Frequently Asked Questions

UK tenders are open invitations from public sector organisations - central government departments, councils, NHS trusts, schools, universities, and other public bodies - for suppliers to bid for contracts to supply goods, services, or works. Under the Procurement Act 2023, in force since 24 February 2025, they are published on Find a Tender, including lower-value tenders; Contracts Finder carries procurements started under the older Public Contracts Regulations 2015. In UK procurement the terms "tender", "contract notice", and "procurement notice" are used largely interchangeably. TenderTracker UK indexes every live UK tender from both official sources, searchable in one place.

UK public sector contract opportunities are published on two official government portals. Find a Tender Service carries procurements started since 24 February 2025 under the Procurement Act 2023, both above and below threshold (below-threshold notices from £12,000 including VAT for central government, £30,000 for the wider public sector). Contracts Finder carries procurements started under the older Public Contracts Regulations 2015. TenderTracker UK aggregates both portals into one searchable index, updated hourly, with email alerts so new opportunities matching your keywords, CPV codes, or target buyers reach you automatically.

Find a Tender Service (FTS) is the central digital platform for the Procurement Act 2023. Procurements started since 24 February 2025 publish their notices there: above-threshold contracts under the full regime, and below-threshold tender notices too. Contracts Finder was where lower-value (sub-threshold) contracts were published under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. It still carries notices for procurements started under those rules, such as contract awards and call-offs from older frameworks, and its archive of earlier opportunities stays searchable. TenderTracker UK aggregates both sources, so you get complete coverage in one place.

Yes. The official portals, Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, are free to search and always will be. Anyone can view published contract notices without paying. What TenderTracker UK adds is a single search across both portals, full-text and CPV filtering, buyer profiles, and email alerts — free with an account. The underlying notices are public data; the product is the speed and completeness with which you can work with them.

TenderTracker UK currently tracks 289,472 contract notices published since June 2021: 208,568 notices from Find a Tender and 80,904 from Contracts Finder. Right now 3,446 tenders are open for bids. Figures update with every hourly sync.

The index syncs every hour from Find a Tender Service and Contracts Finder, with a 14-day backfill every week to catch late amendments. New notices usually appear within an hour or two of publication on the official portals. The time of the last successful sync for each source is shown on the statistics page.

Partly. Find a Tender carries above-threshold notices from public bodies across the UK and, since 24 February 2025, below-threshold notices from buyers covered by the Procurement Act 2023. Scottish public procurement runs under its own rules and publishes on Public Contracts Scotland, so lower-value Scottish contracts are usually not on Find a Tender. We index only Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, not Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales or eTendersNI, so if you sell into Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland check those portals as well.

You can set up alerts based on keywords, CPV codes, buyer organisations, or value ranges. When new contracts matching your criteria are published, we'll send you an email notification so you can respond quickly to relevant opportunities.

Public contracts are classified with CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) codes, so the most reliable way to find work in your sector is to follow the handful of codes that describe what you do, rather than relying on keywords alone. On TenderTracker you can browse every CPV division to see live contract counts, filter any search by code, and set alerts on the codes that matter to you so new opportunities come to you automatically.

A UK tender notice typically includes the contract title and description, the buying organisation, an estimated or awarded value, one or more CPV classification codes, the submission deadline, and links to the tender documents. Award notices additionally record the winning supplier and the final contract value. On TenderTracker every notice also links back to its official source on Find a Tender or Contracts Finder, so you can verify the detail and respond through the correct channel.

TenderTracker indexes UK public sector contract notices published from June 2021 to the present, aggregated from Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. The index refreshes hourly, so new notices usually appear within hours of being published on the official portals.

A tender notice is a public advertisement that a government body intends to buy goods, services, or works, inviting suppliers to bid. UK notices follow the Open Contracting Data Standard and move through a lifecycle: tender (open for bids), award (winner chosen), and contract (signed). Responding to a notice typically means completing a standard qualification stage and then a written tender against published evaluation criteria.

For procurements started on or after 1 January 2026 (PPN 023), the main thresholds (inclusive of VAT) are £135,018 for central government goods and services, £207,720 for sub-central bodies such as councils, and £5,193,000 for works. Contracts at or above these values must be advertised on Find a Tender under the full procurement regime. Thresholds are set under the WTO Government Procurement Agreement and reviewed every two years.

CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) codes are an internationally standardised classification of around 9,400 numeric codes that buyers use to categorise what a contract is for, from 03000000 (agricultural products) to 98000000 (community services). Suppliers use CPV codes to filter opportunities and set precise alerts: following the handful of codes for your sector is far more reliable than keyword searching alone.

A framework agreement is an umbrella arrangement that fixes terms under which public buyers can award future contracts (call-offs) to pre-approved suppliers without running a full procurement each time. A framework place is not guaranteed work, but most call-offs are only visible to suppliers already on the framework. Under the Procurement Act 2023, open frameworks must readmit new suppliers at least once in their first 3 years, and dynamic markets stay permanently open to new joiners.

The Procurement Act 2023 is the largest reform of UK public procurement law in decades, applying to procurements started on or after 24 February 2025. It replaced the EU-derived Public Contracts Regulations 2015 with a single UK regime. Key changes for suppliers include a simpler competitive flexible procedure, open frameworks and dynamic markets that readmit new suppliers, an 8-working-day standstill period before contract signature, and stronger transparency requirements across the contract lifecycle.

Yes. The UK government has a long-standing ambition for £1 in every £3 of central government procurement spend to reach small and medium-sized enterprises, and the Procurement Act 2023 requires buyers to consider and reduce barriers facing SMEs. Sub-threshold notices are often sized for smaller suppliers, and bids are evaluated against published criteria, so a well-evidenced SME bid competes on quality, not company size.

Typically several weeks from notice to submission deadline, and weeks to months more until award. Above-threshold procedures include minimum tendering periods, and awards are followed by a mandatory 8-working-day standstill before the contract can be signed. The practical implication: the earlier you spot a notice, the more of the tender window you keep, which is why suppliers set alerts rather than checking portals manually.

Any organisation that meets the requirements set out in the tender can bid, from sole traders and SMEs to large companies and consortia. Buyers assess suppliers against published criteria covering suitability, financial standing, technical capability, and relevant experience, not company size. The Procurement Act 2023 also requires buyers to consider and reduce the barriers facing smaller suppliers, supporting the longstanding ambition for £1 in every £3 of central government procurement spend to reach SMEs.

A dynamic purchasing system is an electronic list of pre-approved suppliers that, unlike a closed framework, stays open for new suppliers to join throughout its life. Buyers run quick mini-competitions among the suppliers on the system to award individual contracts. Under the Procurement Act 2023, dynamic purchasing systems are being replaced by dynamic markets, which work in a similar way but apply across a broader range of procurements and must stay open to new joiners.

The standstill period is a mandatory pause between a buyer announcing the winning bidder and signing the contract, giving unsuccessful bidders time to seek feedback or challenge the decision. Under the Procurement Act 2023 the standard standstill is 8 working days from publication of the contract award notice.

A contract or tender notice advertises an opportunity that is open for bids, setting out the requirement, the deadline, and how to respond. An award notice is published after the contract is awarded and records who won and the value. TenderTracker indexes both, so you can track an opportunity from advertisement through to award.

Without an account you can search the register as a preview, read the full description of any contract notice, and browse the buyer, supplier, CPV, and location directories, all for free. Tender documents, lots, contacts, the AI analysis, and email alerts require an account. A free account unlocks everything, with no card required: unlimited search, complete notices, alerts, saved searches, tracking, CSV export, and the market intelligence suite. It stays free — there's no trial clock and no charge. AI contract analysis is the one Pro-only feature.

Yes. TenderTracker is a discovery and monitoring tool, not a bidding portal. Every notice links back to its official source on Find a Tender or Contracts Finder, and you submit your bid through the buyer's own procurement system exactly as instructed in the notice.

Yes. You can export any search or buyer and supplier profile to CSV for your pipeline or bid team. CSV export is free with an account; it is not available on limited guest access.

A free account gives you full access to the tools - unlimited searches, email alerts, saved searches, CSV export, and complete contract details. No credit card is required, and it stays free. AI contract analysis is the one Pro-only feature.

Not without choosing a paid plan and entering payment details yourself; we hold no card on file, so nothing can be charged by accident. Our terms do allow a feature that is free today to become paid in future, and if that ever happens to a feature you are using we will email you at least 30 days beforehand.

No. There is no subscription, so there is nothing to cancel. If you stop wanting alerts, switch them off or delete them in your account. You can also export or delete your whole account from your settings at any time.