing sufficient for the contract value; relevant accreditations for installation work (electrical competency certification, health and safety management systems); compliance with the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021 for domestic/workplace-adjacent equipment where applicable; and, where the contract touches grant-funded schemes such as the Workplace Charging Scheme, use of chargepoints and installers on the current OZEV-approved list — buyers drawing on that funding stream will specify this explicitly, so check the individual tender rather than assuming it applies universally, since not all public EV charging procurements are grant-linked. Back-office and software bids typically also need to demonstrate data protection compliance and interoperability with common payment and roaming standards.
Bids most often fall down — sometimes at the pass/fail stage before quality scoring even happens — for: missing or incomplete mandatory information (exclusion-ground declarations, insurance certificates, financial accounts); failing minimum financial standing thresholds relative to contract value; submitting past the deadline (electronic portals typically hard-cut at the stated time, with no grace period); and quality responses that don't directly answer the question asked, instead reusing generic marketing content that a rigorous evaluation panel will mark down regardless of how strong the underlying service actually is. Word-count and page-limit breaches are also a common, entirely avoidable rejection reason.
For an above-threshold open tender on Find a Tender, expect the published minimum tendering period to typically run several weeks from notice to submission deadline (exact minimums depend on procedure type and whether early market engagement was carried out), followed by an evaluation period of some further weeks before award, and then a mandatory standstill period before the contract is signed. All told, treat 2–4 months from notice to contract signature as a realistic planning assumption for a substantial open tender, and build in bid-writing time accordingly — leaving preparation to the final week of the tender window is the single most common reason otherwise-competitive suppliers submit weak responses. Framework mini-competitions are markedly faster, often measured in a small number of weeks from invitation to award, since the underlying supplier vetting has already been done.
For buyers, frameworks like ESPO VCI are usually faster and lower-risk for standard requirements, but restrict the buyer to whichever suppliers hold a place on the relevant lot. Open tenders take longer but let the buyer consider any qualified supplier, including newer entrants or specialists not on an existing panel. For suppliers, the practical implication is that winning a framework place is worth pursuing for the ongoing pipeline of mini-competition invitations it generates, but shouldn't be treated as a substitute for continuing to monitor and bid on open tenders — particularly since not every public buyer uses the frameworks suppliers hold places on.
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Above-threshold notices appear on Find a Tender (find-tender.service.gov.uk); lower-value opportunities are on Contracts Finder. Many are also run as mini-competitions under frameworks such as ESPO's Vehicle Charging Infrastructure framework rather than as fresh open tenders.
Yes — since the Procurement Act 2023, suppliers should register on the Central Digital Platform (now part of Find a Tender) to store core organisational information for reuse across bids, in addition to any framework-specific registration.
On a weighted combination of price and quality, with the split stated per tender. Quality usually covers technical delivery, track record/case studies, and social value — the latter weighted at a minimum 10% for central government under PPN 06/20, often higher for local bodies.
Both, ideally. Frameworks like ESPO VCI generate a steady pipeline of faster mini-competitions but limit buyers to the panel; open tenders on Find a Tender/Contracts Finder are available continuously and reach buyers who don't use that framework at all.
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One won contract pays for decades of ChargeTenders.