Channel Institute research · UK edition 1
What UK public sector IT tenders ask you to prove on sustainability
We read every UK public sector IT hardware tender notice published between February 2025 and September 2026. Six question types account for every sustainability ask, and the reseller gathers the evidence for most of them. Get the questions, what a full answer contains, and who holds each piece of proof.
Get the question set
Free PDF. Each question with the buyer's typical wording, what earns the marks and the evidence to have ready.
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The question set is on its way. For the full picture on takeback and refurbished programmes, see Module 9 of the Certificate in Channel Partner Ecosystems.
The six questions buyers ask
Buyers mostly ask for services, and the wording repeats from tender to tender. Four question types cover 62 of the 77 asks, so one prepared answer set goes a long way.
Takeback, disposal and data erasure
Often written into the contract alongside installation and training, so it binds whoever wins.
Evidence fromPartner, usually with a disposal firm
How the contract will cut its environmental impact
A general statement of approach. The wording barely changes between buyers.
Evidence fromPartner
Warranty, spare parts and repair terms
Minimum warranty periods and stated device life, usually as fixed specifications.
Evidence fromMostly the manufacturer
Refurbished or remanufactured devices
Allowed in some tenders, a required lot in two frameworks, ruled out in two.
Evidence fromPartner and manufacturer jointly
A weighted "Sustainability" criterion with no description
Marks are at stake but the notice does not say what earns them.
Evidence fromNot visible from the notice
Packaging, energy standards, KPI reporting and product carbon
Small today. Product carbon is the one set to grow.
Evidence fromMixed, with product carbon from the manufacturer
Number of asks of each type, from 77 asks in 54 of the 326 procurements read.
If you sell through partners
Your partners' answers will soon depend on your data
Today, buyers reward offers: a takeback service, a refurbished range. Only one ask in the census rewards disclosing data, and just two ask for product carbon. From April 2028 the NHS plans to require footprints for individual products, which only a manufacturer can produce.
Vendors that package asset recovery terms, refurbished ranges and product footprints as ready-made tender answers will be easier to sell through.
If you bid
You already hold most of the evidence
The partner gathers the evidence for 57 of the 77 asks. Disposal bundled into a device contract makes your disposal firm's certificates, erasure standard and reuse figures part of your bid, so have them ready before the tender lands.
Nine tenders weight "Sustainability" without saying what earns the marks. Ask at the clarification stage.
Certificate in Channel Partner Ecosystems · Module 9
Geopolitics, Supply and the Circular Channel
Takeback and refurbished devices are already what public buyers ask for most. Module 9 covers how vendors build refurbishment, takeback and hardware-as-a-service into their partner programmes, alongside allocation, tariffs and sovereign cloud. It is one of ten self-paced modules leading to the Certified Channel Ecosystem Professional credential, and Module 2 is free to try.
The bar rises from 2027
- January 2027 (estimated)Tender notice for TePAS 3, the Government Commercial Agency technology products framework, estimated at £9.6bn.
- April 2027NHS carbon reduction plan rules expand to cover Scope 3 emissions under the Net Zero Supplier Roadmap.
- October 2027TePAS 2, with its dedicated sustainability and circular IT lot, expires.
- April 2028NHS plans requirements for the carbon footprint of individual products supplied to it.
Vendors: can your partners answer these questions today?
A partner tender readiness review maps what your partners need against the evidence you publish, question by question, and shows where the gaps are.
Questions about the study
Which tenders does the study cover?
Every UK public sector IT hardware tender notice published on Find a Tender from 24 February 2025, when the Procurement Act came into force, to 30 September 2026. Audio-visual kit, specialist equipment and services-only contracts were screened out. Buyers include schools, councils, NHS trusts, police forces, universities and purchasing bodies.
Why only published notices?
Notices show what buyers choose to put up front, and they can be read in full and consistently. Selection questionnaires and tender documents can ask for more, including ratings such as EcoVadis, so treat these figures as the floor of what buyers want.
Does EcoVadis matter for public sector IT bids?
No notice in the census named it. Private sector customers and some selection questionnaires do ask for ratings, so it can still matter for your business. The census shows that services, not labels, are what UK public buyers write into their notices.
What is in the question set?
Each of the six question types with typical buyer wording, what earns the marks, the evidence a full answer needs and who holds it: the partner, the manufacturer or a subcontractor.
Will there be a full report?
Yes. The full report follows this summary, and people who download the question set receive it first.
Method. Channel Institute census of UK public sector IT hardware tender notices on Find a Tender, 24 February 2025 to 30 September 2026: 326 procurements in frame, 514 notices excluded with a recorded reason, 77 sustainability asks coded. Rates use the 286 census tenders; 40 pilot tenders are excluded from rates. Published notices only; tender documents were not reviewed. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.