How to find council and public sector tenders as a small business

1. Where tenders are advertised

Nearly every UK public contract is advertised on one of a few free government sites. The advert tells you what the buyer wants. You usually submit the bid somewhere else, on the buyer's own portal (see step 3).

Both Find a Tender and Contracts Finder let you save a search and get it by email. It's free. Search by keywords for your trade (for example "grounds maintenance", "grass cutting", "landscaping") rather than one exact phrase, because buyers describe the same work in different words. Add a location filter, and check the results once a week.

2. Look early: tenders are announced before they open

Since 2025, buyers often publish a notice weeks or months before the tender: a pipeline of upcoming contracts, a request to hear from suppliers (market engagement), or a warning that a tender is coming. A firm that answers a market engagement request can shape the specification and gets months to prepare. Most small firms never see these notices. Our guide to early notices explains each one, and contracts coming soon lists the current ones that suit small firms. Go one step earlier still: most contracts are tendered again when they end, and contracts ending soon lists over 10,000 that end in the next 15 months, with who holds each one now.

3. Register on the right portals before you need them

The advert links to the buyer's e-tendering portal, where you download the documents, ask questions and upload the bid. Registering can take a day or two to confirm, which hurts when a tender closes in two weeks. From the portal links in 1,679 buyers' own notices, these are the most common:

Many councils share a portal with their neighbours, so one account often covers your whole area. Look up any buyer on which portal each buyer uses, register once, and follow the buyers near you so their notices come to your inbox.

4. Register as a supplier on Find a Tender

For tenders run under the Procurement Act, buyers expect you to have a supplier account on Find a Tender (the government calls it the Central Digital Platform) with your core details filled in: company information, who owns and runs it, and some declarations. You do this once and keep it up to date, then share it with each buyer. Do it before your first bid, not on the day it's due. The government's Procurement Act guidance covers the details.

5. Bid for fewer tenders, and choose them well

A proper bid often takes a small firm several working days. So the most valuable skill is saying no quickly. Before you start, check:

• Can you meet the pass/fail rules? Turnover, insurance levels, accreditations, years of experience. If you can't, stop.
• Is it close enough? For site work, travel time eats the margin.
• Is the size right? Buyers often ask for a yearly turnover of up to twice the contract's yearly value. Below that, it's a stretch.
• Who has it now? The award notice from last time names the current supplier and often the price.
• Is there enough time? If the deadline is under 10 working days away and you haven't seen the documents, it's usually a no.

Our 12-question go/no-go checklist takes about ten minutes and covers the rest. When it's a go, see how to price a public sector tender.

6. Where small firms win most often

Buyers record whether each winner is a small or medium firm. Across 19,931 UK awards with a stated value in the last six months, the share won by firms recorded as SMEs varies a lot by trade. These are minimums, because not every buyer records it:

Typical value is the middle award, for the whole contract (often several years). Full figures and recent examples are on what public buyers pay. Figures from October 2026.

How many firms bid? Fewer than most people think. Across 4,611 open and selective competitions on Find a Tender that recorded the number of bids (awards published June to October 2026), the middle figure was five bids. A quarter got two bids or fewer, and one in eight got a single bid. Repair and maintenance tenders were among the least contested of the big trades (a middle figure of four, and a third with two bids or fewer), architecture and engineering the most (seven). A careful bid on a tender that suits you is often up against only a handful of others. And being small is no handicap: in 661 of those competitions that also recorded who bid, small firms made about two thirds of the bids and won 72% of the contracts.

One figure per procurement (the middle of its lots). Direct awards and call-offs are left out. Notices that don't record the number of bids are not counted. Figures by trade.

7. Frameworks and dynamic markets

A lot of public work is bought through frameworks (an approved list of suppliers, set up for several years) and dynamic markets (similar, but open to new suppliers at any time). Getting onto one can be worth more than winning a single contract, because the buyer then calls work off it without a full tender. Dynamic markets are the easier way in, because you can join whenever you're ready.

Found one? Read the documents, not just the notice: the real deadline, site visits and pass or fail rules are often only in the pack.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Always read the full notice and any documents the buyer attaches.