The UK advertises its public contracts in two main places. Higher-value opportunities — the ones above the national procurement thresholds — appear on Find a Tender(FTS), the service that replaced the UK’s use of the EU journal after Brexit. Lower-value opportunities, along with contract pipelines and awards, appear on Contracts Finder. Between them they cover contracts from central government departments, the NHS, local councils, universities, and agencies across England, and (with some devolved variations) Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

As with most public procurement, these sites advertisethe opportunity — they are not where you submit. Each notice names the buyer’s chosen eSourcing portal, and that is where you register, download the documents, and upload your bid. Common systems include Jaggaer (often branded for a specific buyer), In-tend, ProContract (Proactis/Due North), and Atamis, among others. Which one you use depends entirely on the buyer.

What Find a Tender and Contracts Finder are

Find a Tender is the official notice service for above-threshold UK public contracts: contract notices, pipelines, and award notices that buyers are legally required to publish. Contracts Findercarries lower-value opportunities (typically from central government and the wider public sector) plus a record of contracts already awarded, which is a useful way to research who buys what and who has won before. Both are free to search, and you do not need an account just to read notices — though registering lets you save searches and set up alerts.

Step 1 — Find the notice

Search by keyword, CPV classification code, region, and value, and filter to open opportunities so you are not reading contracts that have already closed. Set up email alerts so relevant notices come to you. When something looks promising, read the scope and the award criteria before you invest days in a response — our guide to how to read an RFP shows how to find the evaluation section quickly and decide whether you can win. You can also browse open bids in our directory and click straight through to each source.

Step 2 — Go to the buyer’s eSourcing portal

This is the step people miss. The notice on Find a Tender or Contracts Finder tells you aboutthe contract, but it directs you to the buyer’s named portal for the documents and the submission. Follow that link and register as a supplier on the specific system the buyer uses — Jaggaer, In-tend, ProContract, Atamis, or another. Registration is normally free, but it can involve email verification and entering company details, so do it as soon as you decide to bid rather than on deadline day. Expressing interest in the opportunity inside the portal is often what unlocks the full document set.

Step 3 — Download the documents and read the requirements

Once you are registered and have expressed interest, download the complete pack: the specification, the terms and conditions, the pricing schedule, and the response templates. Read carefully for how the bid is scored — the split between price and quality, any mandatory pass/fail requirements, minimum standards for insurance or financial standing, and the format each answer must take. Note the deadline and the clarification (question) cut-off, which usually falls several days before the submission date.

Step 4 — Complete the Selection Questionnaire and tender

UK procurements typically start with a Selection Questionnaire (SQ)— a standardized set of questions about your organization’s eligibility, financial standing, insurance, and relevant experience. It weeds out suppliers who do not meet the baseline before quality is assessed. (Under the newer procurement rules these baseline checks are sometimes framed as “conditions of participation,” but the idea is the same — prove you qualify.) After, or alongside, the SQ you complete the tender responseitself: the method statements or quality answers against each criterion, plus the priced schedule. Answer every question in the requested structure and respect any word or page limits — evaluators frequently stop reading at the limit, and a missing response can be scored zero or ruled non-compliant.

Step 5 — Submit before the deadline

Upload each document into the correct slot on the portal and submit. The portal is the clock: it locks precisely at the stated deadline (UK local time) and will not accept a late upload — there is no email workaround. Large files and slow connections are the classic reason a bid misses the cut-off, so upload with hours to spare, then confirm you have an on-screen confirmation and a receipt. If the documents are unclear, raise a formal clarification through the portal before the questions deadline; answers are usually shared with all bidders.

Costs and access

Finding and bidding on UK public contracts is free. You do not pay to search Find a Tender or Contracts Finder, and the buyers’ eSourcing portals do not charge suppliers to register or submit. Suppliers based outside the UK can generally bid, subject to the terms of each notice and the UK’s trade commitments; check the specific opportunity for any nationality or location requirements.

Tips and common mistakes

  • Go to the named portal.The advert is not the application — register on the buyer’s eSourcing system to get the documents and submit.
  • Start the SQ early. Gathering accounts, insurance certificates, and case-study evidence always takes longer than you expect.
  • Answer to the criteria and the word limits. Write to how the bid is scored, not to how much you have to say.
  • Upload with hours to spare. The portal will not wait, and there is no grace period.

The bottom line

On UK public contracts, Find a Tender and Contracts Finder are the shop window; the buyer’s eSourcing portal is the counter. Find the notice, register on the named system, clear the Selection Questionnaire, write your tender to the published criteria, and submit early. The pattern — and much of the same software — carries over to the JAGGAER portalsmany UK buyers run, and to the EU’s TED tenders across the Channel. For the universal mechanics behind any bid portal, see how to bid on a government procurement portal — then set up alerts so new notices reach you the day they publish.