Bouygues named top public sector supplier with £1.7bn haul | Construction News

Bouygues earned more money from public sector clients than any other firm during the past financial year, according to a new report.

Bouygues Group companies earned £1.7bn from state-owned clients in 2023/24, just ahead of the previous year’s top supplier Kier, which made £1.6bn in the period.

French-owned multinational Bouygues has become a government strategic supplier since its acquisition of Equans, which completed during 2022/23.

Contract awards it received in the period included a £302m deal to maintain and repair Birmingham City Council’s housing stock.

Procurement insights specialist Tussell analysed published public sector body invoices and contract award notices for its analysis. Its findings take into account all types of companies, with construction firms holding all of the top four places in the rankings.

Balfour Beatty was in third place, receiving £1.4bn, while Amey was fourth with £1.3bn. They were ahead of Mitie, BAE Systems and Babcock, which placed fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Tussell’s analysis focused mainly on government strategic suppliers – the companies whose relationship with the government is centrally coordinated and monitored by the Cabinet Office.

A separate ranking produced in the report showed that the top three companies that are not strategic suppliers were also construction contractors, with Morgan Sindall earning £1.1bn in the year, Vinci making £1bn and Wates receiving £727m. Consultant WSP was said to have made £339m in the period.

Other strategic suppliers featured in the analysis included Mott MacDonald (£299m), Tilbury Douglas (£289m) and Laing O’Rourke, which earned just £76m and was at the bottom of Tussell’s table in 39th place.

Tussell founder Gus Tugendhat said 10 per cent of all government procurement spend was with its strategic suppliers.

He added: “At Tussell, we applaud Rachel Reeves’ big swing on public spending in order to fix public services. More spending will mean more outsourcing and procurement. So it’s never been more important to hold the government to account for the contracts it’s handing out.”

Construction was the biggest single sector for public sector spending according to the report, totalling £7.9bn, and ahead of technology’s £6bn.

It accounted for 66 per cent of the procurement spend by local government, 49 per cent by the Department for Transport and 33 per cent of the Ministry of Defence’s outsourcing budget.