eTendersNI is now on EVTenders

We have added eTendersNI to EVTenders. It matters because Northern Ireland's public bodies run their tenders through eTendersNI, and many of the smaller and departmental notices there never reach the UK-wide Find a Tender service. Here is what that adds, from two tenders open this week to an electric quad and e-bikes on Rathlin Island.

Where Northern Ireland's tenders actually publish

Northern Ireland's public sector buys through eTendersNI. The bigger, above-threshold contracts are also advertised on Find a Tender, and those notices often tell bidders to respond through eTendersNI. Much of the rest stays on eTendersNI alone: smaller contracts, and many of the purchases that Construction and Procurement Delivery (CPD), part of the Department of Finance, runs for government departments.

That second layer is what we have just added: 18 EV notices from eTendersNI, going back to February 2018. None of them also appears among the Find a Tender or Contracts Finder notices on EVTenders, so until now they were only findable on eTendersNI itself. We read every one and give you the useful version: what the buyer wants, what stage it is at, and whether it is still open.

Open now, and what is coming

Two Northern Ireland tenders are open this week:

• Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council's car park extension, with new EV charging infrastructure, lighting and surfacing, estimated at £560,108. Bids close on 14 October at 3pm, and bidders must be registered on the CPD Dynamic Shortlisting system. This one is on eTendersNI only.
• The Department of Finance's fuel and EV charging cards, bought for a group of public bodies, with a £1 million lot for EV charging cards. Bids close on 19 October at 3pm.

And three more are at the pre-market stage, so watch for their tenders:

• Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council is planning a concession for charge points "across a range of Council car parks and assets", with a contract planned from November 2026.
• Belfast City Council has asked the market about EV charging "across the Council’s estate/sites", with a four-year contract planned.
• Translink has signalled a framework for zero emission Glider vehicles, which could "in time, replace the existing hybrid electric BRT vehicles".

Already on Find a Tender

eTendersNI is the new piece, but Northern Ireland's biggest EV contracts have been on Find a Tender all along, and we already carry them.

Translink has put two big frameworks in place. In March 2026 Translink awarded Wrightbus a single-supplier framework for zero emission double deck buses, worth up to £460 million. In September 2026 a second followed, for heavy duty electric vehicle chargers and back-end software "primarily to charge public transport vehicles", worth up to £60 million and awarded to SBRS GmbH.

Councils are buying together. Derry City and Strabane District Council led the Northern Ireland EV Consortium's first On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme project, for "a minimum of 127 22kW Dual electric vehicle chargers, in residential areas within 9 of the Northern Ireland councils". The contract was awarded to Weev.ie Ltd in March 2026, at £2,056,638.

And beyond the councils: Queen's University Belfast awarded Envevo £264,490 for smart charge points with back office and payment services. NIE Networks set up a £20.4 million salary sacrifice electric car framework with Knowles Associates Total Fleet Management in 2023. And Belfast Harbour has provisionally appointed NatPower Marine UK as lead partner for a shore power project under the Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure scheme, not yet final.

What eTendersNI adds

A handful of the new notices shows the range.

Public charging, and looking after it. In 2021 the Northern Ireland Environment Agency sought a contractor to replace the public e-car charge points at four country parks, Crawfordsburn, Ness, Peatlands and Roe Valley, "under a lease which must include supply, installation and ongoing maintenance". And the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust went to tender for the service and maintenance of vehicle charging stations across the trust, valued at £94,500.

Fleets, department by department. The Northern Ireland Prison Service went to tender for a seven-seater electric car in 2020 and, in 2025, an electric box van to move stores around HMP Magilligan. The Driver and Vehicle Agency had three fully electric Mercedes EQB300s modified for enforcement work. The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise sought three nine-seater electric vans, and then a four-wheel-drive, fully electric quad complete with a lithium battery and charging unit. And Translink's new diagnostic systems are bought to "align with ZEV fleet requirements". When a prison stores van and a college quad bike go electric, the shift has reached the everyday working fleet.

The skills to match. Northern Ireland's further education colleges have been buying the kit to teach electric vehicle skills: an electric vehicle trainer for South West College in Omagh in 2018, electric and hybrid training rigs for North West Regional College in 2019, an EV training rig for Southern Regional College's Armagh campus in 2021, and a hydrogen fuel cell training rig for South West College in 2022.

Islands too. In 2021 the Department for Infrastructure tested the market for an e-transport scheme on Rathlin Island: 20 e-bikes, "18 single e-bikes and 2 Cargo e-bikes for families", for the island's community association, as an alternative to petrol and diesel vehicles for residents and visitors.

Why it is worth watching

Put it together and Northern Ireland is electrifying at every scale: Translink's buses and the chargers to run them, a nine-council on-street charging rollout, harbour shore power, and department fleets one van at a time. And with two tenders open this week and three more at the pre-market stage, there is something to act on now as well as a picture of where the market is going.

One honest note. Most of the eTendersNI notices are already awarded or closed, and they do not name the supplier, so they are intelligence about who is buying rather than live opportunities you can still bid on. We mark the stage on every one, so you always know what is a live bid and what is a signal for next time.

See all tenders in Northern Ireland