Dynamic markets: what suppliers need to know
Been told you need to join a dynamic market? Admission gives you access to compete for public sector work, but it doesn’t guarantee a contract.
This guide covers whether to join, how to monitor opportunities and when to bid, so you can plan your time and revenue.
Key takeaways
- A dynamic market is an uncapped list of qualified suppliers that public buyers use for future competitions. Joining puts you on the list, and each contract is then won on its own tender.
- Suppliers can apply throughout a market’s life. Buyers use a competitive flexible procedure for individual competitions, and membership conditions are limited to proportionate tests of legal and financial capacity or technical ability.
- Before joining or bidding, check the category fits your strongest work and that the named buyers are likely to buy from you. Then weigh up whether you have the capacity and bid time to respond. Non-utilities markets can charge winning suppliers a disclosed fixed percentage of the contract’s estimated value.
- Legacy DPS arrangements stay under the old rules until they end. Track each arrangement’s expiry and any replacement route, because covered DPS arrangements can end before the latest permitted date of 23rd February 2029.
- Outside procurement, “dynamic market” describes a commercial market that keeps changing, which is a separate idea from the statutory supplier list.
What are dynamic markets?
A dynamic market is a list of qualified suppliers that public buyers can use for future competitions. Suppliers can apply to join throughout its life.
Once admitted, you can bid whenever a buyer runs a competition through the market, and each contract is won on its own tender.
Under the Procurement Act 2023, dynamic markets replaced the dynamic purchasing system (DPS) for new arrangements on 24th February 2025. The government’s dynamic markets guidance explains the rules.
The term also describes changing commercial markets, such as electric vehicles. For suppliers in the public sector, key considerations are membership requirements, the later tender process and whether likely work justifies the effort.
Dynamic markets, DPS and framework options compared
A dynamic purchasing system (DPS) was a fully electronic, two-stage process. Suppliers qualified onto an open list, then competed for individual contracts through mini-competitions.
Under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Regulation 34 required a DPS to operate electronically and stay open throughout its validity to any supplier meeting the selection criteria. These rules applied to older arrangements.
| Arrangement | Joining after launch | How individual work is awarded | Future opportunities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legacy DPS | Open throughout its validity | Mini-competitions between qualifying suppliers | Further competitions while it remains open |
| Dynamic market | Applications accepted throughout its life | Competitive flexible procedure | New opportunities can arise throughout its life |
| Closed framework | Supplier list fixed at award | Competition or permitted award without competition | No new suppliers unless a new route opens |
| Open framework | Entry at advertised reopening points | Under the arrangement’s award rules | Suppliers can apply at reopening points |
A panel might include six to ten suppliers, but there’s no universal panel size. Dynamic markets cannot cap membership.
Under section 47, a framework usually lasts up to four years, or eight years for defence and security or utilities. Longer terms need statutory justification. If you miss getting onto a closed framework, that’s a long time to watch competitors pick up the call-offs.
Open frameworks give you more chances to get in. Under section 49, a standard multi-supplier open scheme must award a replacement within three years of its first award. Further awards must occur within each five-year period after the second. The scheme ends within eight years of its first award.
The official frameworks learning module covers these distinctions. Our explanation of framework call-offs and mini-competitions connects them to your sales plan.
How the dynamic market process works
Sections 34 to 40 of the Procurement Act 2023 govern dynamic markets. Unlike a DPS, they can cover goods, services and works beyond commonly available purchases.
For suppliers bidding for public sector contracts, the practical sequence is:
- Find the market notice, using the buyer’s eSourcing portal where applicable, and identify the relevant category or part. Each part has its own membership, so check you’re applying for the right one.
- Submit your membership application with the required capacity evidence and supplier information.
- Receive admission once you meet the conditions and applicable exclusion requirements.
- Monitor individual opportunities and decide whether each contract fits your evidence, margin and delivery capacity.
- Submit a contract-specific tender against its published award criteria.
Buyers normally publish a Tender Notice for each competition, even though participation is restricted to market members. Qualifying utilities have a separate notice exception.
These competitions use a competitive flexible procedure, which lets the buyer design the stages within the Act’s rules.
From 1st January 2026, goods and services thresholds are £135,018 for central government and £207,720 for sub-central authorities, and the works threshold is £5,193,000. All figures include VAT. Contracts regulated by the Welsh Ministers have their own thresholds, so check those separately if you bid for work in Wales.
Above the applicable threshold, buyers generally need to use a regulated route unless a lawful exception applies. Smaller contracts can still carry advertising duties, as our guide to below-threshold procurement rules explains.
Membership conditions and fees
What buyers can ask you to demonstrate
Section 36 limits membership conditions for a dynamic market to legal and financial capacity or technical ability. They must be proportionate to the contracts covered.
Buyers can’t demand audited accounts from suppliers who aren’t otherwise required to have them. They also can’t require contract-performance insurance before award. Keep these admission tests separate from obligations that apply only if you win a specific contract.
That matters for SMEs. Paying for extra cover before there’s a contract can be an expensive way to demonstrate enthusiasm.
Applications to a dynamic market remain open throughout its life. Successful applicants must be admitted as soon as reasonably practicable.
What joining and winning can cost
Under section 38, a non-utilities dynamic market can charge winning suppliers a fixed percentage of the estimated value of the awarded contract.
The fee must be disclosed in the market documents. Utilities arrangements have different fee rules.
Build the disclosed fixed percentage into your bid/no-bid assessment, along with the time it takes to write the bid and the cost of mobilisation, which means getting the service ready to start. Reporting and day-to-day delivery costs belong in the same sum.
The Act’s dynamic market provisions set out these requirements.
What happens to legacy DPS arrangements?
A legacy DPS, or dynamic purchasing system, carries on under its original rules. The Procurement Act 2023 introduced dynamic markets for new arrangements, and existing arrangements continue under the old procurement rules until they end.
The government’s transitional arrangements guidance sets the timetable.
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| 24th February 2025 | The Act introduced dynamic markets for new arrangements |
| 23rd February 2026 | Final day for changing DPS expiry dates |
| 23rd February 2029 | Latest expiry date for DPS arrangements covered by these transitional rules |
An arrangement with an earlier expiry still ends earlier. These deadlines don’t apply to arrangements governed by devolved Scottish procurement legislation.
For suppliers, record each legacy DPS, its expiry and any announced replacement route. Don’t assume admission transfers to a replacement market. Check each expiry date too, because 23rd February 2029 is the latest a covered arrangement can run and plenty will end well before then.
Buyers should be keeping a list of legacy arrangements and a plan for replacing them. On your side, the aim is to spot a closing DPS early enough that it doesn’t leave a hole in your pipeline.
Contracts already awarded through a purchasing system carry on after the system itself expires.
How to prepare a supplier application
Make eligibility easy to assess
From an evaluator’s side, the first question is whether the evidence demonstrates the published requirement.
A long company introduction rarely helps answer that.
Map each category’s membership conditions and selection criteria to the evidence that proves them, and name who owns each piece. Then keep it current, especially your financial information, accreditations and exclusion declarations, because these are the bits that go out of date without anyone noticing.
If you’re reusing evidence from a legacy DPS, check that it still meets the current requirements.
Use the exact category you’re applying for. Experience in one service won’t prove you can deliver the one next to it, however similar it feels from the inside.
If the buyer provides an eSourcing account or portal, you can use it to manage application material. Provide attachments in the requested format, and don’t bury answers in a brochure.
Prepare for the contract competition too
Admission and contract award answer different questions. Membership checks whether you’re eligible, while the later tender looks at what you’re offering for that particular requirement.
Before joining, ask:
- Does this category match our strongest delivery evidence?
- Are the named buyers likely to buy services we can profitably deliver?
- Who will monitor notices and make bid/no-bid decisions?
- Can we respond while maintaining current service delivery?
- Do our prices cover fees, start-up costs and contract management?
Keep reusable evidence ready, but tailor the response each time. Buyer priorities, staffing needs and risks can change between competitions.
Our guidance on how tender responses are evaluated explains why sound delivery knowledge still needs a clear scoring structure.
Common mistakes that cost time and marks
Treating membership as secured revenue
An admission email to a DPS or dynamic market doesn’t belong in the signed-contract column of your forecast.
Separate the advertised market value, work you could realistically deliver and your probability-weighted pipeline. The headline value may cover multiple buyers, categories and years.
An uncapped supplier list can improve access while leaving you facing more competitors for each contract.
Reusing answers that don’t fit the contract
“We can mobilise quickly” gives an evaluator very little to assess.
A stronger response identifies the mobilisation lead, tasks, dependencies, completion dates and contingency if recruitment slips. Use dates and commitments your delivery team can support.
What I would be looking for is a plan that holds together when someone asks, “Who does this, and what happens if it runs late?”
Answer the current scoring criteria. Previous admission, a familiar buyer and a good reputation won’t fill gaps in the written response.
A short competition still needs a realistic bid decision, evidence and protected review time. “Mini” describes the buying route more reliably than the workload.
What does “dynamic market” mean in business?
Outside procurement, “dynamic market” describes a commercial market that keeps shifting as technology, regulation and demand change. Electric vehicles are a good current example.
It’s a useful phrase when you’re explaining how a buyer’s needs are changing, but it has nothing to do with the supplier lists created under the Procurement Act.
FAQs about dynamic markets
Make admission part of a workable bid plan
Access through dynamic markets or a framework doesn’t guarantee revenue. Suppliers still need to choose suitable contracts and submit evidence evaluators can understand and assess.
Protect your team’s time by preparing evidence early and making a clear decision before each competition.
If you’d like an evaluator-led challenge before submission, our Bid Review support at Bidsmithery™ helps your team strengthen its own response while keeping delivery knowledge inside your business.
Meet the Author
Melissa is the founder of Bidsmithery™ with over 15 years of experience across bid writing, bid management and evaluation. Having sat on both sides of the process as both writer and evaluator, she works across sectors because great bids follow the same principles wherever you’re tendering. With more than £103M in contracts secured, she specialises in framework bids and strategic bid reviews helping organisations sharpen their approach when it really counts.
