Portals and systems
Contracts Finder
Written by Justin Cesman, CEO of Skim. Last reviewed:
- Definition
- Contracts Finder is the UK government's free, Cabinet Office-run portal where public buyers publish lower-value contract opportunities and award notices. It covers contracts above £12,000 including VAT for central government and £30,000 including VAT for sub-central bodies such as councils, NHS trusts, and universities.
Key takeaways
- Contracts Finder is free, operated by the Cabinet Office, and open to any supplier without charge — the most accessible entry point to UK public procurement.
- Publication thresholds are £12,000 including VAT for central government and £30,000 including VAT for sub-central authorities, NHS trusts, and NHS foundation trusts.
- Higher-value contracts above the published thresholds (usually £135,018 for central government or £207,720 for other bodies, including VAT) also appear on Find a Tender, the UK's central digital platform.
- For procurements started on or after 24 February 2025, the Procurement Act 2023 requires notices on Find a Tender, not Contracts Finder — Contracts Finder is retained for transitional work commenced under the old rules.
- Basic search, manual data entry, and unreliable alerts mean suppliers who rely on Contracts Finder alone routinely miss relevant opportunities.
How it works
Contracts Finder is a free, searchable database of contract opportunities and awards from across the UK public sector, launched in 2011 and operated by the Cabinet Office. Any supplier can register for an account to save searches and receive email alerts, or search and apply without one. It is the most accessible entry point to UK public procurement.
Buyers publish on Contracts Finder according to value thresholds, both figures inclusive of VAT. Central government authorities advertise contracts worth at least £12,000; sub-central authorities — local councils, NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts, and universities — advertise contracts worth at least £30,000. Below these levels, publication is voluntary. Higher-value contracts above the published thresholds, usually £135,018 for central government or £207,720 for other bodies, including VAT, must also appear on Find a Tender, the UK's central digital platform.
The data is comprehensive for UK-domestic contracts but uneven in practice. Search functionality is basic, email notifications can be unreliable, and quality varies because buyers enter details manually — typing free-text titles and mis-tagging CPV codes. Many procurement professionals therefore treat Contracts Finder as one source among several rather than relying on it exclusively, cross-checking it against Find a Tender and buyer-specific portals.
Each opportunity links through to a contract notice with the scope, value, deadline, and submission route; completed procurements carry an award notice naming the winning supplier and contract value, a useful record for sizing a market and identifying incumbents.
Contracts Finder vs Find a Tender
| Feature | Contracts Finder | Find a Tender |
|---|---|---|
| Primary role | Lower-value and below-threshold UK contracts | Higher-value, above-threshold contracts (the central digital platform under the Act) |
| Typical value range | £12,000 (central gov) / £30,000 (sub-central), including VAT | Usually above £135,018 (central) or £207,720 (other), including VAT |
| Geographic scope | Primarily English public sector | UK-wide |
| Cost to suppliers | Free | Free |
| Status under Procurement Act 2023 | Retained for transitional PCR 2015 procurements | Mandatory venue for procurements started on or after 24 February 2025 |
Under the Procurement Act 2023
Reviewed
Contracts Finder's role narrowed sharply under the reform. For procurements commenced before 24 February 2025, the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) still apply, and the duty to publish below-threshold opportunities and award notices on Contracts Finder continues for that transitional work — including awards made under frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems set up under the PCRs. For procurements commenced on or after 24 February 2025, the Procurement Act 2023 routes all notices, above and below threshold, to the enhanced Find a Tender service — the new central digital platform — so there is no ongoing requirement to publish new opportunity notices on Contracts Finder. In practice Contracts Finder now holds the historical and transitional record while Find a Tender becomes the single forward-looking publication point.
Sources: GOV.UK PPN — Requirements to publish on Contracts Finder · GOV.UK — Guidance: Below-threshold contracts (Procurement Act 2023) · GOV.UK — Central Digital Platform factsheet
Why it matters for bidders
Contracts Finder is where most SMEs start, because below-threshold and lower-value work is the most winnable — and it is free. But its basic search and unreliable alerts mean relevant opportunities slip past suppliers who rely on it alone, and since 24 February 2025 new notices route to Find a Tender, so a single-portal habit now leaves a growing blind spot. The deeper value is in the data already published: every completed procurement leaves a contract notice and an award notice, and read across a market those records reveal who is winning, at what price, and how often a buyer comes back to tender. Reading that signal — rather than just scanning today's live listings — is the discipline that teams who have won £3bn+ in UK and EU public contracts bring to portal data.
How Skim helps
Skim's Opportunity Discovery agent ingests every Contracts Finder listing alongside Find a Tender, TED, and buyer-specific portals, deduplicating, classifying, and scoring opportunities against your profile so you get complete market coverage without checking each portal by hand. Its Buyer Intelligence agent reads the published contract and award notices to surface which authorities are spending, on what, and when their incumbents come up for renewal.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Contracts Finder free to use?
- Yes. Contracts Finder is a free service operated by the Cabinet Office. Any supplier can search and apply for contract opportunities without charge, and registering for an account to save searches and receive email alerts is also free. There is no subscription or paywall.
- What is the difference between Contracts Finder and Find a Tender?
- Contracts Finder publishes lower-value UK contracts, above £12,000 for central government and £30,000 for sub-central bodies, both including VAT. Find a Tender publishes higher-value, above-threshold contracts, usually above £135,018 for central government or £207,720 for other bodies, including VAT, and is the central digital platform for procurements started on or after 24 February 2025.
- What is the Contracts Finder threshold?
- Buyers must publish on Contracts Finder when a contract is worth at least £12,000 including VAT for central government authorities, or at least £30,000 including VAT for sub-central authorities, NHS trusts, and NHS foundation trusts. Below these values, publication is voluntary.
- Is Contracts Finder still used after the Procurement Act 2023?
- Yes, but its role has narrowed. Procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 still publish on Contracts Finder under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Procurements started on or after that date publish on Find a Tender instead, so Contracts Finder mainly holds transitional and historical records now.
- Who publishes contracts on Contracts Finder?
- UK public sector buyers publish on Contracts Finder, including central government departments and their agencies, local authorities, NHS trusts and foundation trusts, universities, and other public bodies. They are legally required to advertise opportunities and award notices above the publication thresholds for procurements run under the old rules.
Sources
Related terms
Find a Tender(FTS)
Find a Tender (FTS) is the UK government's central digital platform for publishing public procurement notices above the threshold, replacing the EU's Official Journal (OJEU/TED) after Brexit. Under the Procurement Act 2023, FTS carries all regulated above-threshold notices for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Tenders Electronic Daily(TED)
Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) is the European Union's official platform for public procurement notices, publishing the Supplement to the Official Journal of the EU. It carries around 800,000 above-threshold notices a year, worth more than €815 billion, across all EU and EEA countries.
Contract notice
A contract notice is the formal advertisement a public sector buyer publishes to start a competitive procurement and invite tenders or requests to participate. It names the requirement, the procedure, the response deadline, and where to access the tender documents. Under the Procurement Act 2023 it is renamed the tender notice.
Procurement thresholds
Procurement thresholds are the financial values, set in Schedule 1 of the Procurement Act 2023 and revised every two years, that decide which rules a UK public contract follows. A contract estimated at or above the threshold (including VAT) triggers full regulated procurement; below it, lighter rules apply.
Competitor analysis in procurement
Competitor analysis in procurement is the systematic study of the suppliers bidding for the same public contracts — using published award notices, framework positions, and market intelligence to learn who wins, where, at what value, and against how many bidders, so each bid is targeted rather than generic.