The Requirements Observatory
What UK public tenders actually demand — the certifications, clearances, frameworks and regulator registrations named in the notices themselves. Every row below is backed by the sentence it was found in.
Every count here is a floor. We match the text of the notice, and a notice description is a summary — most tender packs demand things it never mentions.We count notices rather than quoting a percentage of the market, and we show how many put the demand in obligation language (“must hold”) rather than mentioning it in passing.
There is deliberately no trend column here. The Procurement Act went live on 24 February 2025 and changed how notices are written, so a 2024-to-2025 comparison is partly a change in convention rather than a change in demand — and we have not measured how much of it is which. Each requirement’s own page shows the year-by-year curve with that break marked.
136 requirements measured across 118,957 notice-level demands.
Standards you certify to
Certification & assessment schemes
Personnel clearance & vetting
These gate people, not the company: the cost and the lead time are per head, and they recur as staff change.
| Requirement | Notices (floor) | Said “must” |
|---|---|---|
| DBS checkper person | 1,363 | 314 |
| Enhanced DBS / enhanced disclosureper person | 242 | 99 |
| Security clearance (general)per person | 219 | 69 |
| BPSS (baseline personnel security standard)per person | 139 | 86 |
| CTC / NPPV police vettingper person | 108 | 25 |
| SC (security check) clearanceper person | 66 | 30 |
| List X / facility security clearance | 52 | 19 |
| DV (developed vetting) clearanceper person | 33 | 14 |
| PVG scheme (Scotland)per person | 23 | 2 |
| Disclosure Scotlandper person | 14 | 2 |
| BS 7858 (security screening of individuals)per person | 9 | 5 |
Frameworks & routes to market
You cannot buy your way onto a framework today — you get on when it reopens. Values here are ceilings with heavy double-counting, never market size.
| Requirement | Notices (floor) | Said “must” |
|---|---|---|
| Framework agreement (any) | 27,787 | 735 |
| Crown Commercial Service framework | 20,438 | 204 |
| Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) | 13,957 | 112 |
| ESPO / YPO / NEPO | 8,950 | 332 |
| G-Cloud / Digital Marketplace | 6,866 | 22 |
| NHS Shared Business Services | 1,781 | 5 |
| SCAPE / Fusion21 / LHC | 1,050 | 50 |
† Framework ceiling values double-count heavily. They are not market size.
Regulator registrations
| Requirement | Notices (floor) | Said “must” |
|---|---|---|
| CQC registration | 1,820 | 267 |
| Ofsted registration | 1,050 | 144 |
| Ofgem licence / scheme registration | 723 | 124 |
| FCA authorisation | 721 | 61 |
| Ofwat | 526 | 30 |
| DVSA | 516 | 53 |
| MHRA | 504 | 40 |
| Ofcom | 331 | 20 |
| NICEIC / NAPIT (electrical competent person) | 177 | 77 |
| SIA licenceper person | 168 | 44 |
| Maritime & Coastguard Agency | 165 | 13 |
| Care Inspectorate (Scotland) | 161 | 112 |
| Environmental permit / waste carrier licence | 127 | 26 |
| Gas Safe Registerper person | 124 | 35 |
| FSA food establishment approval | 111 | 8 |
| CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) | 100 | 28 |
| Ofqual recognition | 99 | 8 |
| ORR (Office of Rail and Road) | 61 | 0 |
| ICO registration (data protection fee) | 49 | 6 |
| ARB registration (architects)per person | 28 | 0 |
| Operator's licence (goods/PSV) | 11 | 6 |
| SRA regulation (solicitors) | 7 | 1 |
Platform & vendor partner status
Counted only where partner or reseller language sits beside the platform name. Document-level co-occurrence overstates this badly, so these are the narrowest numbers on the page.
Policies & commitments
| Requirement | Notices (floor) | Said “must” |
|---|---|---|
| Apprenticeships | 4,730 | 182 |
| Safeguarding policy | 2,878 | 228 |
| Net zero commitment | 2,617 | 64 |
| Social value | 2,253 | 268 |
| Biodiversity / environmental net gain | 1,241 | 32 |
| Named PPN compliance | 994 | 6 |
| Modern slavery statement | 257 | 43 |
| Real living wage | 222 | 20 |
| Carbon reduction plan (PPN 06/21) | 34 | 20 |
| Armed Forces Covenant | 29 | 0 |
| SECR (streamlined energy & carbon reporting) | 10 | 0 |
Financial standing & cover
| Requirement | Notices (floor) | Said “must” |
|---|---|---|
| Employers' / public liability insurance | 790 | 261 |
| Professional indemnity insurance | 461 | 169 |
| Audited accounts / financial standing | 448 | 139 |
Standards the work must meet
Standards the work or the goods must meet. Not a badge the company holds, so not something you can go and acquire.
Contract conditions
Obligations the contract imposes on the winner. You handle these; you do not hold them.
| Requirement | Notices (floor) | Said “must” |
|---|---|---|
| TUPE transfer | 2,135 | 284 |
| CDM 2015 (principal designer / principal contractor) | 1,856 | 85 |
| UK GDPR / data protection | 699 | 122 |
| IR35 / off-payroll working | 459 | 11 |
Every requirement above is a door that is currently open or shut for you. Tell us what you hold and we will show you which notices you are already eligible for — and which single certificate unlocks the most.
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