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 2021 as 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. Since 24 February 2025 it is also the central digital platform for the Procurement Act 2023, so below-threshold notices are published there too. TenderTracker currently tracks 208,568 Find a Tender notices, making it the larger of the UK's two procurement portals by volume.
Key Fact
UK public sector contracts above the procurement thresholds must be published on FTS. Under the Procurement Act 2023, so must below-threshold contracts worth at least £12,000 including VAT (central government) or £30,000 (other authorities): a tender notice if the contract is advertised, and a contract details notice once it is awarded.
What Gets Published
For above-threshold contracts FTS publishes several types of notice (Procurement Act names, with the PCR 2015 equivalent):
- Pipeline and planned procurement notices (Prior Information Notices) — early signals that a buyer is planning a procurement
- Tender notices (Contract Notices) — formal invitations to tender for live opportunities
- Contract award and contract details notices — who won the contract and the awarded value
- Contract change notices (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 208,568 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 for above-threshold notices, and since 24 February 2025 it is also where Procurement Act notices below threshold are published.
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 procurement thresholds and, since 24 February 2025, below-threshold tender notices under the Procurement Act 2023. Above-threshold notices include 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 is the central digital platform for the Procurement Act 2023: procurements started since 24 February 2025 publish their notices there, above and below threshold. Contracts Finder carries procurements started under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, such as their contract awards, and earlier lower-value opportunities. Together they cover most advertised UK public sector work.
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