Guide · 5 min read
Proactis: what it is and why a buyer has asked you to register
Proactis is procurement software, not a contract. If a council or a housing association has told you to register on Proactis before it will accept your quote, this page explains what you are actually signing up to and what happens next.
What Proactis is
Proactis is a commercial supplier of e-procurement and spend management software. Public sector organisations licence it and run their own supplier portal on top of it, which is why the site you are sent to usually carries the buyer's name and branding rather than the Proactis name alone.
You will also see the ProContract name used for the tendering side of the same family of products, following Proactis acquiring Due North, the company behind ProContract. Suppliers commonly refer to the whole thing as Proactis, and buyers use the two names loosely, so treat them as the same ecosystem rather than two unrelated systems.
The important thing to hold on to is that Proactis is a route to a buyer, not a source of work in its own right. Nobody awards a contract because you are registered on it.
Which organisations use it
Local authorities are the most common users, along with housing providers, universities, emergency services and a range of other public bodies. Groups of neighbouring authorities sometimes share one portal, which is convenient, because a single registration can then reach several buyers.
Because each buyer configures its own portal, the categories you can select, the documents you are asked for and the way opportunities are presented differ from one organisation to the next. That is a feature of how the software is licensed, not something you have done wrong.
How suppliers usually get started
Register on the specific portal the buyer names in its notice or email, using your legal company name, company registration number and VAT number where you have them. If you are sent a link, use that link rather than searching for a similar-looking site, because there are many separate instances.
Select the business categories that reflect the work you actually want, then set your notification preferences. Categories drive the alert emails, so choosing everything is as unhelpful as choosing one narrow code.
Keep your insurance certificates, accounts, policies and accreditations in one folder before you start. Public buyers ask for the same evidence set repeatedly, and having it to hand is the difference between a two hour submission and a lost weekend.
Where these notices also turn up
A portal is where you submit, not usually where a contract is first advertised. Higher-value procurements normally appear as a notice on Find a Tender, and lower-value English and UK-wide work is commonly advertised on Contracts Finder, with the notice then pointing suppliers at the buyer's portal to download documents and respond.
That is the gap 123 Tenders fills. We index notices from the national services in one place, so you can search by sector and region without logging into a dozen separate portals to find out whether anything relevant has been published this week.
Registration and submission still happen on the buyer's own system. Always work from the official published notice and the buyer's documents, because those are the authoritative version of the deadline and the requirements.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Proactis a government website?
- No. Proactis is a private software company whose products are licensed by public sector organisations. The portal you are asked to use belongs to the buyer, and it runs on Proactis software.
- Do I need a separate account for every buyer?
- Often yes, because each organisation runs its own portal instance. Some shared portals cover several neighbouring authorities, in which case one registration reaches all of them.
- What is the difference between Proactis and ProContract?
- ProContract is the tendering product that came into the Proactis group when Proactis acquired Due North. Buyers and suppliers use the two names interchangeably in practice.
- Will registering on Proactis get me contracts?
- No. Registration makes you able to receive alerts and submit responses. Contracts are won by responding to a specific opportunity and scoring well against its published criteria.
- Where do I find the opportunities themselves?
- Through the portal's own alerts, and through the national notice services. Higher-value work appears on Find a Tender, and lower-value English and UK-wide work commonly appears on Contracts Finder.
The official source
Rules, registration routes and published notices change, so check the current position at the official Proactis website before you rely on anything you read here.
123 Tenders is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of Proactis. Proactis is a trademark of its respective owner.
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.