RFP QuestBeta

Win odds · measured from published awards

How open is your market?

The last winner almost never wins again. But roughly a third of the time the buyer goes back to someone already on their books. The incumbent isn’t the previous supplier — it’s the roster.

Both numbers are shown together everywhere on this page, because either one alone misleads. 12 of 18 categories have enough repeat events to publish a rate; the rest show their event count instead.

The spread — pick any category below

IT Specialist Resource
how it is bought
30.9%
anyone already on the roster
23.5%
the previous winner specifically
Software Licensing & Reselling
how it is bought
26.7%
anyone already on the roster
9.4%
the previous winner specifically
IT Services (unspecified)
what is bought
23.5%
anyone already on the roster
4.8%
the previous winner specifically
Business Applications
what is bought
18.7%
anyone already on the roster
6.3%
the previous winner specifically
Cloud & Hosting
how it is bought
14.2%
anyone already on the roster
4.0%
the previous winner specifically
Digital Services & Web
what is bought
11.9%
anyone already on the roster
6.2%
the previous winner specifically

Note what sits at the top: the most closed markets are delivery models, not products. How a thing is bought predicts retention at least as strongly as what it is.

Every category

product = what is bought · delivery = how it is bought. A tender can carry one of each, so the same product bought as a managed service is a different market from the same product on a licence.

  • IT Specialist Resourcedeliveryit-contingent-labour

    Individual technical roles bought as resource: analysts, developers, architects, project delivery.

    81 repeat events across 28 buyers

    30.9%
    anyone already on the roster
    23.5%
    the previous winner specifically
  • Software Licensing & Resellingdeliverysoftware-licensing

    Licence purchase, renewal and reseller agreements for packaged software.

    1,997 repeat events across 337 buyers · 14 open now

    26.7%
    anyone already on the roster
    9.4%
    the previous winner specifically
  • IT Services (unspecified)productit-services-unspecified

    The buyer tagged this as IT services and gave no detail we can resolve further.

    2,902 repeat events across 388 buyers

    23.5%
    anyone already on the roster
    4.8%
    the previous winner specifically
  • AI & Machine Learningproductai-machine-learning

    Artificial intelligence, machine learning, generative and predictive systems.

    74 repeat events across 36 buyers · 3 open now

    21.6%
    anyone already on the roster
    17.6%
    the previous winner specifically
  • Bespoke Software Developmentproductbespoke-development

    Custom application build and agile delivery teams.

    62 repeat events across 27 buyers · 2 open now

    21.0%
    anyone already on the roster
    16.1%
    the previous winner specifically
  • Business Applicationsproductbusiness-applications

    CRM, ERP, finance, HR, payroll and case-management systems.

    1,597 repeat events across 359 buyers · 23 open now

    18.7%
    anyone already on the roster
    6.3%
    the previous winner specifically
  • Networks & Connectivityproductnetworks-connectivity

    WAN, LAN, wifi, telephony, broadband and unified communications.

    99 repeat events across 46 buyers · 6 open now

    18.2%
    anyone already on the roster
    12.1%
    the previous winner specifically
  • Software (unspecified)productsoftware-unspecified

    The buyer tagged this as software and gave no detail we can resolve further.

    2,105 repeat events across 385 buyers

    17.8%
    anyone already on the roster
    7.1%
    the previous winner specifically
  • Data Platforms & Analyticsproductdata-analytics

    Data warehouses, business intelligence, dashboards and reporting.

    193 repeat events across 80 buyers · 3 open now

    17.6%
    anyone already on the roster
    8.3%
    the previous winner specifically
  • Cyber Securityproductcyber-security

    Security testing, monitoring, incident response and information assurance.

    279 repeat events across 111 buyers · 4 open now

    17.2%
    anyone already on the roster
    7.9%
    the previous winner specifically
  • Cloud & Hostingdeliverycloud-hosting

    Cloud platforms, hosting, migration and infrastructure as a service.

    2,119 repeat events across 386 buyers · 14 open now

    14.2%
    anyone already on the roster
    4.0%
    the previous winner specifically
  • Digital Services & Webproductdigital-services

    Websites, portals, intranets, service design and user research.

    244 repeat events across 103 buyers · 7 open now

    11.9%
    anyone already on the roster
    6.2%
    the previous winner specifically
  • GIS & Spatial Dataproductgis-spatial

    Geographic information systems, mapping and spatial analysis.

    20 repeat events across 17 buyers · 1 open now

    20 repeat events — too few to publish a rate
  • IT Strategy & Consultancyproductit-consultancy

    Digital strategy, enterprise architecture and IT advisory.

    22 repeat events across 10 buyers · 2 open now

    22 repeat events — too few to publish a rate
  • IT Managed Services & Supportdeliveryit-managed-services

    Service desk, end-user computing, managed IT and support contracts.

    59 repeat events across 31 buyers · 2 open now

    59 repeat events — too few to publish a rate
  • IT Hardware & Devicesproductit-hardware

    Laptops, desktops, tablets, printers, servers and AV equipment.

    30 repeat events across 19 buyers · 1 open now

    30 repeat events — too few to publish a rate
  • Carbon & Sustainability Advisoryproductcarbon-advisory

    Net zero strategy, carbon accounting and sustainability consultancy.

    6 repeat events across 2 buyers

    6 repeat events — too few to publish a rate
  • Building Retrofit & Decarbonisationproductretrofit-decarbonisation

    Fabric-first retrofit, insulation and building decarbonisation programmes.

    1 repeat events across 1 buyers

    1 repeat event — too few to publish a rate

How these numbers are made — and where they are weak

We resolve supplier identity from published award data using legal-suffix rules and a seeded alias list. We have not verified group structure, joint ventures or delivery partners against Companies House, so a group's true share may be understated. Buyer names are merged where the slug agrees — we cannot tell whether “Hackney Limited” is a council trading arm or an unrelated company, and we do not guess. Our award history begins in June 2015; 0.9% of dated awards predate it, so a “first win” is the first we can observe. Figures are shown with their method and the underlying awards are always one click away.

Now see it for your categories.

rfp.quest matches the whole UK market to what you can actually win, and shows these numbers against the tenders that are open right now.

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Re-win rates are computed from published contract award notices, with supplier identity canonicalised so a renamed supplier is not counted as a new entrant. A category is only given a percentage once it has at least 60 repeat award events · contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.