The edge
How to win public sector work as a subcontractor
Find the firms that just won contracts you could help deliver, and approach them in the weeks before mobilisation. What to send, and which terms to check first.
In short
- In the UK the contract award notice is published before the contract is signed, followed by a standstill of at least 8 working days. In the EU it follows within 30 days of conclusion.
- US federal contracts above $900,000, or $2 million for construction, require the prime to carry a small business subcontracting plan under FAR 19.702.
- Section 73 of the Procurement Act 2023 implies a 30 day payment term into every public sub-contract, and a clause overriding it has no effect.
- Under Article 63 of Directive 2014/24/EU a bidder may rely on another firm's professional experience only where that firm performs the work concerned.
The quickest route into public-sector revenue for a small firm is usually not a tender. It is a subcontract with a company that has just won one, approached in the weeks between the award notice and the day work starts.
When subcontracting beats bidding as prime
Bidding as prime makes sense when you can clear the entry conditions. Often you cannot, and proposal quality does not fix that.
Under Article 58(3) of Directive 2014/24/EU, contracting authorities may require a minimum yearly turnover of up to twice the estimated contract value, and more in duly justified cases. On a €4m contract that is an €8m turnover test before anyone reads your method statement. Comparable contract requirements do the same quietly, and behind both sit bonds and insurance limits priced against your balance sheet. In US federal work, past performance recorded in CPARS closes the loop: you need a rating to win and a contract to get a rating.
Subcontracting breaks it. You deliver real scope under a real public contract, and eighteen months later you hold the reference you were missing. Bidding as prime puts you against everyone; approaching a prime three weeks after their award puts you against the few who noticed.
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How to find the primes who just won
Award notices are the raw material. Every above-threshold authority publishes who won the work and usually what it was worth.
In the UK, awards appear on Find a Tender above threshold and on Contracts Finder below it. EU awards land on TED. US federal awards sit on SAM.gov, with subaward data flowing to USAspending.gov.
Exploit that last one. Prime recipients of US federal awards must report each first-tier subaward of $30,000 or more, and that reporting moved from FSRS.gov into SAM.gov on 6 March 2025. So there is a public record of who a prime already subcontracts to: if four firms already do what you do, say something those four do not.
Set the search up as you would for bidding, then invert it: same CPV or NAICS codes, same geography and size band, but read the supplier column. The technique is covered in reading award notices for competitor intelligence, and the same data sorted by end date gives you the expiring contract method. Then drop awards too small for subcontracting, and awards where the winner already sits closer to the work than you.
When to approach, and why the window is short
The window opens when the award becomes public and closes when the prime has committed its delivery resource. That is a few weeks, and it varies by jurisdiction.
From award notice to signed subcontract
UK bidders get the better deal: the contract award notice is published before the authority enters the contract, and the standstill period of at least 8 working days runs from publication, so you know the winner before they sign. EU bidders do not, which is why speed matters more there.
What is the prime worrying about? Not partnerships. A start date committed in the bid, delivery resource costed at a utilisation they cannot hit, a price that assumed a depot nearer the sites than the one they have, and social value commitments somebody now has to deliver. Write to that: a message about their mobilisation problem gets read, a message about your values does not.
Watch out
Do not ask the buyer who won before the notice is published, and do not approach the winner mid-standstill in a way that could touch a live challenge. The notice is your permission slip.
What primes actually need from a subcontractor
Primes subcontract to fill a gap they can name, and the gap differs by sector.
| Sector | Usually short of | Evidence to lead with |
|---|---|---|
| Construction and civils | Trade capacity at peak, or a package they cannot self-deliver | Constructionline or CHAS registration, insurance limits, two comparable packages |
| Facilities management | Coverage at sites away from their depots | Site list within travel distance, headcount, vetting position |
| IT and digital | A named accredited capability, or cleared staff | Cyber Essentials Plus certificate, cleared staff numbers and levels |
| Professional services | Sector experience they lack, and people the buyer knows | Two-page CVs naming where that person did the same work |
| Defence and security | Clearance, facility accreditation, licensed personnel | Clearance levels with expiry dates, SIA licence numbers |
Social value is the underrated one. PPN 002 has applied a minimum 10% social value weighting to UK central government procurement since 1 October 2025, and the Cabinet Office published a replacement, PPN 026, on 5 August 2026 for procurements starting on or after 1 January 2027, raising the minimum to 20% at £5m and above. A prime that scored well on those questions now has commitments to deliver, and a local firm that can evidence hiring from the contract's own area is solving a scored problem, as it is in facilities management and cleaning tenders.
How to approach a prime after an award
Score the prime before you write anything.
| Test | Yes / No |
|---|---|
| The award notice is less than 8 weeks old | |
| The scope holds a package you could deliver whole | |
| Their nearest depot or office is further from the work than yours | |
| You already hold an accreditation or clearance the contract requires | |
| The contract carries social value or local employment commitments | |
| Their published payment performance is one you can live with |
Fewer than four yeses and you are writing a letter that gets filed.
Send it to a person. The bid or framework manager named on the notice knows where the gaps are, having just spent months on this contract. Operations directors are second. Supply chain teams are slowest.
Subject: [Capability] support for [buyer] [contract name]
Hello [name],
Congratulations on the [contract name] award with [buyer], published
[date]. We deliver [capability] across [geography] and there is a
piece of that scope we could take off your plate: [the lot, work
package or site group you mean].
Relevant to mobilisation:
- [Accreditation or clearance the contract requires, with expiry date]
- [Comparable contract: buyer, value, dates, what you delivered]
- [Capacity: crews or consultants free from a given date]
- [Local employment offer, if the contract carries social value]
This is not a request for a general partnership conversation. If the
[named package] is still open, I can send a one-page method and rates
within 48 hours.
[Name, role, direct phone]
[Company number / UEI]
The subject line names their contract, so it does not read as a mailshot, and the close asks for a decision rather than a meeting. Follow up once after 7 days with something new.
Frameworks and call-offs as a separate route in
A framework agreement is a second door. Under the Procurement Act 2023 a standard framework runs to a maximum of 4 years outside the light touch regime, while an open framework can run up to 8 years and must be reopened within the first 3 years and at least every 5 years after that. Dynamic markets, the successor to the dynamic purchasing system, admit suppliers continuously with no cap on numbers.
Where you cannot join, the appointed suppliers are a pre-qualified list of primes bidding call-offs who need delivery partners.
Consortium bids versus straight subcontracting
In a straight subcontract you have no contractual relationship with the buyer. The prime holds the risk and pays you. Your exposure is your package, and your name may never appear on the award notice.
In a consortium you are part of the bidding entity. Article 63 of Directive 2014/24/EU lets an economic operator rely on the capacities of other entities regardless of the legal nature of the links between them, the basis for joint bidding by firms that could not qualify alone. Two conditions bite. Where the criterion concerns professional experience or educational and professional qualifications, you may rely on another entity only where that entity performs the work concerned. Where reliance is on economic and financial standing, the authority may require joint and several liability, so a partner's failure becomes your bill. Article 63 also lets authorities reserve certain critical tasks for direct performance by the tenderer, so read the documents before building a consortium around exactly those tasks.
The UK equivalent is the associated person, meaning a subcontractor relied on to meet a condition of participation. Under the Procurement Act 2023 the exclusion grounds apply to associated persons too, so your compliance history becomes part of the prime's bid risk.
Subcontract when you want revenue and a reference. Form a consortium when you want a share of the whole contract and can carry the liability.
What to check before you agree anything
The subcontract decides the economics, and the form you are sent was drafted for the prime.
Payment first. Section 73 of the Procurement Act 2023 implies the section 68 payment terms into every public sub-contract, requiring payment within 30 days of a valid invoice, and section 68(6) voids any term that tries to override this. Before signing, look the prime up on the government's payment practices service, where companies meeting two of three tests (£54m turnover, £27m balance sheet total, 250 employees) report their average days to pay twice a year. A firm reporting 62 days against a contractual 30 is telling you something.
In the EU, Article 71 of Directive 2014/24/EU allows member states to provide for the authority to pay subcontractors directly at the subcontractor's request, so check the national transposition. Then the clauses that decide whether the work is worth doing:
- Flow-down. Prime obligations pass through wholesale. A KPI written for a £20m contract can be unmeetable on your £200k slice.
- Liability. Look for caps set as a multiple of your subcontract value rather than the prime contract value.
- Exclusivity. Agreeing not to work with competing primes can cost more than this contract pays.
- Pay-when-paid. Ineffective in UK construction contracts under section 113 of the Construction Act, apart from upstream insolvency, but variants appear in other sectors.
- Termination for convenience. If the prime can exit on 30 days' notice, do not buy vehicles for the contract.
US federal specifics
This section applies to US federal contracting only.
Primes on federal contracts above $900,000, or $2 million for construction of a public facility, must have a small business subcontracting plan under FAR 19.702, with exemptions including small business primes and work performed entirely outside the United States. SBA's government-wide target is that at least 23% of federal contracting dollars go to small businesses, with category goals including 5% for women-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned firms and 3% for HUBZone firms. So a certified small business is not asking a favour; it is offering a way to hit a reported number. Since eSRS.gov retired on 20 February 2026, primes file Individual Subcontract Reports and Summary Subcontract Reports through SAM.gov.
Under 13 CFR 125.6, a small business prime on a set-aside contract may not pay more than 50% of what it receives for services to firms that are not similarly situated, or more than 85% for general construction. Subcontracts to similarly situated entities, firms that would themselves qualify for that set-aside, do not count against the limit, which makes your own certification directly valuable to a small prime. Under FAR 52.232-40, a prime that receives accelerated payment from the government must pass it to small business subcontractors within 15 days, without a fee.
Common questions
When is the best time to approach a prime contractor after they win?
Within the first three weeks of the award notice, and before mobilisation starts. In the UK the award notice is published before the contract is signed, followed by a standstill of at least 8 working days, so be ready to write the day it ends. In the EU the notice appears within 30 days of the contract being concluded, so mobilisation is your only window.
Do I need to register anywhere to work as a public sector subcontractor?
There is no single register, because your contract is with the prime rather than the buyer. You will still need whatever the prime contract flows down, commonly insurance at stated limits and sector accreditations, plus an active SAM.gov registration with a UEI in the US. A prime under mobilisation pressure will not wait while you obtain them.
Is a consortium bid better than subcontracting?
Not automatically. A consortium gives you a share of the whole contract and lets you combine capacity to meet criteria you could not meet alone, but under Article 63 of Directive 2014/24/EU the authority may require joint and several liability where you rely on another party's economic and financial standing. Subcontracting caps your exposure at your own package.
How do I find out who won a public contract in my area?
Search contract award notices on the portal covering your market, filtered by classification code and region. UK awards publish on Find a Tender above threshold and Contracts Finder below it, EU awards on TED, and US federal awards on SAM.gov. Search by CPV or NAICS code rather than keywords, because award notices are written by the buyer and rarely use your vocabulary.