Identifying New Tender Opportunities

Supplying the Public Sector after the end of the Transition Period

The way that opportunities to supply the UK public sector are advertised is about to change. From 11pm on 31st December 2020, information will be published on public sector contract opportunities in the UK, on the new Find a Tender Service (FTS)

1. FTS is free to use and replaces the role of Tenders Electronic Daily, the Official Journal of the EU (OJEU/TED) for procurements in the UK.

2. FTS will work alongside existing procurement portals such as Contracts Finder, MOD Defence Contracts Online and Sell2Wales which can be used to access a wide range of opportunities to supply the public sector.

3. Existing Contracts Finder account holders will be able to use the same login credentials for Find a Tender. You can register now in preparation for its launch on 31st December.

If you wish to access public sector contract opportunities in the EU, you may continue to do so via OJEU/TED. Information about procurements launched by UK contracting authorities before 11pm on 31st December 2020 will be available via OJEU/TED or the existing portals mentioned above.

Further guidance is available here

Read more, here

Sources of Local and National Opportunities

Please note that many of the services listed below may require a fee or membership, whilst some are freely available online to search.

Local Supply Chain (LSC) is a collaborative online portal which allows public sector organisations, including local authorities, to highlight their upcoming building projects. Construction and property sector firms can then access that information and know what they need to do to bid for the contracts.

Contracts Finder lets you search for information about contracts worth over £10,000 with the government and its agencies.

Source East Midlands 

YORtender, the procurement portal for the Yorkshire & Humber Region

North West UK opportunities on the The Chest, the North West's Local Authority Procurement Portal

Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Authorities e-tendering service

Sources of International Opportunities

Business Co-operation Database 

East Midlands Chamber Tenders Alerting Service 

Department for International Trade 

Useful Information

Doing business with government: a guide for SMEs provides guidance on bidding for Government contracts.