# AusTender Contract Alerts: New Australian Gov Contracts (`accountable_eel/australia-austender-alerts`) Actor

New Australian government contract notices from AusTender by keyword, UNSPSC code, agency or supplier, with a true monitoring mode that only returns and bills for notices new since your last run.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/accountable_eel/australia-austender-alerts.md
- **Developed by:** [Adriana Voss](https://apify.com/accountable_eel) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.50 / 1,000 contract notice returneds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## AusTender Contract Alerts: New Australian Gov Contracts

**Get new Australian government contract notices by keyword, UNSPSC code, agency or supplier, as soon as AusTender publishes them.**
Every row is one awarded contract: the buying agency, the supplier and its ABN, the value in AUD, the start and end dates and the procurement method, read from the Department of Finance's own open-data feed. Turn on monitoring mode and run it on a schedule to get only the notices that are new since your last run, charged per notice and free on a quiet day.

**Who uses it:** suppliers tracking what competitors win, business-development teams building a pipeline from contracts that are about to expire, journalists and researchers following government spending. It lists contracts that have been **awarded**, not tenders still open for bids.

**Related actors:** for UK notices use [UK Find a Tender Alerts](https://apify.com/accountable_eel/uk-tender-alerts), for EU notices [EU Tender Alerts](https://apify.com/accountable_eel/eu-tender-alerts). This actor is Australia only.

### How to use

1. **In the Apify Console.** Open the actor page and click **Start** — the `keywords` field is already pre-filled with a working example. Results land in the run's dataset as soon as each item is found.
2. **Via the API.** Call it directly with a POST request — no Console needed once you have an API token:
   ```bash
   curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~australia-austender-alerts/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
     -X POST \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"keywords":["services"]}'
   ```
3. **On a schedule.** Save this actor as an Apify **Task** with the input you want, then add a **Schedule** (hourly, daily, weekly) so it runs on its own — no server of your own required.

### Input

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "services"
  ]
}
```

One keyword or phrase per line, matched against the contract description, the supplier name and the agency reference. Combine with UNSPSC codes and agency names below (optional). Leave empty to list recent notices without a keyword filter. Accepted formats: consulting, IT services, "security guard".

One combined search runs per call. Keywords are matched against the contract description, the supplier name and the agency reference; UNSPSC codes are prefix-matched (81 = engineering and IT services), agency names are contains-matched. Filters run after the fetch, and the date window always applies, so an empty keyword list still returns the newest notices. The search run itself is free; you are billed per notice actually returned. The feed publishes with about a day of lag.

### Output

One row per contract notice, for example:

| query | found | status | searchSummary | noticeCount | truncated | monitorStatus | notices | noticeId | ocid | agencyReference | description | buyerName | buyerAbn | supplierName | supplierAbn | supplierCountry | supplierState | unspscCode | valueAud | currency | signedAt | publishedAt | startDate | endDate | procurementMethod | procurementMethodDetails | exemptionReason | contractStatus | noticeUrl | isNew | firstSeenAt | scrapedAt |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| services | true | OK | <search run> | <notices returned> | <more results were available> | <monitoring status> | \<all notices (full list)> | \<contract notice (cn) number> | <ocid> | <agency reference> | <contract description> | <buying agency> | <buying agency abn> | <supplier> | <supplier abn> | <supplier country> | <supplier state> | <unspsc code> | \<contract value (aud)> | <currency> | <date signed> | <published on> | <contract start> | <contract end> | <procurement method> | \<procurement method (detail)> | <limited-tender reason> | <contract status> | <notice record> | \<is this notice new?> | <first seen on a run> | 1970-01-01T00:00:00.000Z |

A miss comes back as a row with `"found": false` and is never charged. `valueAud` is `null` when the notice publishes no value — never `0`. Contact people, emails and phone numbers are not returned.

### Pricing

- **Contract notice returned**: $3 per 1,000 notices

Plus a $0.002 start fee per run. Each event above is billed independently, only when it actually returns data — misses (`found:false`) are never charged.

### Example runs

Paste any of these into the Input tab and press Start. All three return rows with no key, no token
and no account of your own beyond an Apify login.

**The newest 20 notices, no filter.** The default shape.

```json
{
  "sinceDays": 3,
  "maxResults": 20
}
```

**Consulting contracts over A$100,000 in the last 14 days.**

```json
{
  "keywords": ["consulting"],
  "minValueAud": 100000,
  "sinceDays": 14
}
```

**Contracts awarded without open competition (limited tender) to the Department of Defence, with monitoring on.**

```json
{
  "buyerNames": ["Defence"],
  "procurementMethod": "limited",
  "sinceDays": 7,
  "onlyNewSinceLastRun": true
}
```

### Use it from Clay, n8n, Make, or an AI agent

This actor runs synchronously over plain HTTP — call it directly from a script, a workflow tool, or an AI agent, no Apify Console needed once you have an API token.

```bash
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~australia-austender-alerts/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"keywords":["services"]}'
```

**n8n.** Add an HTTP Request node: Method `POST`, URL `https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~australia-austender-alerts/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>`, Body Content Type `JSON`, JSON Body `{"keywords":["services"]}` (swap in an expression from an earlier node for a real value).

**Clay.** Add an "HTTP API" column: Method `POST`, URL `https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~australia-austender-alerts/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>`, Body `{"keywords":["{{search}}"]}`, mapping the row's search into the `keywords` array.

**MCP.** In Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client with the Apify MCP server, ask for "austender API" — the agent will find and run this actor.

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

One keyword or phrase per line, matched against the contract description, the supplier name and the agency reference. Combine with UNSPSC codes and agency names below (optional). Leave empty to list recent notices without a keyword filter. Accepted formats: consulting, IT services, "security guard". You're only charged for the ones we actually find — a miss costs nothing.

## `unspscCodes` (type: `array`):

Optional. UNSPSC category codes, matched as a prefix (81 matches 81111500). A notice with any one of these prefixes qualifies. Leave empty to not filter by category.

## `testRun` (type: `boolean`):

Turn this on to test your input on a small sample before running the full list. Turn it off to process everything.

## `onlyFound` (type: `boolean`):

Only keep rows where something was actually found. Misses are always free, whether or not you show them here.

## `includeKeywords` (type: `array`):

Optional. Only keep results that mention at least one of these words (e.g. a job title, a city, a product name). Leave empty to keep everything.

## `excludeKeywords` (type: `array`):

Optional. Drop any result that mentions one of these words. Leave empty to skip nothing.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Up to 500. Caps how many notices you get (and pay for) in one run, newest first.

## `buyerNames` (type: `array`):

Optional. Keep notices whose buying agency name contains any of these strings (for example Defence, Services Australia).

## `minValueAud` (type: `integer`):

Optional. Only keep notices whose published value is at least this much. A notice with no published value is never dropped by this filter.

## `maxValueAud` (type: `integer`):

Optional. Only keep notices whose published value is at most this much. Notices with no published value are kept.

## `procurementMethod` (type: `string`):

Keep only contracts awarded by this method. Limited tenders are the contracts that never went to open competition.

## `sinceDays` (type: `integer`):

How far back to look by the notice's publication date. Up to 30. The feed lags real time by about a day.

## `onlyNewSinceLastRun` (type: `boolean`):

On: only contract notices not seen on your previous run are returned and charged for. Run it on a schedule as a contract alert. Off: every matching notice is returned every time.

## `deltaName` (type: `string`):

Optional. Name this search's monitoring memory so you can tell two schedules of this actor apart, or keep one memory across an input change. Leave empty to auto-derive one from your filters.

## `columns` (type: `array`):

Choose which pieces of information to include in each result row. All are included by default.

## `expandRows` (type: `boolean`):

When on, each notice found gets its own row instead of being grouped under its search. You're still only charged once per search, no matter how many rows it produces.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Parallel requests. Keep conservative — this target has no browser fallback, so getting blocked costs more than slow-and-steady.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "services"
  ],
  "unspscCodes": [],
  "testRun": false,
  "onlyFound": false,
  "includeKeywords": [],
  "excludeKeywords": [],
  "maxResults": 100,
  "buyerNames": [],
  "procurementMethod": "any",
  "sinceDays": 7,
  "onlyNewSinceLastRun": false,
  "deltaName": "",
  "columns": [
    "searchSummary",
    "noticeCount",
    "truncated",
    "monitorStatus",
    "notices",
    "noticeId",
    "ocid",
    "agencyReference",
    "description",
    "buyerName",
    "buyerAbn",
    "supplierName",
    "supplierAbn",
    "supplierCountry",
    "supplierState",
    "unspscCode",
    "valueAud",
    "currency",
    "signedAt",
    "publishedAt",
    "startDate",
    "endDate",
    "procurementMethod",
    "procurementMethodDetails",
    "exemptionReason",
    "contractStatus",
    "noticeUrl",
    "isNew",
    "firstSeenAt"
  ],
  "expandRows": true,
  "maxConcurrency": 1
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "keywords": [
        "services"
    ],
    "unspscCodes": [],
    "includeKeywords": [],
    "excludeKeywords": [],
    "buyerNames": []
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("accountable_eel/australia-austender-alerts").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "keywords": ["services"],
    "unspscCodes": [],
    "includeKeywords": [],
    "excludeKeywords": [],
    "buyerNames": [],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("accountable_eel/australia-austender-alerts").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "keywords": [
    "services"
  ],
  "unspscCodes": [],
  "includeKeywords": [],
  "excludeKeywords": [],
  "buyerNames": []
}' |
apify call accountable_eel/australia-austender-alerts --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,accountable_eel/australia-austender-alerts"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/i6tKlYrW4bzlodhBm/builds/bfIEVc5WZA8CrkWhU/openapi.json