The Monday Awards, Issue 1
Week to 2 October 2026
What a SOC really costs the public sector
We track UK public sector cyber contracts for firms that sell cyber services, software, insurance or consultancy. Some you could win alone. Some you could win with a partner. For some, you could show the buyer a better way to buy. Every award below is free to read.
The week in numbers
- 10 cyber awards published this week, worth £982K in total
- 20% went to an SME
- Cyber awards in the last four weeks: 38, against 29 in the same weeks last year (+31%).
This week's story: What public buyers pay for a SOC
We looked at 216 SOC contracts awarded since 2022. A SOC (security operations centre) is a service that watches an organisation's computer systems and responds to attacks.
Median contract value: £150,000
Median value per year: £62,000
Contracts bought through a framework were larger: a median of £208,000, against £139,000 without one.
What this means for you: SOC prices vary a lot. Half of buyers pay between £37,000 and £173,000 a year. The notices do not say how many users, sites or networks each contract covers, so a high or low price may just mean a big or small job. When you bid, show your price per user or per site. Then the buyer can compare you fairly.
Values do not include VAT, or show how many users or sites each contract covers. The yearly figure uses the 106 contracts that show start and end dates.
Award of the week
Bridewell Consulting won a £174K penetration testing contract from NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership, which buys for the NHS in Wales. It is the only award this week won by an SME whose notice also says how many bids the buyer received.
- Bids received: 1
- Winner is an SME: Yes
- Route: A direct award, with no competition.
Awards in the last four weeks
Network security
- Insight Direct (UK) Ltd from Police And Crime Commissioner For Durham, £139K. Framework.
- Phoenix Software Limited from Herefordshire Council, £95.2K over 5 years. Bid alone.
- CDW Limited from NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust), £76.6K. Bid alone.
- Sep2 Limited from London Borough of Islington, £52.8K. Bid alone.
- CDW Limited from NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust), £45.5K. Bid alone.
Training and awareness
- MetaCompliance Ltd from The Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, £105K inc VAT over 3 years. Bid alone.
Penetration testing
- Bridewell Consulting Limited from NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust), £174K. Framework.
- MTI Technology Limited from London Borough of Barnet, £78.6K. Framework.
Identity and access
- Computacenter from The Common Services Agency (more commonly known as Public Services Delivery Scotland) (PSD Scotland), £150K over 3 years. Framework.
Backup, recovery and resilience
- Computacenter from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, £83.3K. Framework.
All 10 awards from this week, and the four weeks before, are on tendercyber.com/browse.
Spotted in the data
In the last four weeks, 11 of the 17 cyber awards had only one bid.
Coming in the subscriber edition
- 15 open cyber tenders, worth £11M where the buyer published a value
- 12 contracts whose end date moved into the 6 to 18 month window this week
- 1 planning and market engagement notice published this week
The subscriber edition will be via email. Find out more at tendercyber.com/pricing
Sources: Find a Tender Service and Public Contracts Scotland. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.