Government shopping list #1: ice cream for dogs and a robot with a brand name

This is the first issue of Government shopping list, a weekly letter about what governments bought last week. We read more than 100,000 tenders a week, so you don't have to. Most of them are road repairs and printer paper. Some of them are not.

It is an experiment. Every week you get the numbers, what is still open, and the purchases that made us read the notice twice.

Last week in numbers

Governments in 47 of our 73 countries published 106,100 tenders from 26 October to 1 November, 16% fewer than the week before (126,568). They awarded $4.95 billion, against $5.36 billion.

That sum does not include one contract: NHS North East London will pay Barts Health £7.5 billion ($10 billion) for hospital care from 2025/26 to 2027/28. That is one hospital group, and two times the rest of the world's week.

The drop is not a sudden fall in demand. The latest week always looks small first: Brazil, Portugal and Colombia publish days late, and Friday is the day that is least complete. The next issue will show the corrected numbers for this week.

By region

Europe published 65 of every 100 tenders. Ukraine alone published 59,219 of them, because Prozorro shows even the small purchases. That is also why the median award of the week was $239.

North America published 15,394 tenders (+25%) and awarded $1.50 billion (+146%). The US fiscal year started on 1 October, and the new year's orders arrive.

Latin America published 18,830 tenders (−41%). Most of the drop is Brazil's late publication.

Over 7 weeks, in the 46 countries with tenders in every week, the count peaked at 130,717 in the week of 21 September. Last week it was 105,624, and it will grow when the late portals catch up.

By sector

All 12 sectors with at least 150 tenders published fewer than the week before. Transport still tripled its awarded value to $571 million. One reason: Milan's transit company ordered 110 electric buses for €76.7 million.

The sector labels come from our classifier, and they are approximate. It filed the ice cream tender below under construction.

Half of last week's awards were under $239. The week before, the median was $302.

Still open

30,119 tenders from the last 30 days still have the status open. Germany has the most: 6,497.

Most portals do not publish an estimate or a deadline in a field that we load, so we cannot give a total value for all open tenders. The UK can: 1,803 UK tenders accept bids now, and 1,434 of them publish an estimate. Half are worth £1.0 million or less.

A plain sum of the UK estimates means little: 154 tenders have estimates of £100 million or more, and most of them are framework ceilings. The other 1,280 add up to £7.3 billion.

9 purchases we read twice

Bournemouth wants ice cream. Also for dogs.

In late October, with the beach empty, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council started a search for its ice cream supplier for the next five years. The spec: at least 24 scoop flavours, four plant-based, four sorbets, and ice cream for dogs. The winner of the impulse lot must also lend the council at least seven kiosks, free. The council expects to spend about £740,000 a year.

£3.7 million (about $5.0 million) · 2 lots · open until 25 November · see the tender

A hospital drone in Liège

CHU de Liège has two sites, Sart Tilman and Notre-Dame des Bruyères. By road, medical samples take 25 minutes between them. By drone, 3 minutes. The hospital now looks for one company to supply the drone and one to fly it for four years, through the Drone Cargo Port infrastructure. A good week for drone operators who are not afraid of blood tubes.

2 tenders · 4 years · open until 3 December · value not published · see the tender

Germany's radiation office buys a robot dog, brand included

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection wants a walking robot that carries sensors into dangerous buildings. It must open doors, including doors that close by themselves, and climb steps of 30 cm. The spec names the model: Spot from Boston Dynamics, so that the federal police and the BKA can share add-ons with it. If you resell Spot in Germany, this one is for you. If you build a different robot dog, sorry.

Open until 1 December · value not published · see the tender

Plzeň Zoo plans a jellyfish house

Plzeň Zoo looks for a design team for its "Medúzárium": the design documents and every permit to build it. Jellyfish lived for 500 million years without a building permit. These ones will need one.

CZK 12 million (about $551,000) · 24 months · open until 1 December · see the tender

Singapore orders three robot concierges, branding optional

The People's Association runs Singapore's community clubs. On 10 October it announced a Community Robot that helps residents find classes and staff, by voice or touch screen. Now it buys three, with services, public liability insurance and "optional robot branding". The notice text is the internal memo that asks the approving officer for permission, contingency line included. We like the transparency. The pilot starts in Q1 2027.

S$65,000 (about $50,800), including S$10,778 contingency · open · see the tender

Ukraine buys sweets for New Year

Last week, 40 Ukrainian buyers (village councils, schools, social services) placed 44 orders for New Year sweet gifts for children, up from 26 the week before. A typical pack: 500 g, 29 to 37 sweets of 16 to 22 kinds. Budgets are tight in wartime. The sweets are still on the list.

44 orders · UAH 5.2 million (about $115,000) · awarded · see an example

Nevada: 1,400 wild horses

The Bureau of Land Management paid a livestock contractor $719,550 to gather 1,400 wild horses in the Antelope Complex, north-east Nevada, mainly by drive trapping. In March, the BLM counted about 5,067 horses there, against a target of 427 to 789. A spring gather with bait and water traps removed about 700. Horse groups dispute the method, so this item gets no joke.

$719,550 · awarded to C D Warner Livestock · see the contract

Macaé: Christmas on a lagoon

Macaé, Brazil's oil town, hired a company for this year's "Dancing Waters" Christmas show on the Imboassica lagoon: water jets synced by timecode, Christmas films on two LED screens, fireworks, lasers and fire, along a 200-metre front. Last season, the show ran from 19 December into January around a floating Christmas tree.

R$12.8 million (about $2.36 million) · awarded · see the contract

NASA tests lunar "stimulant"

NASA paid $30,935 for "testing of lunar regolith stimulant thermal properties". Regolith simulant is fake Moon dust for tests. A stimulant is a different thing. We think it is a typo, and that the astronauts still get normal coffee.

$30,935 · awarded · see the contract

Quick bites

The US Mint bought $37.6 million of silver. Coins come from somewhere.

A federal building in Battle Creek, Michigan, hired dogs to find bedbugs: $9,300.

A UK agency paid £14,856 for "specialised dating analysis on groundwater samples". Radiocarbon, not romance.

Canberra ordered a drone show for its FLIGHT 2027 festival: AUD 467,511.

Find your own weird tenders

Connect selltostate.com to Claude, ChatGPT or another AI agent (steps), then paste this. It works on every paid plan and the 3-day pass.

Use the selltostate.com MCP server. Call search with scope=tenders, published_days=7, sort=published_desc, per_page=50 for the countries I sell to, and read several pages. Read the titles in every language. Pick the 10 most unusual purchases: animals, festivals, robots, odd objects, or a buyer that buys far outside its normal work. For each one, call get_tender and tell me what is bought, the buyer, the country, the value and deadline if known, one line on why the buyer needs it, and the link https://app.selltostate.com/tenders/<country>/<award_id>.

Reply to the newsletter with the strangest tender you found. The best one goes into the next issue, with your name if you want.