Framework Agreement How to Get On: 6 SME Steps (2026)

By Aoba Works · Published October 20, 2026 · 17 min read

How this guide was made: drafted with AI assistance from the official sources linked below, then passed an automated editorial check before publishing. Our process

• Procurement Act 2023
• Sme
• Vcse
• Find A Tender

To get on a framework agreement, first register your organisation on Find a Tender and complete your supplier information. Then find a framework or dynamic market that is open to bids, meet its conditions of participation, and send a compliant tender before the deadline. If you miss a closed framework, you have to wait for its replacement. Under the Procurement Act 2023, open frameworks must reopen to new suppliers within three years, and dynamic markets accept applications at any time.

Which option is right for you?

Your best first move depends on how ready you are to bid and how much time you can give it each week.

Why these picks: a dynamic market removes the biggest timing risk for a new supplier, because you can't miss its window. A national framework is worth chasing only if you can deliver across the regions or lots it covers.

What is a framework agreement and why does it matter for SMEs?

A framework agreement is a pre-agreed list of suppliers and terms. Public bodies use it to award contracts ("call-offs") without running a full new tender each time. For an SME, a place on a framework means you can win repeat public sector work without starting from zero for every contract.

The framework itself usually comes with no promise of work. It sets the rules: who the suppliers are, which lots they cover, the core contract terms and how future contracts get awarded. Buyers then use it when they need something. The Government Commercial Agency (GCA) runs many of the best-known national frameworks. It replaced Crown Commercial Service (CCS) on 1 April 2026, and existing frameworks, supplier listings and call-off contracts continued unchanged.

Two official numbers show both the opportunity and the catch:

• When Digital Outcomes and Specialists 5 opened, 3,340 suppliers were awarded places, and 94% of them were SMEs (GCA).
• In CCS's 2025 SME action plan, SMEs made up about 75% of suppliers on CCS agreements but received just under 11% of direct spend (Ward Hadaway summary of the CCS SME action plan).

That gap is the most important thing to understand before you start. Getting on a framework is a qualification. The revenue comes from winning call-offs afterwards (see the mini-competition section below).

For example, a 12-person IT support firm might win a place on a regional lot of a technology framework. Over the next year, three councils could invite every supplier in that lot to quote for specific projects. The firm earns money only from the quotes it wins.

How to get on a framework agreement: the 6 steps

Getting on a framework takes six steps: register, find the right notice, check the conditions, prepare your evidence, submit a compliant tender, then win work once you're admitted. Most rejections happen in steps 3 to 5, so plan most of your time there.

Step 1: Register on Find a Tender (once, free)

Find a Tender is the central digital platform under the Procurement Act 2023. It stores your core supplier information, and you can reuse that for every bid. It costs nothing to use, and the government says you should not pay to view public sector opportunities.

The official three-step guide uses these labels:

1. Choose Create your GOV.UK One Login (or Sign in if you already have one), then Register an organisation. Have ready a work email, your Companies House number or equivalent (a Charity Commission number, for example), your registered address and a shared organisation email. If you have no registry number, for example as a sole trader, the service generates a unique identifier for you.
2. Choose Complete Supplier Information and fill in each section: Basic Information, Connected Persons, Qualifications, Trade Assurances, Exclusions and Financial Information.
3. Choose Share my information, then Create a share code. Agree to the declaration, give your name, job title, work email and postal address, then choose Confirm and get share code.

Buyers will ask for this share code in their own tender portal. The factsheet says you might paste it into the buyer's eSender system or email the downloaded file, depending on what the tender documents say.

Step 2: Find the notice and register on the buyer's portal

Frameworks are advertised with a tender notice on Find a Tender (see the next section for other places to look). Each buyer then runs the competition on its own eSourcing system. GCA, for example, says it runs all GCA procurements through its eSourcing portal. You register there, express interest and download the invitation to tender. Register on the portal days before the deadline, not hours. New accounts sometimes need verification.

Step 3: Read the conditions of participation and the lots

Open the tender documents and find three things: the lots (by region or service), the conditions of participation (financial, technical, legal), and the evaluation criteria with their weightings. If you can't meet a mandatory condition for a lot, don't bid for that lot.

Step 4: Prepare your evidence pack

Gather your accounts, insurance details, references or case studies, policies and the named people who will deliver the work. The documents section below lists what's usually asked for.

Step 5: Submit a compliant tender

GCA frameworks use a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) to check you meet the conditions of participation. After that come quality questions and pricing (GCA). Answer every question, follow the word limits and upload the pricing schedule in the format they give you.

Step 6: Get admitted, then win call-offs

If you're successful, you're awarded a place on the framework. GCA warns that registering and expressing interest "does not guarantee success". Even after you're admitted, you still have to win work through mini-competitions or direct awards.

Common mistakes at this stage, and how to fix them:

• You register on Find a Tender but never generate a share code. Fix: finish step 3 of the registration and save the code where your bid team can find it.
• Your supplier information is out of date. Fix: update it whenever directors, owners or accounts change, then make a new share code.
• You bid for every lot. Fix: bid only where you can deliver at the stated volume and in the stated area.

Where to find live framework opportunities for SMEs

Find a Tender lists framework notices above the threshold. Contracts Finder covers lower-value work in England. GCA's pipeline shows national frameworks before they open, and devolved portals cover Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Above-threshold procurements have to follow the full rules of the Act. From 1 January 2026, the thresholds including VAT are £135,018 for central government goods and services, £207,720 for councils, the NHS and other sub-central bodies, and £5,193,000 for works (Burges Salmon; as of October 2026, check GOV.UK for updates). Below that, a contract is "notifiable" and published on Contracts Finder from £12,000 for central government and £30,000 for other authorities, including VAT (Hempsons).

GCA's own opportunities page also suggests approaching the procurement teams of councils, the NHS and universities directly, because those bodies manage their own suppliers.

Here's an example search routine. Once a week, filter Find a Tender for the notice types tender notice and dynamic market notice in your service category. Check Contracts Finder for your county. Check the GCA pipeline once a month.

Framework agreement vs dynamic purchasing system (DPS): which should SMEs apply to?

Frameworks usually close after their first tender window, while a DPS, and now a dynamic market, stays open for new suppliers to join at any time. That makes a dynamic market the easier way in for newer or smaller SMEs. Since the Act came in, new DPSs are no longer set up. Dynamic markets replace them.

Under the transitional rules, a DPS whose procurement started before 24 February 2025 is deemed to end on 23 February 2029 at the latest, while frameworks set up under the old rules can run to their agreed end date (Birketts). So you'll still see some old DPSs for now, but new ones will be dynamic markets.

Choose a dynamic market if you're new, cash-tight or not sure about your timing. Membership checks your legal and financial capacity or technical ability. It isn't a scored contest against other bidders. GCA also says there are no joining fees, just a commission on sales you make through the agreement. The limitation is that, once you're in, you compete for every contract, often against a lot of members.

Choose a framework if the buyers you want use it and you can write strong quality answers. Fewer suppliers on a lot can mean better odds in each mini-competition.

Common pitfalls:

• You assume membership means instant work. On a dynamic market, contracts are still competed. Budget your bidding time for that.
• You miss the "reasonable period". The guidance says applications must be considered within a reasonable period, but it doesn't set a number of days. Apply well before you need to bid. That said, if you apply while a competition is running, the buyer must consider your application before excluding you.

How the Procurement Act 2023 changes framework entry for new suppliers

The Procurement Act 2023, in force since 24 February 2025, brought in open frameworks that must reopen on a set timetable, and dynamic markets that never close. Together they reduce the old problem of missing one tender and being locked out for four years.

The legal timetable for open frameworks is in section 49:

• The first framework must be followed by a new award at least once within three years.
• Each later framework must be followed by a new award at least once every five years.
• The whole scheme must end within eight years of the first award.
• If only one supplier is awarded, the term is capped at four years.

GOV.UK's frameworks guidance also confirms that suppliers can't join a closed framework part-way through. The only way in mid-life is when an open framework reopens.

For example, if an open framework is first awarded in May 2026, it has to reopen by May 2029 at the latest. If the buyer reopens it only once, that second framework can run to May 2034 at most. A supplier who misses the 2026 round has a guaranteed second chance within three years. The buyer can also reopen sooner, for example once a year.

Three practical points for SMEs:

1. Reopening doesn't mean an easier test. You still submit a full tender. Read the earlier evaluation results if the buyer publishes them, so you know what scored well.
2. Watch for the notice. Reopenings are advertised like a new procurement, so set up the same weekly Find a Tender search for frameworks you've missed.
3. Fees are fixed for the life of the framework. Fees can only be charged to suppliers awarded a call-off, as a fixed percentage of estimated value (GOV.UK). If a buyer asks for an upfront fee to join, ask them what it's for.

The Act also changed how your capability is assessed, which matters as much as the timing. That's the next section.

What selection criteria and documents do you need to apply?

Buyers test your financial standing, technical ability and legal standing, and check exclusion grounds. Under the Act, any condition must be proportionate to the contract's nature, complexity and cost. Have your evidence pack ready before the notice appears.

Section 22 of the Act includes rules that help small suppliers:

• A buyer can't ask for audited accounts unless you are, or were, legally required to have them audited under the Companies Act 2006. Many micro and small companies, sole traders and small charities aren't.
• A buyer can't require contract insurance to be in place before the award. It can ask you to confirm you'll get it.
• A buyer can't require you to have held previous contracts with a particular authority.
• You can meet the conditions through associated suppliers, such as a consortium partner, or a subcontractor or guarantor with legally binding arrangements.

Here's a practical evidence pack to build once and reuse:

1. Find a Tender share code, with Connected Persons and Exclusions filled in.
2. Financial information: your last two years of accounts, or management accounts if you're newer, plus a short note explaining anything unusual.
3. Insurance: current certificates, or a broker's letter confirming the cover levels you can get (for example, employer's liability and public liability limits).
4. Three case studies of similar work: client type, scope, value, dates and results. Public sector experience isn't required.
5. Referee contacts who have agreed to be contacted.
6. Policies: health and safety, equality, data protection, safeguarding where relevant, and modern slavery if you meet the statutory threshold or the buyer asks for it.
7. Social value evidence, because most frameworks score it. See Social Value in Tenders: PPN 002 Steps and Answer Examples.

The questionnaire layout varies by buyer. For a section-by-section walkthrough, read Selection Questionnaire Procurement Act 2023: 7 SME Steps.

Common mistakes and fixes:

• A turnover test seems to rule you out. Check the lot value, not the total framework value. Then use the clarification facility to ask whether the condition is proportionate, or bid with a partner.
• Your PSQ answers don't match your Find a Tender record. Buyers compare the two. Update your supplier information first, then make a new share code.

How mini-competitions and direct awards work once you're on a framework

A place on a framework doesn't guarantee any work. Most call-offs are run as mini-competitions among the framework suppliers. Some are direct awards, allowed only when the framework sets out an objective way to choose the supplier.

GOV.UK's guidance says that, unless there's only one supplier, a buyer can award without competition only when the framework sets out an objective mechanism. That might be a ranking from the framework tender, or the lowest price in a catalogue, together with the core terms.

A typical mini-competition goes like this:

1. The buyer sends a call-off invitation to every supplier on the relevant lot, through the framework's portal.
2. You get a specification, evaluation criteria (often a new quality and price split) and a deadline that's usually shorter than for an open tender.
3. You submit a short response tailored to that buyer's problem.
4. The buyer awards the contract and the framework fee applies only to that call-off value.

For example, imagine a training provider on a lot with eight suppliers. A council invites all eight to quote for a 20-day leadership programme, weighted 60% quality and 40% price. The provider's framework case studies help, but the deciding factor is its answer about this council's managers.

To turn membership into work:

• Tell buyers you're on the framework. GCA has guidance on promoting your position as a supplier.
• Answer every invitation. If you can't bid, decline formally rather than ignoring it. Some frameworks track how suppliers respond.
• Keep your framework rates realistic. If direct awards go by price ranking, a high rate card means you won't be picked.

Common reasons SME bids get rejected at the framework stage

Bids are often rejected for administrative reasons, not because the quality is poor: missing exclusion declarations, weak technical evidence, incomplete pricing and late uploads. All of these can be fixed before you press submit.

The Act lists mandatory exclusion grounds in Schedule 6 and discretionary ones in Schedule 7. These cover you and your connected persons, which is why the Connected Persons section on Find a Tender matters.

For example, a social enterprise with a strong service could still fail the pass or fail stage because it left a director's details out of Connected Persons. Five minutes of admin would have stopped a month of bid writing from going to waste.

Ask for your feedback after every result. Under the Act, buyers have to give unsuccessful suppliers an assessment summary when they publish their award decision. Use that to plan your answers for the next reopening or a related framework.

Next steps

You can do the first two steps today without spending anything.

Do it yourself today:

1. Create your GOV.UK One Login, choose Register an organisation on Find a Tender, and complete your supplier information up to Create a share code (official guide).
2. Open GCA upcoming agreements and note any agreement or dynamic market in your sector, with its expected opening date.
3. Start your evidence pack. Write your first two case studies using the format in the selection section above.

If you'd rather not do it all yourself:

• Free official route: GCA and most councils run supplier engagement before a tender, and every live tender has a clarification facility. Both cost nothing. They suit you if you can write your own answers but need the rules clarified. They don't suit you if you have no time to write. The limitation is that buyers won't help you draft your bid.
• Paid bid writing support: independent bid writers and tender consultancies can draft or review your PSQ and quality answers. Prices vary widely by scope and aren't published centrally, so get a fixed written quote and check what's included (as of October 2026; confirm with the provider). Paid support suits firms with a specific framework deadline and a decent chance of winning. It doesn't suit you if you can't meet the mandatory conditions yet, because no writer can fix that. A further limitation is that you still have to supply the evidence and pricing yourself.

Related guides on this site:

• Selection Questionnaire Procurement Act 2023: 7 SME Steps
• Social Value in Tenders: PPN 002 Steps and Answer Examples

FAQ

How long does it take to get on a framework agreement?

You can register on Find a Tender in an afternoon if your details are ready. The framework tender itself usually runs over several weeks, then evaluation, then award. With an open framework you might wait up to three years for a reopening if you miss the first round (s.49). Dynamic markets take applications at any time, but there's no fixed processing deadline.

Do you need a certain turnover to join a public sector framework?

There's no single legal minimum. Under section 22, any financial condition has to be proportionate to the contract's nature, complexity and cost. Buyers often compare your turnover with the lot or contract value, so check the condition for each lot you're interested in. If it rules you out, ask a clarification question or bid with a partner.

Can a sole trader or charity bid for a framework agreement?

Yes. Find a Tender accepts Charity Commission and other registration numbers, and it generates a unique identifier if you have none (GOV.UK). You can also tick that you're an SME or VCSE in your basic information. Buyers can't demand audited accounts you aren't legally required to have.

How much does it cost to apply for a government framework?

Registering on Find a Tender and viewing opportunities is free (GOV.UK). GCA charges no joining fee. Instead it takes a commission on the sales you make through the agreement, and the rate varies by agreement (GCA). Your real cost is the staff time spent writing bids.

What is the difference between a framework agreement and a direct contract?

A direct contract is for one specific piece of work with a fixed scope. A framework sets the terms and the list of suppliers, and buyers then award separate call-off contracts under it, by mini-competition or direct award. Being on a framework gives you no guaranteed income until you win a call-off.

Sources

• GOV.UK: Suppliers – how to register your organisation on Find a Tender in three easy steps
• GOV.UK: Central Digital Platform factsheet
• GOV.UK: Procurement Act 2023 guidance – frameworks
• GOV.UK: Procurement Act 2023 guidance – dynamic markets
• Procurement Act 2023, section 22
• Procurement Act 2023, section 49
• Procurement Act 2023, Schedule 6 and Schedule 7
• GCA: Become a supplier on a GCA framework agreement
• GCA: How to supply through dynamic markets
• GCA: Find tender opportunities
• GCA: Upcoming agreements
• GCA: Crown Commercial Service (CCS)
• GCA: Digital Outcomes and Specialists 5 opens for business
• GCA: How to promote your position as a GCA supplier
• Ward Hadaway: CCS publishes SME action plan
• Burges Salmon: Updated procurement thresholds from 1 January 2026
• Hempsons: Regulated below-threshold contracts under the Procurement Act 2023
• Birketts: Procurement Act 2023 key transitional arrangements

Spotted something out of date or wrong? Tell us at shigoto.ai.note@gmail.com. Guides are re-checked against official sources on a rolling schedule.