What Is Find a Tender?
The Find a Tender Service (FTS)is the UK government's platform for publishing above-threshold public contract notices. It launched on 1 January 2021as part of the UK's departure from the EU, replacing the requirement for UK authorities to publish in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) via the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) database. TenderTracker currently tracks 191,640Find a Tender notices, making it the larger of the UK's two procurement portals by volume.
Key Fact
FTS is mandatory for all UK public sector contracts above the GPA thresholds. Contracting authorities must publish contract notices, award notices, and other statutory notices here.
What Gets Published
FTS publishes several types of notice for above-threshold contracts:
- Prior Information Notices (PINs) — early signals that a buyer is planning a procurement
- Contract Notices — formal invitations to tender for live opportunities
- Contract Award Notices — details of who won the contract and the awarded value
- Modification Notices — changes to existing contracts
How to Use FTS Effectively
The Find a Tender website allows free searches, but has limitations — no saved searches, basic filtering, and no cross-referencing with Contracts Finder. Tips for getting the most out of it:
- Use CPV codes rather than keywords for consistent results
- Check Prior Information Notices to get early visibility of upcoming procurements
- Review award notices to understand who wins contracts in your sector and at what price
FTS on TenderTracker
TenderTracker syncs FTS hourly and currently indexes 191,640 of its notices. You can filter search results to show only Find a Tender contracts, set up email alerts, and see buyer profiles with their full procurement history across both FTS and Contracts Finder.
Frequently Asked Questions
What replaced OJEU in the UK?
The Find a Tender Service replaced the requirement for UK authorities to publish notices in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) via the TED database. FTS went live on 1 January 2021 and is now the mandatory platform for UK above-threshold contract notices.
Is Find a Tender free to use?
Yes. Anyone can search Find a Tender without paying or registering. The trade-off is basic functionality: filtering is limited, there are no cross-portal searches with Contracts Finder, and alerting is minimal, which is why many suppliers use aggregators on top of it.
What contracts are published on Find a Tender?
FTS carries notices for public contracts above the GPA thresholds: pipeline and prior information notices, tender notices inviting bids, award notices naming the winner and value, and modification notices for changes to live contracts.
What is the difference between Find a Tender and Contracts Finder?
Find a Tender publishes above-threshold notices, where the full procurement regime applies. Contracts Finder publishes lower-value, sub-threshold opportunities. Together they cover most advertised UK public sector work.
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