How the top contract winners rankings work
Data source
The rankings use Find a Tender, Contracts Finder and Public Contracts Scotland award notices. These are published by public buyers and republished by 123 Tenders under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Our contract records start in March 2026, so earlier awards are not included.
Period
Each ranking covers one calendar year, 1 January to 31 December, by the date the award notice was published. The current year is updated as new notices arrive.
What counts
We count award notices that name a supplier. Only limited companies, PLCs and LLPs are listed: suppliers with a Companies House number on the notice, or a name ending in Ltd, Limited, PLC or LLP. We do not list individuals or sole traders. Notices for the same company are grouped by Companies House number where the notice gives one, otherwise by the company name with punctuation and "Ltd", "Limited", "PLC" or "LLP" removed. Where a notice names more than one supplier, it counts for the first one named.
Area rankings use the delivery region on the notice, or the buyer's region if no delivery region is given. Sector rankings use the notice's main CPV code.
Order and tie-break
Companies are ordered by the number of award notices. Where two have the same number, the one with the higher total stated award value is placed first. Where a notice gives a range, we use the lower figure.
SME list
The SME tab counts only notices where the buyer stated the supplier is an SME. Many notices leave this out, so the SME list is shorter than the real number of SME winners. The tab is hidden when no notices state it.
Limitations
- Values are as stated in the notices. Many notices do not state a value, so totals are often incomplete and should not be read as a company's revenue.
- A count of notices is not a measure of quality. It shows how often a company is named on published awards.
- Buyers sometimes publish updated notices, and company names are spelled in different ways. We group them as described above, but errors are possible.
No paid ranking
No company can pay to change its rank. If paid placement is offered in future it will appear in a separate slot labelled "Promoted", and will never change the order of the ranked list.
Badges
Listed companies that claim their supplier page can use a free text link to the ranking. There is no paid entry and no image badge.
Corrections
If something is wrong, email hello@123tenders.co.uk or use the correction link on the company's supplier page. We also point you to the buyer, which controls the original notice.