Central Digital Platform: how to register and get your share code (2026)

Published 30 October 2026

If you want to win public sector contracts in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you will usually need to register on the Central Digital Platform. It's free, and buyers now check it before they award a contract. This guide explains what it is, when you need it, and the steps involved, in plain English.

What is the Central Digital Platform?

The Central Digital Platform (CDP) is the government's online service for public procurement under the Procurement Act 2023, which came in on 24 February 2025. It's also known as Find a Tender: the same service where buyers publish tender notices is where suppliers register and keep their details. It is free to use.

You enter your business details once, and you can share them with any buyer, instead of filling in the same basic information on every council's portal. If information that the regulations say belongs on the platform is missing, buyers must ask you to add it there rather than asking for it separately.

Do I need to register?

In practice, yes, if you want to be awarded a public contract:

• Larger (above-threshold) contracts: buyers need to see your registered supplier information. Your core details should be in place by the end of the tendering period.
• Smaller (below-threshold) contracts: since 1 April 2026, before a buyer publishes the contract details notice, it must confirm that the supplier it is awarding to has registered on the CDP and submitted its basic information (name, postal and email contact details, and whether it is an SME or a value-driven non-governmental organisation), along with its unique identifier.
• Dynamic markets: buyers must list an identifier for each supplier they admit, and you only get one by registering on the CDP.

You don't need to register just to search for tenders, but leaving it until you win means a rush at the worst moment.

Used Find a Tender before 24 February 2025? The Cabinet Office Supplier Registration Service FAQ says to make sure you have re-registered on Find a Tender after that date to use the CDP. The Supplier Registration Service is a separate website.

How to register: the three steps

One person registers first and becomes the Administrator for your business. They can add colleagues later as editors or viewers.

1. Create a GOV.UK One Login. Use your own work email. You'll get a 6-digit code, set a password, and choose a second step for signing in (a text message or an authenticator app).
2. Sign in to Find a Tender and agree to the privacy policy. Enter your name.
3. Register an organisation. Choose Supplier, then enter your Companies House number, or another identifier such as a Charity Commission number. If none applies, the platform generates one for you. Tick whether you are an SME. Add a shared business email address and your registered address.

Use a shared business email (like [email protected]) rather than a personal one. If you used Find a Tender before, use the same email so that your old notices and saved searches carry over.

When you save, choose View to see your unique identifier. Buyers ask for this before they award a contract.

Filling in your supplier information

Your Administrator then completes your supplier information. The sections include:

• Basic information: postal address, tax registration number, website, organisation type, legal form, and registration date.
• Connected persons: people with significant control, and other connected people or businesses. The platform links to guidance on who counts.
• Qualifications and trade assurances: details of any you hold that are relevant to your work.
• Exclusions: questions about the grounds on which a supplier can be excluded. Answer them honestly.
• Financial information: whether your accounts are audited, and uploads of your accounts with their year-end dates.

The share code

When a buyer asks for your information, choose Share my information, then Create a share code. You confirm a declaration with your name, job title, work email and postal address, then select Confirm and get share code. You can download a copy of what you shared.

If anything changes, update the platform and create a new share code. GOV.UK's walkthrough ends: "You are now bid ready."

Common mix-ups

• Login vs registration. Your One Login is you, as a person. The organisation registration is your business. You need both.
• Registration isn't approval. It doesn't mean any buyer has checked or accepted you. Each tender still sets its own conditions. For larger contracts, those may only test your legal and financial capacity and technical ability.

Before you spend a week on a bid

Registration is one item on the readiness list. Expired insurance, an out-of-date health and safety policy, or missing accounts can sink a bid just as easily. Our guides on why tender bids get rejected and what a PQQ asks cover the rest.

Questions

What is a Central Digital Platform share code?

It's how you share your supplier information with a buyer. When a buyer asks for your information, choose Share my information, then Create a share code. You confirm a declaration with your name, job title, work email and postal address, then select Confirm and get share code. If anything changes, update the platform and create a new share code.

Check you're ready and find the tenders worth your week

UK Tender Desk, from Your Evenings Ltd (that's us), is a one-off £149 diagnostic for small businesses in construction trades, training, transport, care, cleaning and catering. It's done for you. We check how ready you are for public tenders, look at live tenders on Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, pick up to 5 that suit a business your size, and tell you what to fix before you bid. It arrives by email within 5 working days of your form, with no call. If it's late, you don't pay. If no live tender fits, we say so and why.

See what the diagnostic looks like · Get your readiness check and shortlist for £149

Sources

• GOV.UK: How to register your organisation and find your unique identifier: a guide for suppliers (updated 21 October 2026)
• GOV.UK: Suppliers' detailed walkthrough: how an administrator completes and updates supplier information (updated 21 October 2026)
• GOV.UK: Guidance: Central Digital Platform and Publication of Information (updated 17 August 2026; paragraphs 63, 66 and 68)
• The Procurement Regulations 2024, regulation 36A (in force from 1 April 2026)
• Cabinet Office Supplier Registration Service: FAQ
• Procurement Act 2023, section 22 (conditions of participation)
• Find a Tender

This guide summarises the official sources above. It isn't legal advice. Screens and steps can change, so follow GOV.UK's current guidance when you register.

Written with AI assistance by the Your Evenings team at Your Evenings Ltd. Last updated 31 October 2026.