Forestry Contracts and Tenders

Forestry procurement covers woodland creation and tree planting, tree felling and timber harvesting, forest and woodland management, and the arboriculture work councils buy: tree surgery, safety inspections, tree surveys and ash dieback felling. It also covers invasive plant control, river and riparian woodland restoration, and forestry equipment such as mulchers and winch units.

Stotles brings together forestry and tree work tenders and contracts from 100+ portals into one search, so you do not have to check each portal separately, and you can set alerts for new opportunities across the UK and Ireland.

If you want to search the government portals directly, Find a Tender carries higher-value contracts across the UK and Contracts Finder carries lower-value contracts in England. Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales and eTendersNI cover Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Ireland's eTenders covers Irish public bodies, and many councils, NHS bodies and housing associations publish on their own e-tendering portals such as ProContract. Forestry Commission and woodland creation notices appear on Find a Tender, while many councils' tree works and arboriculture contracts appear on Contracts Finder or their own portals, and some Scottish planting call-offs are run through a dynamic purchasing system.

Forestry and tree work tenders are scored on price alongside method and programme, so bids show the crews and machinery you will use and how work fits the planting and felling seasons. They also cover how you protect wildlife, watercourses and public access, and your health and safety record. Councils often let tree works through an arboriculture framework, so getting onto that list comes before winning individual jobs.

Tree work is dangerous, so buyers expect competent, certified staff for chainsaw and climbing work, risk assessments and safe systems under the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and felling that follows the licence requirements of the Forestry Act 1967. Tenders usually set minimum insurance cover, check financial standing and ask for evidence of similar contracts at selection stage. Under the Procurement Act 2023, suppliers can be excluded for certain criminal convictions, insolvency or failure to pay tax.

Mostly as separate works packages for a site or planting season, with councils and forestry bodies also using frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems for arboriculture, tree planting and woodland maintenance. A council may run an arboriculture framework across its area, while large estates tender each woodland creation or felling site on its own.

The ESPO grounds maintenance services framework is a common route for tree work, with its arboricultural services lot used for mini-competition call-offs such as Derbyshire County Council's ash dieback works and tree planting programme.

Forestry and Land Scotland buys machinery for its forest estate through the Scotland Excel grounds and plant equipment framework, using both mini-competition and direct award call-offs.

The Forestry Commission and Natural England are regular buyers of planting, felling and woodland work, alongside Scottish and Welsh forestry and natural resources bodies, national park authorities, councils and conservation charities. Councils buy tree surgery and safety works across parks, streets and housing estates.

Most forestry contracts run for under a year, because planting, felling and restoration jobs are tied to a season or a single site. Arboriculture frameworks and grounds contracts run longer, often for several years.

Watch woodland creation grant schemes, council tree strategies, ash dieback programmes and preliminary market engagement notices, which show work coming due ahead of a notice. On Stotles you can track those signals and the buyers behind them, then follow a notice from pre-tender through to award.

The core codes are 77200000 (Forestry services), 77231000 (Forestry management services) and 77211500 (Tree-maintenance services). Planting and felling work also carries 77310000 (Planting and maintenance services of green areas) and 77211400 (Tree-cutting services), and many buyers use the wider 77000000 (Agricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural services).