Contracts Finder vs Find a Tender: what's the difference, and how to search both
Short answer: since 24 February 2025, new UK public procurements (outside Scottish below-threshold work) are published on Find a Tender. Contracts Finder still carries notices for older procurements in England, so if you want to catch everything you still need to check both. Below you can search open tenders from both at once.
Search open tenders on both services at once
Right now: 2,089 open tenders (1,816 from Find a Tender, 273 from Contracts Finder). Updated every 2 hours. Where the same contract appears on both, we merge it (4,029 duplicates merged so far).
Side by side
| Find a Tender (FTS) | Contracts Finder | |
|---|---|---|
| Run by | Cabinet Office (UK government) | Cabinet Office (UK government) |
| Covers | UK-wide. Since 24 Feb 2025, all new procurements in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, above and below threshold (Scottish below-threshold work goes on Public Contracts Scotland) | England and non-devolved bodies. Mainly procurements that started before 24 Feb 2025 |
| Before 24 Feb 2025 | Higher-value (above-threshold) notices only | Lower-value notices from £12,000 (central government) or £25,000 (other buyers) |
| Notice types | Pipeline, preliminary market engagement, tender, award, contract details, change and termination notices (UK1–UK17), plus the old F-forms | Opportunity, early-engagement and award notices |
| Alerts | Free with GOV.UK One Login | Free with a Contracts Finder account |
| Contracts in our data | 119,335 awarded contracts, 34,072 with a published end date | 148,117 awarded contracts, 145,334 with a published end date |
| Notices in the last 30 days (our data) | 10,191 | 3,406 |
Which one should I use?
- Looking for new work published from now on: Find a Tender. That's where almost all new UK opportunities appear.
- Following a procurement that started before February 2025: its later notices (awards, changes) may still be on Contracts Finder.
- Researching who holds a contract and when it ends: both. Older lower-value awards are mostly on Contracts Finder, and newer ones are on Find a Tender. Contracts Finder award notices nearly always publish an end date. About a quarter of Find a Tender awards (mostly old-format and NHS PSR notices) don't. See coverage and known gaps.
- Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland below threshold: also check Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales and eTendersNI. We don't currently cover those.
Common questions
What is the difference between Contracts Finder and Find a Tender?
Find a Tender (FTS) is the UK-wide central digital platform. Since the Procurement Act 2023 came into force on 24 February 2025, new procurements in England, Wales and Northern Ireland publish their notices there, both above and below threshold. Contracts Finder is the older England portal for lower-value contracts. It now mainly carries notices for procurements that started before 24 February 2025.
Do I still need to check Contracts Finder?
Yes, for now. Procurements started under the old rules keep publishing their later notices on Contracts Finder, and some buyers still post there. In our own data for the last 30 days, Contracts Finder carried 3,406 notices against 10,191 on Find a Tender.
What are the thresholds?
If a buyer chooses to advertise a below-threshold contract, it must publish it on Find a Tender when the value is £12,000 or more including VAT for central government bodies (including NHS trusts), or £30,000 or more for councils and other sub-central bodies. Above-threshold contracts (about £139,688 including VAT for central government goods and services) must be advertised. Scotland's below-threshold notices go on Public Contracts Scotland.
Is Find a Tender the same as the old OJEU / TED?
Find a Tender replaced the EU's Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) for UK notices on 31 December 2020.
Do I need an account?
Not to search either official service. To get e-mail alerts from Find a Tender you sign in with GOV.UK One Login. ContractsDue alerts cover both sources in one e-mail.
Go straight to
All public sector tendersCouncil tendersNHS tendersSchool & university tendersCentral government tendersHousing association tenders
Official services: Find a Tender · Contracts Finder
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ContractsDue is an independent service. We aren't part of, or endorsed by, the UK government. Find a Tender and Contracts Finder are official government services. We re-use their open data under the Open Government Licence v3.0, and you should always check and respond through the official notice.
Thresholds and dates checked 10 October 2026 against the Find a Tender home page and GOV.UK guidance. This is general information, not legal advice.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Data from Find a Tender and Contracts Finder; updated every 2 hours. Where a notice doesn't publish a contract end date we show "end date not published" - we never guess.