Find Government Contracts for FREE

Find Tenders For FREE

The UK Government spent £379 billion on procurement in 2021/22. With published budgets for 2022/23-2024/25 suggesting procurement spending staying at around the higher levels seen in 2021/22. 

Did you know you can find tenders for FREE! If you want to know how to find UK Government tenders and EU Government tenders read on to find out. 

It's easy to find Government contracts once you know where to look. But, you also need to know what you are looking for. Otherwise, you may waste a lot of your own time in the process. We don't want that. Your time is money. So let's dive straight into how to find tenders for FREE. 

Where can I find tenders?
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Central government authorities, sub-central contracting authorities, NHS Trusts or NHS Foundation Trusts must publish tenders for contract values above £12,000 (inclusive of VAT) on Contracts Finder, which is an online database of public sector tender opportunities.

The UK Government created another online database of public sector tender opportunities (just to confuse the issue) called Find a Tender for high value tenders (usually above £118,000).

To further complicate things Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own dedicated public sector procurement websites. These are:
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• Public Contracts Scotland for opportunities with public sector bodies in Scotland
• Sell2Wales for opportunities with public sector bodies in Wales
• eSourcing NI and eTendersNI for opportunities with public sector bodies in Northern Ireland.

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You can also find tenders for FREE advertised by any country in the European Union (EU) on the Tenders  Electronic Daily (TED) website. 

All of the above websites are all FREE to access, open public registers.  ​

How do I find tenders relevant to me? 

​It is FREE to register on all UK Government tender websites and to set up a FREE email alert service. 

All tenders must be advertised with the relevant Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) code. 

You can use more filters to further tailor your search to your requirements.You can use the CPV code to create a search. ​
Once complete, you can save your search and request a daily electronic alert of all Notices that match your search criteria. Each time a Notice is published, you will receive an email directly to your inbox. This service is provided completely FREE of Charge. 

Step 1 - What is a Notice? 
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A Notice is a published notification that communicates the Government's intention. 

A different Notice is published for different purposes. The 4 most commonly used Notices are:

• Prior Information Notice
• Contract Notice
• Contract Award Notice 
• Corrigendum Notice

What is a Prior Information Notice?  
 
A Prior Information Notice is more commonly known as a PIN. This Notice type is published to advertise a future Government contract opportunity. 

What is a Contract Notice? 
 
A Contract Notice is published to advertise a Government contract opportunity is live. Its job is to communicate: 

a) who the buyer is, 
b) what they want to buy, for whom, and why,
d) how to apply, and
e) the closing date for applications. 

What is a Contract Award Notice? 
 
A Contract Award Notice is published to communicate the award of a Government contract. It lists names of successful suppliers, who will receive a contract. It does not list unsuccessful suppliers. 

What is a Corrigendum Notice?  

A Corrigendum Notice is published to communicate a change to the process. It must provide an explanation or additional information to the previously published Contract Notice. 

Now you understand the purpose of each Notice you are ready to find them. 

Are private sector Notices published?
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Unlike, Government, the private sector is not under any legal obligation to publicly advertise Notices. 

However, in an attempt to level the playing field for SMEs (and increase the visibility of Government supply chain opportunities) awarded Government suppliers are required to advertise sub-contracting opportunities on the Contracts Finder and Find a Tender websites. 

The aim is to provide SMEs with the opportunity to supply the UK Government as a subcontractor. In our experience, SMEs would prefer to supply the Government directly. 

What next? 
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If you would like to learn more about how to find Government Contracts, Naomi Clews Consultancy provides business coaching services tailored to finding UK Government contract opportunities. Please visit our website to find out more www.naomiclewsconsultancy.com.