Transformation in the Public Sector Awards
The deadline for applications is 3 April and winners will be announced at Building the Smarter State 2026.
Purpose of the awards
The awards aim to:
Shine a spotlight on outstanding digital initiatives within central government.
Encourage knowledge sharing and best practice across departments.
Motivate teams to pursue ambitious, citizen-centric and efficiency-driven projects.
Showcase how digital transformation drives better public services and value for money
Encourage positive and effective market engagement between government and suppliers to enable fair practice and dynamic collaboration.
Eligibility criteria and timeline
Programmes or engagement sessions must have started after August 2024
techUK member suppliers or the government department or ALB are able to nominate a programme
The programme must have reached a go-live status by 2 February 2026
Applications will open on 2 February 2026 and end 3 April ahead of the announcements at conference in May.
Judging panel
Celebration
Join us at the Building the Smarter State Conference 2026 to celebrate these achievements and drive the next wave of government digital transformation. Shortlisted nominee teams - both suppliers and government departments - will be showcased on the techUK website and LinkedIn and celebrated in recognition of their work. All shortlisted nominees will receive free tickets to the Conference where the winners will be announced and awards distributed.
Award categories
Citizen-Facing Technology Award
Back-Office Digital Transformation Award
Best Pre-Procurement Market Engagement
Best Strategic Market Engagement
1. Citizen-Facing Technology Award
This award celebrates a programme that has delivered innovative, user-friendly digital services directly to UK citizens.
Key focus areas:
Accessibility and inclusivity, ensuring all citizen groups can use the service.
Measurable improvements in satisfaction, uptake or time-to-service.
Transparent, secure handling of citizen data.
Evidence of co-design with end users and iterative improvement.
Example criteria:
Demonstrable increase in digital adoption or reduction in manual processing.
Clear feedback loops and agile delivery that responded to citizen needs.
Integration with broader government digital platforms.
2. Back-Office Digital Transformation Award
This award recognises a programme that has modernised internal operations within a government department, delivering efficiency gains and better outcomes.
Key focus areas:
Streamlined workflows through automation or system integration.
Cost savings and resource optimisation.
Enhanced data-driven decision making and reporting.
Staff empowerment through modern tools and training.
Example criteria:
Quantified reductions in processing times or error rates.
Evidence of cultural change, up-skilling or agile working methods.
Reusable components or services that can scale across departments.
3. Best Pre-Procurement Market Engagement
This award celebrates great market engagement exercises aligned to specific procurements. Maybe you undertook engagement ahead of procuring a framework, or for a programme/contract
Key focus areas:
Early and clear communication of requirements to the market
Engaged a diverse range of suppliers
A 2-way dialogue, enabling suppliers to effectively provide input
Efforts made to low barriers to entry and make the procurement as competitive as possible.
Example criteria:
High number of suppliers engaged, and a diverse mix
Evidence of receiving and adapting to input from market engagement ahead of the ITT launch
A good number of competitive bids received
4. Best Strategic Market Engagement
This award celebrates engaging the market outside of the procurement cycle, recognising the value that warming up the markets brings in terms of improved outcomes across the board. Maybe you ran a strategic Supplier Day, or perhaps undertook some innovative capability discovery to understand where tech is heading and the art of the possible.
Key focus areas:
Communicating high level demand signals and strategic priorities to the market
Sharing strategic roadmaps and commercial pipelines
Engaging wider part of your department/ALB
Building trust with the market and fostering a partnering mindset with the supply base
Example criteria:
Number of Participating suppliers
Supplier feedback
Evidence of bringing in other parts of your department
Evidence of engaging next steps
