Before COVID, government procurement was steady, predictable. Agencies posted tenders, suppliers bid, contracts got signed. Then 2020 hit. Emergency spending, infrastructure pushes, health sector expansion — and suddenly the number of tenders moving through the system started climbing.

By 2024, we'd normalised a new baseline: more than 25,000 government contracts going to tender in a single year. That's not just a number. That's 25,000 decisions about who builds our schools, who supplies our hospitals, who maintains our roads. (Source: MBIE, procurement)

Auckland leads with 2,938 tenders — barely ahead of the national total of 3,011, which covers agencies operating across multiple regions. Canterbury sits at 2,574. Wellington, despite being the capital and home to most government departments, comes in third at 2,047.

That Wellington number tells you something. These aren't just head office contracts for consultants and policy advice. The bulk of government procurement is physical: construction, maintenance, supplies. It's happening where the infrastructure is, where the population is, where things actually need building or fixing.

The regions further down the list reveal the real competition. Waikato: 1,770 tenders. Otago: 1,765. These aren't small centres anymore. They're major provincial economies fighting for the same government dollars as the big three. Manawatū-Whanganui posted 1,472 tenders. Bay of Plenty: 1,307. Hawke's Bay: 1,132. Northland: 1,111.

Here's what changed between then and now: post-COVID spending put regional suppliers in the game. Infrastructure packages, health upgrades, climate adaptation work — all of it meant more contracts flowing outside the main centres. Local firms that used to watch Auckland companies win everything suddenly had a shot.

But here's the tension: 25,054 tenders across all regions means serious competition. Every regional builder, every local supplier, every provincial contractor is bidding against each other — and against the big Auckland and Wellington firms that still have the scale, the experience, the track record.

Where this goes next depends on what the government prioritises. If infrastructure spending stays high, those regional numbers keep growing. If the budget tightens, those smaller centres feel it first — because they're the ones without the cushion of ongoing metropolitan contracts.

For now, the regional spread is real. But so is the fight for every single one of those 25,000 contracts.