End-of-year procurement timeframes

GETS will be online during the end-of-year period, though there are some restrictions.

GETS coordinators (SP procurement) inbox

The GETS coordinators (SP procurement) inbox will be unavailable from Monday 21 December 2026 to Friday 8 January 2027.

It will be unavailable for:

• reviewing and publishing tenders
• unlocking GETS e-tender boxes
• procurement officer registrations
• answering procurement queries.

GETS Helpdesk (MBIE)

The GETS Helpdesk will be unavailable from 5pm Thursday 24 December 2026 to 8am Monday 4 January 2027.

Monday 14 December 2026 to Monday 4 January 2027 should not be counted as business days when calculating the minimum period for publication of tenders.

Schools and project managers acting for schools should follow the tendering timeframes listed below. The end-of-year holiday period affects all suppliers for both NZSPA-led and school-led infrastructure projects.

The purpose of the cut-off period is to make sure:

• there’s enough time to plan and execute the release and management of tenders
• the construction industry has reasonable time to respond to tenders when capacity and availability is a challenge for them and their sub-contractors or consultants, including illness
• bottlenecks for tendering are minimised, where possible.

The end-of-year period is a busy time – allow for more time beyond these set timeframes where possible, especially if your contract is non-standard and needs bespoke drafting.

Open tenders in December 2026 to January 2027

All tenders that will be open during the December 2026 to January 2027 period must include information on the dates when the procurement officer will be unavailable.

Tenders published in December 2026 or January 2027

We recommend tenders published in December 2026 or January 2027 are open for three weeks longer than the minimum requirement – to increase the potential of receiving as many quality responses as possible.

Urgent contracts

The last two weeks in December 2026 are reserved for the most urgent contracts and some site mobilisation pre-Christmas.

Tendering timeframes

The below timeframes provide guidance on when a procurement can usually be completed to support contract signing before or after Christmas. For example – if a complex procurement is released after 2 October, there may not be sufficient time to complete the tender process and sign a contract before Christmas, but in some exceptional cases, you may be able to achieve this.

Contracts to be executed in 2026

• Friday 2 October 2026 – last day to release an over $100,000 tender for a complex procurement.
• Monday 19 October 2026 – last day to release an over $100,000 tender for anything else.
• Friday 4 December 2026 – last day for a procurement plan to be fully approved for a tender to be released in 2026.
• Thursday 10 December 2026 – last day for a tender to be released in 2026.
• Thursday 10 December 2026 – last day for a tender to close in 2026.
• Friday 11 December 2026 – last day for site visits in 2026.

Contracts to be executed in 2027

• Tuesday 19 January 2027 – first day for a tender to be released in 2027.
• Friday 29 January 2027– first day a tender can close in 2027.
• Tuesday 26 January 2027 – first day for a site visit in 2027 unless agreed otherwise with all suppliers.

School-led procurement exemptions

School-led exemptions will not be processed from 7 December 2026 until 6 January 2027. Exceptions are emergencies like major weather events, earthquakes or significant fires.

All property projects that need to be completed during the summer school holidays should already be in the planning phase and put out to tender as per the above dates. Urgent procurement exemptions will be processed up to Friday 4 December 2026.

Failure to plan for this period does not qualify for urgent procurement.

Email us at sp.procurement@schoolproperty.govt.nz if you have questions or feedback about the procurement timeframes.