How to win public website contracts

By the StackBid team · Updated October 31, 2026 · 2 minute read

Every council, school district, health body, library, museum and agency has a website, and most of them are redesigned every five to eight years. Website tenders are one of the most common kinds of public tech work, and many are well within reach of a studio of three to fifteen people.

What public buyers are buying

Redesigns of an existing site, usually including content migration.
New sites for a program, campaign or new organization.
Platform moves, for example to a new content management system such as Drupal, WordPress or a government platform.
Hosting, support and maintenance, sometimes as a separate tender.
Accessibility audits and fixes on existing sites.

How the bids are scored

Portfolio: two or three comparable sites, ideally for public bodies, with links.
Accessibility: how you design, build and test for WCAG AA, including testing with assistive technology and real users.
Approach: discovery, information architecture, content migration, training and launch plan.
Platform and hosting: why your proposed CMS fits, and how the site will be hosted, secured and backed up.
Support: response times, update policy and what is included after launch.
Price: usually a fixed price for the build plus annual support.

Rules that apply

Accessibility law: public sector sites must meet accessibility standards, such as the UK's public sector accessibility regulations, the Accessible Canada Act and provincial laws like the AODA in Ontario, and Section 508 in the US.
Bilingual or multilingual content in Canada, Wales, Ireland and parts of the EU.
Data residency and privacy for forms that collect personal information.
Brand and design systems: many governments require their own design system, such as GOV.UK or Canada.ca.

Tips for small studios

Lead with accessibility. It is scored on almost every public website tender and many competitors answer it weakly.
Price content migration explicitly. It is the part buyers underestimate most.
Offer training for the buyer's editors. It is often scored and cheap to deliver.
Show the result: before and after page speed, accessibility scores and visitor numbers.

Common questions

What accessibility standard do government websites need to meet?

Most public sector websites must meet WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 at level AA, under laws and policies such as the UK's accessibility regulations, Section 508 in the US and the Accessible Canada Act. Tenders usually name the exact standard.

Do I need public sector experience to win a government website contract?

It helps but is not always required. Comparable work for non-profits, universities or regulated businesses often counts, especially for smaller local buyers.

Find this work

Browse open website tenders, and read how to win government IT contracts for the bid itself.