Guide · 8 min read
Contracts Finder: where the smaller UK public contracts are
Contracts Finder is where the smaller public contracts live, and it is the most useful portal in the country for a firm that has never won public work before. The contracts are modest, the competition is thinner, and buyers are often looking for a competent local supplier rather than a bid team. This guide covers what is published there, how it differs from Find a Tender, how to search it without losing your afternoon, and why a first small contract is worth more than its value suggests.
What Contracts Finder covers
Contracts Finder publishes contract opportunities and award information from English central government, the wider English public sector and UK-wide bodies. The distinguishing feature is value: this is the home of the lower-value work, from a single site cleaning contract to a year of grounds maintenance for a district council.
The duty to advertise there has historically applied above roughly £12,000 for central government and roughly £30,000 for other public bodies, both including VAT. Treat those as a rough guide rather than a fixed rule. Thresholds and the rules around them change, and the Procurement Act 2023 reshaped several publication duties, so confirm the current figures on gov.uk before you plan around them.
Below the advertising duty, buyers can and do simply approach a handful of suppliers directly. That is not a loophole to complain about, it is a reason to be registered, visible and known to the buyers on your patch.
How it differs from Find a Tender
Find a Tender is the central service for above-threshold procurement across the whole UK, and it carries the large contracts and the frameworks. Contracts Finder sits underneath it and carries the everyday work.
The processes differ as much as the values. An above-threshold competition normally comes with a formal selection stage, a detailed specification and a scored evaluation that takes weeks to answer properly. A sub-threshold contract might be a two page request for quotation with a fortnight to respond.
There is deliberate overlap at the top end, so a contract can appear on both services with different reference numbers. If you see the same job twice, work from the notice the buyer treats as authoritative, which the notice itself will normally make clear.
Searching it properly
Keyword searching alone is unreliable, because buyers title notices in their own internal language. Search on several plain terms rather than one, and use CPV codes where you can, since the code is chosen from a fixed list and is harder to phrase creatively than a title.
Filtering by buyer and geography first is usually more productive. Pick the twenty or thirty organisations you could genuinely deliver for, such as your county council, the neighbouring districts, the local NHS trust, the nearest universities and the housing associations in your area, and read everything they publish rather than hunting for perfect keywords.
Set the value filter to a range you can actually service, and do not dismiss the very small notices. A £15,000 contract delivered well is a reference, an invoice history with a public buyer and a named contact who will remember you at the next retender.
Why below-threshold work suits small firms
The obvious reason is competition. Large suppliers with dedicated bid teams generally cannot make the numbers work on a £20,000 contract, so the field is smaller and more local.
The less obvious reason is proof. Public buyers ask for relevant contract examples, and the honest answer for a firm that has never bid is that it has none. A couple of small delivered contracts breaks that circle, and they carry disproportionate weight when you later answer an experience question on something much bigger.
Sub-threshold processes also teach you the paperwork cheaply. You learn what a buyer means by method statement, social value and quality plan on a contract where a mistake costs you a fortnight rather than a month of unpaid bid work.
Using award notices as an early warning
Awards published on Contracts Finder tell you who won, what it was worth and frequently when the contract runs to. That is the best available prediction of what will be retendered and roughly when.
Work backwards from an end date. If a three year grounds maintenance contract was awarded in June, the retender will usually appear a few months before it expires, which gives you time to talk to the buyer during any market engagement rather than meeting them cold at tender stage.
123 Tenders indexes Contracts Finder alongside Find a Tender and Public Contracts Scotland, and surfaces contracts approaching their end date in Renewal Radar. Every listing links back to the official notice, which is the version that counts.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Contracts Finder only for English contracts?
- Mostly. It carries English central government, wider English public sector and UK-wide bodies. Lower-value Scottish and Welsh work is generally advertised on Public Contracts Scotland and Sell2Wales instead.
- What value of contract appears on Contracts Finder?
- Predominantly lower-value work, historically above roughly £12,000 for central government and roughly £30,000 for other public bodies. Those figures change, so confirm the current position on gov.uk.
- Can I win public work with no previous public contracts?
- Yes, and sub-threshold contracts are the usual way in. They ask for less evidence, attract fewer bidders and give you the delivered examples that larger tenders ask about later.
- Do I need to register to use Contracts Finder?
- You can search and read notices without an account. Registering lets you save searches and receive alerts, and you will still need an account on the buyer's own tendering system to submit.
- Why does the same contract appear on two portals?
- The services overlap at the top of the sub-threshold range, so buyers sometimes publish in both places with different references. Follow the notice the buyer identifies as the authoritative one.
The official source
Rules, registration routes and published notices change, so check the current position at the official Contracts Finder service on gov.uk before you rely on anything you read here.
This guide is general information about UK public procurement, not legal or financial advice. Thresholds, rules and portal requirements change: always check the official notice, the buyer's own tender documents and current government guidance before you rely on anything here.