Key dates for GETS#

GETS will be online during the end-of-year period. There are some restrictions which are outlined below.

GETS coordinators (TPHM procurement inbox) unavailable#

Monday 15 December 2025 to Friday 9 January 2026.

Details

GETS coordinators (TPHM procurement inbox) is unavailable for:

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

GETS Helpdesk (MBIE) unavailable#

From 3pm Wednesday 24 December 2025 to Friday 2 January 2026.

Dates not to be counted as business days#

Monday 15 December 2025 to Friday 2 January 2026.

These are not to be counted as business days when calculating the minimum period for publication of tenders.

Property procurement timeframes#

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

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

• there is 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 very 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 2025 to January 2026#

All tenders that will be open during the December 2025 to January 2026 period must include information on the dates when the procurement officer will be unavailable.

Tenders published in December 2025 or January 2026#

Tenders published in December 2025 or January 2026 are recommended to be open 3 weeks longer than the minimum requirement. This is to increase the potential of receiving the as many quality responses as possible.

Urgent contracts#

The last 2 weeks in December 2025 are reserved for the most urgent contracts and some site mobilisation pre-Christmas.

Ministry-led and school-led procurements#

Tendering timeframes#

Contract to be executed in 2025

Friday 3 October 2025

Last day to release a direct or closed tender for a complex procurement.

Monday 20 October 2025

Last day to release a direct or closed tender for anything else.

Friday 5 December 2025

Last day for a procurement plan to be fully approved for a tender to be released in 2025.

Thursday 11 December 2025

Last day for a tender to be released in 2025.

Thursday 11 December 2025

Last day for a tender to close in 2025.

Friday 14 December 2025

Last day for site visits in 2025.

Contract to be executed in 2026

Tuesday 20 January 2026

First day for a tender to be released in 2026.

Friday 30 January 2026

First day a tender can close in 2026.

Tuesday 27 January 2026

First day for a site visit in 2026 unless agreed otherwise with all suppliers.

More information

‘Tender’ includes all direct source, closed and open procurements (whether RFQ, RFP or RFT).

There are mandatory closure periods for GETS and site visits. This is because of the shutdown period across the industry.

The recommendations above are based on current average turnarounds across the country.

School-led procurement exemptions#

School-led exemptions will not be processed from 1 December 2025 until 5 January 2026. Exceptions are emergencies such as a major weather event, earthquake or significant fire.

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 29 November 2025.

A failure to plan for this period does not qualify for urgent procurement.

Questions and feedback#

Email: [email protected]