How to Find Public Sector Tenders in the UK (2026 Guide)
A practical guide to finding UK public sector tenders. Learn where to look, what portals to use, and how to set up alerts so you never miss relevant opportunities.
The UK government spends around £300 billion a year buying goods and services from businesses like yours. That's a massive opportunity. But finding the right tenders? That's where most people get stuck.
There's no single place where all tenders get published. Different bodies use different portals. If you're manually checking each one, you'll burn hours every week and still miss stuff.
This guide covers where to look, how to search effectively, and how to set up a system that brings relevant opportunities to you - instead of you chasing them.
The Main UK Tender Portals
Let's start with the official sources. These are free to access and where the majority of public sector contracts get advertised.
This is the big one. Find a Tender replaced the EU's TED portal after Brexit and is now the primary source for high-value UK public sector contracts.
Any contract above certain thresholds must be advertised here:
- £139,688 for central government goods and services
- £214,904 for sub-central authorities
- £5,372,609 for works contracts
You can search by keyword, sector, location, and contract value. You can also set up email alerts for specific search criteria. The interface isn't beautiful, but it works.
Contracts Finder covers lower-value opportunities - contracts above £12,000 for central government and £30,000 for other public bodies.
A lot of businesses ignore Contracts Finder because the contract values are smaller. That's a mistake. There's less competition for these opportunities, and winning smaller contracts builds your track record for bigger ones later.
The search function is decent. You can filter by sector, region, and whether the contract is open or closed. Like Find a Tender, you can set up email alerts.
If you want to work with Scottish public bodies, this is where you'll find their opportunities. It covers everything from small local contracts to major frameworks.
The portal includes a supplier registration system. Once you're registered, you can respond to tenders directly through the platform.
Same concept for Welsh public sector contracts. Registration is free and gives you access to both current opportunities and a supplier directory that buyers can search.
Covers Northern Ireland. Similar setup - register, set your preferences, receive alerts.
The Problem With Portal Hopping
So there are five main portals. That's manageable, right?
Not really. Because those are just the national portals. Individual buyers often use their own systems too.
The NHS uses multiple procurement platforms depending on the trust and the type of contract. Universities often run their own e-tendering systems. Local councils might use platforms like Delta, Atamis, In-Tend, or Bravo.
Some estimates suggest there are over 900 different portals used to publish public sector contracts in the UK.
If you're serious about tendering, you can't check them all manually. You'll spend your entire week searching for opportunities instead of actually responding to them.
Setting Up a Tender Alert System
The smart approach is to let the opportunities come to you.
Most portals let you set up email alerts based on your criteria. Set these up on the main portals at minimum:
- Find a Tender - Create a saved search with your keywords, sectors, and regions
- Contracts Finder - Same approach
- Devolved nation portals - If you work in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland
But this still only covers the main portals. For broader coverage, you need a tender aggregator - a service that monitors multiple sources and sends you consolidated alerts.
These services pull opportunities from hundreds of portals into one feed. You set your criteria once, and they email you whenever something relevant pops up.
Some are expensive. Some are more affordable. The value depends on how many tenders you're pursuing and how much time you're currently spending on searching.
Bidwell monitors Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland, and Sell2Wales. Every day, we pull new opportunities and run them through AI matching against your business profile.
You tell us what sectors you work in, what size contracts you're after, and which regions you cover. We send you a daily digest of relevant opportunities with AI-generated summaries - so you can quickly see what's worth pursuing without reading through pages of tender documentation.
When you find something interesting, you can preview the key details before deciding whether to unlock the full tender information.
How to Evaluate Whether a Tender is Worth Pursuing
Finding tenders is only half the battle. The other half is deciding which ones deserve your time.
Not every opportunity that matches your keywords is actually a good fit. Before you commit to a response, ask yourself:
Can you meet the mandatory requirements?
Check the specification for non-negotiable requirements. Specific accreditations (ISO 9001, ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials). Insurance minimums. Years of experience. Turnover thresholds.
If you don't meet the mandatory requirements, don't waste time. You'll be excluded regardless of how good your response is.
Is the timeline realistic?
Some tenders give you weeks to respond. Others give you days. If you're already stretched, a tight deadline might mean a rushed response - and rushed responses rarely win.
Do you have relevant experience?
Evaluators want evidence. Case studies, client references, specific examples of similar work. If you don't have directly relevant experience to draw on, you're at a disadvantage.
What's the competition like?
For major frameworks, you might be competing against dozens of established players. For smaller, more niche opportunities, you might only face a handful of competitors. Where possible, find out who's won similar contracts before.
Does the contract value justify the effort?
A tender response can take 20-60 hours to write properly. If the contract value is £10,000, that effort might not make sense. If it's £500,000, it probably does.
The 2023 Procurement Act - What Changed
The Procurement Act 2023 came into force in 2024 and changed how public sector procurement works in the UK.
The biggest change for suppliers is transparency. Buyers now have to publish:
Pipeline notices - Advance warning of contracts they're planning to tender, published 40 days to 12 months before the actual tender drops. This gives you time to prepare, build relationships, and position yourself.
Preliminary market engagement notices - Published when a buyer wants to talk to potential suppliers before finalising their requirements. This is your chance to influence what they ask for.
Award notices - More detailed information about who won contracts and why.
The act also introduces a central debarment register for suppliers who've seriously breached contracts or committed certain offences. If you're on the list, you're excluded from all public sector contracts.
For most suppliers, the changes are positive. More transparency means more time to prepare and better insight into what buyers actually want.
Building Your Tender Pipeline
Finding one tender at a time is inefficient. What you want is a pipeline - a steady flow of opportunities at different stages.
Stage 1: Watching - Contracts you're monitoring but haven't decided on yet Stage 2: Preparing - Contracts you've decided to pursue and are gathering information for Stage 3: Writing - Active responses in progress Stage 4: Submitted - Waiting for results Stage 5: Won/Lost - Recording outcomes for future reference
When you have this visibility, you can manage your capacity better. You know when you're about to hit a busy period. You can make informed decisions about which new opportunities to take on.
Bidwell's dashboard shows you exactly this. Every opportunity you're tracking, what stage it's at, and what deadlines are coming up. No more spreadsheets, no more missed deadlines.
Getting Started
If you're new to public sector tendering, start small:
- Register on the main portals - Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, and your relevant devolved nation portal
- Set up alerts - Use keywords related to your services and filter by your region
- Look for smaller contracts first - Less competition, easier to win, builds your track record
- Keep records of everything - Your past wins become evidence for future bids
The public sector is a massive market. But it rewards businesses that approach it systematically. Random searching and last-minute responses don't cut it.
Set up a proper system for finding opportunities, evaluating them, and tracking your pipeline. That's how you win consistently.
