Find a Tender vs Contracts Finder for industrial suppliers

The Procurement Act 2023 start date and Find a Tender's role as the central digital platform are set out in GOV.UK's guidance and on Find a Tender itself.[2][3] The below-threshold values, which apply to a contract's estimated value, come from section 87 of the Act.[1]

Not every notice is a tender. Under the Act the lifecycle is published in stages,[2] and the early ones are the most useful for account research:

1. Pipeline notice. Authorities that expect to spend more than £100m in the coming financial year must list upcoming contracts of £2m or more.[2] This gives you a forward view of capital and maintenance programmes.
2. Preliminary market engagement notice. This is your chance to shape a specification before it is fixed.
3. Tender notice. The live competition.
4. Contract award and contract details notices. These tell you who won and on what terms. That's the account you should now sell into as a subcontractor or component supplier.
5. Dynamic Markets. Dynamic Markets replace DPS for new procurements.[2] Joining one keeps you eligible for repeat call-offs.

• Search by CPV code, not just keywords. Pumps, valves and instrumentation are spread across several CPV branches. Start from our CPV code guide for industrial equipment.
• Save searches per buyer type: water and utilities, NHS estates, local authorities, defence and the nuclear estate.
• Log each relevant notice in the free tender triage worksheet: buyer, value band, CPV, deadline, incumbent and next action.

A contract award notice names the winning contractor. That contractor will buy equipment, services and subcontracted packages for the life of the contract. Build an account row for:

• the authority (end owner and future re-procurement);
• the winning contractor (immediate buyer of your product);
• the roles involved (contract manager, procurement lead, design or project engineer), recorded at role level.

Fictional example: A fictional valve distributor sets a Find a Tender alert on valve and pump CPV codes. In one month it sees a pipeline notice from a fictional county council listing a wastewater-related works package, and then an award notice to a fictional regional M&E contractor. The distributor adds both to its account list and prioritises the contractor for account research ahead of the package. This example is fictional and only illustrates the method.

If you also sell into Ireland, Irish public contracts appear on eTenders. See our eTenders guide for industrial suppliers. Contracts above EU thresholds in EU member states are on TED; see the TED tenders guide.

Demand Range turns public tender and award data into company-level account lists for industrial suppliers: authorities and winning contractors, with the source notice for every row. Named contacts and outreach are separate scopes, not included by default.

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Prefer email? Write to partners@demandrange.com.

1. Procurement Act 2023, section 87 (legislation.gov.uk)
2. GOV.UK, Procurement Act 2023 guidance documents (central digital platform; below-threshold; pipeline notices; dynamic markets)
3. Find a Tender service
4. Contracts Finder
5. Public Contracts Scotland
6. Department of Finance (Northern Ireland): eTendersNI
7. Welsh Government: How to use Sell2Wales