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UK and EU tender sources, explained.
Every tender tool is a wrapper around a handful of official sources that are free, public and open to anyone. Before you evaluate a tool, it is worth knowing which sources exist, what each one actually carries, and where the gaps are. The gaps are the part nobody sells you.
Why the source matters more than the tool
A tool cannot show you a contract that its sources never carried. That sounds obvious, and it is the single most common reason a firm concludes there is no public work in its field. The contract existed. It was published somewhere the tool was not reading, or below a threshold that meant it was never published at all.
So the useful question is never "how many portals does this cover". It is "does it read the sources where my kind of work is published, completely, and does it tell me when it found nothing". A wide portal count usually makes a daily brief worse, because every additional source adds notices that are almost never a fit and hands the reading back to you.
The explainers
The sources, side by side
| Source | Publisher | What it carries | Value band | Who should watch it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Find a Tender | UK Government | The central digital platform under the Procurement Act 2023. Since 24 February 2025 it carries both above and below threshold notices for new UK procurements, from pipeline through to contract termination | From £12,000 including VAT for central government, £30,000 for others, with no upper limit | Every UK firm. If you watch one source, watch this one |
| Contracts Finder | UK Government | Award records back to 26 February 2015, the tail of procurements that began before February 2025, and supply chain subcontract notices published by suppliers | Above £12,000 including VAT | UK firms doing competitor and incumbent research, and anyone chasing subcontract work |
| Public Contracts Scotland | Scottish Government | Scottish public contracts. The one written-in exception to the Find a Tender rule: Scottish below-threshold notices stay here | Below-threshold Scottish work | Firms bidding for smaller Scottish contracts |
| Sell2Wales | Welsh Government | Welsh public sector opportunities, running alongside Find a Tender rather than replacing it | Mostly lower value | Firms with a Welsh presence or Welsh-language capability |
| eTendersNI and eSourcing NI | Northern Ireland Executive | Northern Ireland public sector opportunities, again alongside Find a Tender | Mostly lower value | Firms bidding in Northern Ireland |
| TED | Publications Office of the European Union | The Supplement to the Official Journal of the EU. Every EU and EEA public contract above the EU thresholds, published every working day. Over 3,000 notices a day, 800,797 in 2024 | From €140,000 net of VAT for central government services, upward | Any firm bidding into the EU. UK buyers have not published here since 1 January 2021 |
| eTenders | Irish Government | Ireland's national portal, relaunched 15 May 2023. Shows all Irish notices going to the Official Journal, plus lower-value national contracts | National advertising from €50,000 for goods and services, net of VAT | UK firms testing cross-border work. Same language, similar buyers |
| BOAMP | French State, through DILA | France's official bulletin of public procurement notices, including a large volume below the EU thresholds that never reaches TED | Below and above the EU thresholds | Firms bidding in France, or with French-language capability |
The two rules that explain most of the confusion
Thresholds decide where a contract is published
Above a value line, a contract goes to the international or national journal. Below it, national rules apply and the contract may be advertised locally, or not advertised at all. That is why a small contract in Germany or Italy is invisible to anyone watching only TED: TED carries the top of every EU market, not the whole of any of them.
The lines moved on 1 January 2026 on both sides of the Channel, and they move again in 2028, because the UK and the EU both re-set thresholds every two years to track the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. Any figure quoted without a date range should be treated as stale.
The VAT trap. UK thresholds under the Procurement Act 2023 include VAT. EU thresholds are net of VAT. Comparing a UK figure with an EU figure without adjusting will put a contract on the wrong side of a line.
Publication duties are narrower than people assume
A duty to publish is usually a duty to publish if you advertise. In the UK, a buyer entitled to seek quotes from a handful of suppliers it already knows may publish nothing in advance, and the work only becomes visible in a contract details notice after award. No source and no tool can show you that contract in time, because there was nothing published to find.
This is worth internalising, because it reframes what a source can do for you. Sources show you the advertised market. Relationships, pre-market engagement notices and pipeline notices are how you reach the rest of it.
What overlaps, and what falls through
- Above-threshold work is published twice. An above-threshold French contract appears on BOAMP and on TED; an Irish one on eTenders and on TED. Watching multiple sources without deduplication means reading the same contract more than once.
- Below-threshold work outside the UK and France is scattered. Germany's federal and state platforms, Italy's regional portals, TenderNed in the Netherlands and the Nordic systems each carry smaller contracts that reach no central journal.
- Buyer profiles carry the documents. A notice often points at a separate e-procurement platform where the tender pack actually lives, usually behind a login. The notice tells you the work exists; the pack tells you whether you qualify.
Where we fit
TenderVerdict reads four of these sources nightly through their official APIs: Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, TED and BOAMP. Rather than forwarding matches, we judge every relevant notice against a capability profile built from your website and send one email at 8am with BID, STRETCH or SKIP and the reason for each, skips included, plus a count of what was read. The limits, stated here rather than buried: we do not read non-UK or non-French national portals below the EU thresholds, UK devolved lower-value portals reach us only through what they publish to Find a Tender, and we judge the published notice rather than the tender pack.
Common questions
How many portals does a UK agency actually need to watch?
One, for most firms. Since 24 February 2025 new UK procurements publish on Find a Tender, above and below threshold, except below-threshold notices in Scotland. Add Contracts Finder for award research, and TED only if you genuinely bid across borders.
Why do tender tools advertise hundreds of sources?
Because a portal count is easy to print and hard to check. Most of those sources are regional platforms carrying work you would never bid for. Every extra source adds notices that are almost never a fit, and the reading burden lands back on you.
Are these sources free?
Yes. Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, TED and BOAMP are all free to search, and most offer free email alerts once you register. Nobody needs to pay to see public notices. What costs money is the time spent reading them and deciding.
Do UK and EU thresholds mean the same thing?
No, and the difference catches people out. UK thresholds under the Procurement Act 2023 are stated including VAT. EU thresholds are stated net of VAT. Both are revised every two years because both track the WTO Government Procurement Agreement.
What about Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
Their above-threshold and most below-threshold notices now go to Find a Tender. The exception written into the rules is Scotland, whose below-threshold notices stay on Public Contracts Scotland. Sell2Wales and eTendersNI continue to run alongside.
Which source has the smallest contracts?
The national ones. In the UK the advertising duty starts at 12,000 pounds for central government and 30,000 pounds for everyone else. In France, BOAMP carries work far below the EU thresholds. TED only ever carries the top of each market.
Do these portals overlap?
Yes, deliberately. An above-threshold French contract appears both nationally and on TED. An Irish one appears on eTenders and on TED. If you watch several sources without deduplication you will read the same contract more than once.
Related
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