Choose the UK source by the buyer, procurement regime and notice stage. Find a Tender is central to the current system, but suppliers also need to understand Contracts Finder, devolved portals and the response platform named in each competition.
Source guidance checked: 13 September 2026. Editorial owner: Antoine Simon. Next review: 13 December 2026, or sooner if a source or procedure changes. The worked example is illustrative, not a live tender.
Where to find opportunities and evidence
| Source | Use it for | Boundary to check |
|---|---|---|
| Find a Tender | Notices and the central digital platform | A notice may send you to another system to submit the bid. |
| Contracts Finder | Additional contract discovery and historic records | Do not assume it alone represents every UK competition. |
| Public Contracts Scotland | Scottish public-sector opportunity discovery | Scotland has a distinct procurement regime. |
| Sell2Wales | Welsh public-sector discovery | Read the notice and buyer's response instructions. |
| eTendersNI | Northern Ireland electronic procurement | Registration and competition access require their own checks. |
Understand what changed and what did not
The government's Procurement Act guidance describes the enhanced Find a Tender service and supplier information service. Use the supplier guidance collection for registration and practical instructions. Determine which rules govern the particular procurement; legacy competitions and devolved procurement cannot all be treated as identical.
The central digital platform guide explains the notice and supplier-information workflow. Sharing supplier information is not the same as submitting a tender. The buyer's electronic tendering system may still require separate credentials and documents.
Separate opportunity stages
A planned procurement or preliminary market engagement notice can help a capture team prepare; it does not necessarily invite a priced bid. A tender notice starts a different response task. Award and contract details support competitor or renewal research, with different meanings and dates.
Record the notice type, procurement identifier, lot, deadline and links to related notices. Follow changes to the procurement rather than treating every publication as a new lead.
Make access and delivery the first qualification checks
For frameworks and dynamic markets, determine whether your company can currently enter and whether a specific competition is limited to admitted suppliers. Check the notice's conditions of participation, exclusions, delivery locations, financial requirements and award criteria before deciding to price.
Use current official threshold guidance for the relevant regime and contract type, including its stated VAT treatment. A single remembered “UK threshold” is not sufficient to identify all publication obligations.
A practical monitoring routine
- Define the products or services you can deliver, the viable locations and the buyers you want to serve.
- Run a classification search and a separate keyword search. Review the overlap and the useful results that either search misses.
- Record each candidate's source URL, identifier, lot, status, deadline, delivery location and reason for fit.
- Read the current documents and amendments. Assign one person to watch questions, changes and submission requirements.
- Keep historical awards and early signals outside the active-bid queue. Review them for buyer context and follow-up dates.
- Each week, inspect a sample of rejected results and known relevant notices. Adjust the search for demonstrated misses rather than tightening every filter at once.
Worked supplier example
A technology supplier with teams in England and Scotland should keep a shared capability taxonomy but separate the source and eligibility checks. A Scottish council procurement and a central-government opportunity can require different registration routes and documentation. Use CPV plus service terms, then check local support requirements and the permitted route into any framework.
Check coverage before relying on Duke
This guide documents official sources; it does not certify that Duke currently imports every source, attachment, amendment or local procurement described here. Before using Duke as your monitoring routine, compare several known notices from your target buyers with the results available in your account. Check publication dates, lots, deadlines, source links and changes. Keep an official-source check for anything not demonstrated.
Bring that sample and your buyer list to a Duke discussion. Ask which parts of the workflow and source coverage can be shown for your market today.
Your next decision
Use the tender notice reading guide to turn a candidate into a qualification record. For restricted buying routes, read how framework agreements work. Continue with Ireland supplier playbook if that market or sector is part of your expansion.