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Guide

How to use Find a Tender and Contracts Finder

Both government services are free, and you don't need an account to search them. This guide walks through a search on each one, the filters worth using and how to get new matches sent to you by email.

Which one to use

Since 24 February 2025, Find a Tender has carried both larger and smaller notices for new UK procurements, except smaller notices in Scotland. Contracts Finder still carries procurements that started before that date, and it's useful for looking up past contracts.

Find a Tender, step by step

  1. Open Notice Search at find-tender.service.gov.uk. There's also a Summarised Search, with separate views for opportunities, contracts and commercial tools such as frameworks and dynamic markets.
  2. Keywords. The search covers titles, descriptions, identifiers and organisation names. A space between words finds any of them, a + between words finds all of them, and quotes find an exact phrase, for example "school transport".
  3. Procurement stage. "Open opportunities" shows notices at the planning or tender stage with deadlines in the future. "Tender" means bids can be submitted until the deadline. "Planning" means early engagement, before bids are possible. "Pipeline" lists possible future contracts.
  4. Industry CPV code. The common procurement vocabulary (CPV) classifies contracts in a standard way. Browsing the codes for your trade catches notices that describe the same work in different words.
  5. Contract location. Pick the regions you can serve.
  6. Value. Set a minimum and a maximum. The filter searches contract, lot and award values.
  7. Suitability. You can filter to notices the buyer has marked as suitable for small and medium-sized businesses. Find a Tender defines these as having fewer than 250 staff, and either turnover under £44 million or a balance sheet total under £38 million.

Notice types worth knowing

Notices under the Procurement Act have UK numbers. The ones that matter most when you're looking for work:

Contracts Finder, step by step

  1. Open the search at contractsfinder.service.gov.uk. You can search and apply without an account.
  2. Keywords and location. Search by keyword, and by region or by postcode within a set distance.
  3. Stage. Choose Opportunity for contracts open now, or Future opportunity and Early engagement for work that's coming up.
  4. Awarded contract. Use this to see who won similar work before.

Set up free email alerts

One saved search for each trade and area keeps the emails useful. If a search sends too much, add a CPV code or a value range.

Before you bid

Before a buyer can award you a contract, it needs your registration on the Central Digital Platform and your unique identifier. Registration is free. Our guide to Central Digital Platform registration explains the steps.

Questions

Do I need an account to search Find a Tender?

No. You can search without one. You only need to sign in to save a search and get email alerts.

What is a CPV code?

The common procurement vocabulary (CPV) classifies contracts in a standard way. Filtering by the codes for your trade finds notices that describe the same work in different words.

How do I see who won a public contract?

On Find a Tender, choose the Award or Contract stage, or the contract award and contract details notice types. On Contracts Finder, choose Awarded contract.

Want a shortlist done for you?

UK Tender Desk, from Your Evenings Ltd (that's us), is a done-for-you tender shortlist for small businesses in construction trades, training, transport, care, cleaning and catering. We look at live tenders on Find a Tender and Contracts Finder and pick the ones that suit a business your size. See how UK Tender Desk works

Sources

This guide summarises the official sources above. It isn't legal advice. Check the notice and tender documents for each contract.

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

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