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FREE WEBINAR: The Procurement Act – Preparing SMEs For The Tender Revolution

Join us for this essential webinar, focussing on how your business can take full advantage of the opportunities this Act will create. | 26 Nov 2024, 1pm – 1.45pm (GMT) | Register here

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Find a Tender in the UK – Search for Public Contracts

Learn about public sector contracts and discover how to unlock your tendering potential.

With over 45,000 tenders published each year across the UK, from Lands End to John O Groats, and Lowestoft to Belleek, the public sector has work available for any business.

Public sector organisations (including central government, councils, NHS, & emergency services) across the UK are required to freely advertise all procurement needs over the value of £12,000. This means rather than waiting for work to come to you, your business can search for opportunities and bid for contracts..

Tenders Direct collates and publishes every Public Contract and Below-threshold tender notice from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our service eliminates the need to try and find tenders across multiple portals, by providing you with a single and accurate source of tender opportunities.

We can help you to plan and write winning tenders

Search for tenders with the UK public sector

Use our free tender finder to see what types of opportunities are available for your business. Try searching for products, requirements, services or other relevant industry keywords.

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About the public sector marketplace

The following articles provide you with information about how the UK public sector procures goods, works and services. You will also find tender searching guidance to help you better navigate the public sector landscape.

A Fragmented Marketplace
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Why it is difficult to find tenders
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What is Find a Tender?
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Learn about the procurement portal
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What is Contracts Finder?
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Learn about the procurement portal
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Your Tendering Capability

We can help you realise your tendering potential, by helping you access profitable tenders in the UK and teaching you how to win them.

Market Overview
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Personalised market report
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Assess your readiness
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Review your tendering proficiency
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Develop your skills
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View our training courses
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Frequently Asked Questions

Tenders Direct is the UK’s most accurate tender alert service.

We have been helping businesses to find tenders since 1993. Our core service offers tender alerts for public sector opportunities in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and European Union.

We also offer a range of solutions to enhance your tendering potential:

To answer this question, you will have to do some research.

  1. How much work is available in the market?
  2. How suitable are these tenders for your business?
  3. Are there any standard contract requirements, and does your business meet the criteria?
  4. Is there work being published in your areas of operation?
  5. How do different types of contract work, and which are best for your business?
  6. Do you have sufficient resources to put towards bidding for public sector contracts?

We can help you explore the market with a complimentary report, detailing all of the contracts published in the last 12 months  which match your requirements.

If your bids accurately answer all of the questions within the tender, and clearly meet all of the requirements define, your chances of success are good.

The quality of your bids are assesses against that of the other bidders in a fair and transparent manner. This means your tender is judged purely on predefined criteria, and the most suitable contractors secure the work.

When you consider that 12% of tenders only have 1 or 2 bidders, you realise that your chances of success are quite high if your business can competently deliver all of the requirements within the tender.

Yes, SMEs have a fair chance of winning work with the public sector.

Quite simply, if your business, regardless of size, can fulfil all the requirements of a contract – you have a fair chance of winning the work. Your bids are assessed against those from other businesses, meaning you need to have the right balance of quality and cost to win.

High-value tenders are more suitable for larger or experienced businesses, but as Low-value tenders make up 66% of the market, the majority of contracts out there are suitable for SMEs.

The public sector has also been given the power to create tenders that are either exclusive to SMEs, or are only available to businesses operating locally (within a specific geographic region).

The UK government also has a goal of awarding £1 out of every £3 spent on central government tenders to SMEs.

All of this means that SMEs should not be intimidated by the public sector marketplace, and if relevant contracts are being published – your business could be winning some of this work.

Discover how we can help you find and win more work

See how our alerts work, learn about our range of tools, and discover how you can use Tenders Direct to your potential in the public sector marketplace.

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