# UK Government Tenders & Contracts (Find a Tender) (`ausgovdata/uk-find-a-tender`) Actor

UK public sector tenders with bid deadlines, early "coming soon" notices and newly awarded contracts, from the official Find a Tender service. Filter by keyword, value, region and CPV.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ausgovdata/uk-find-a-tender.md
- **Developed by:** [AusGovData](https://apify.com/ausgovdata) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## UK Government Tenders & Contracts (Find a Tender)

UK government tenders you can still bid for, with their deadlines, early "coming soon"
notices of tenders on the way, and newly awarded UK public sector contracts — from the
official Find a Tender service.

### What you get

- One row per notice, from the Cabinet Office Find a Tender Service: open tender
  opportunities, contract awards, early "coming soon" notices, or any mix.
- Coming soon (optional): pipeline, market engagement and planned procurement notices,
  published before the tender opens. Each gives the kind of notice (`stage`), when the
  buyer expects to publish the tender (`expectedTenderDate`), when replies to its market
  engagement close (`replyBy`), and the planned contract dates where published.
- What it is for: title, full description, and the CPV category code.
- Who is buying, and who won when it is an award.
- The value in pounds, where the notice publishes one.
- The bid deadline and the whole days left to bid, on an open tender.
- The buyer's (tenders) or supplier's (awards) UK region, postcode and town.
- A link to the notice on find-tender.service.gov.uk.

### Who uses it

- **Bid writers and tender consultants** — a fresh list of UK public sector opportunities
  with the time left to bid, and early notice of the ones still to come.
- **Business development teams that supply UK public bodies** — see what is being bought,
  by whom, and at what value.
- **Framework and contract managers** — watch new awards to see who is winning and where.
- **Market researchers and analysts** — track UK public spending by region and category.

### How to use it

1. Set the inputs: notice types, how many days back, open tenders only, keywords, a minimum
   value, CPV prefixes, regions or a buyer name.
2. Run it once, or save it as a task and schedule a daily or weekly run, so new notices land
   in the dataset on their own.
3. Take the results from the dataset tab as CSV, Excel or JSON, or read them through the
   Apify API into Google Sheets, Airtable, Zapier, Make or your own tools.

### Input fields

| Field | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| `noticeTypes` | open tenders | What to collect: open tenders (with a bid deadline), coming soon (early notices before a tender opens), awarded contracts, or any mix. Leave empty for open tenders and awarded contracts. |
| `daysBack` | 7 | Notices published between this many days ago and today (1–90). |
| `onlyOpen` | on | Leave out tenders whose bid deadline has already passed. Off means every tender published in the period, open or closed. |
| `keywords` | none | Title or description contains one of these words, case-insensitive. Leave empty for every notice. |
| `minValueGbp` | 0 | Published value at or above this many pounds. Notices with no published value are left out when this is set. 0 means no minimum. |
| `cpvPrefixes` | none | Category code starts with one of these CPV prefixes, e.g. "72" for IT services. Leave empty for all categories. |
| `regions` | none | Buyer (tenders) or supplier (awards) is in one of these UK regions. Leave empty for all of them. |
| `buyerContains` | none | Buyer name contains this text, case-insensitive, e.g. "Council". Leave empty for all buyers. |
| `maxResults` | 1000 | Stop after this many notices (1–10000). Each one is charged as one result. |
| `failIfEmpty` | off | For monitoring: mark the run as failed when nothing is found. Leave off for normal use. |

### Output example

One row from a local run on 2026-09-26 (`daysBack` at its default of 7):

```json
{
  "id": "091197-2026",
  "title": "Maryland Multiple Sites",
  "description": "Newham Council are looking for a delivery partner to undertake services and works...",
  "buyerName": "Newham Council",
  "value": 400000,
  "currency": "GBP",
  "valueGbp": 400000,
  "published": "2026-09-25T17:50:14+01:00",
  "endDate": "2026-11-01T23:59:00+00:00",
  "daysUntilEnd": 36,
  "deadline": "2026-11-01T23:59:00+00:00",
  "daysUntilDeadline": 36,
  "region": "UKI41",
  "country": "GB",
  "postcode": "E16 2QU",
  "locality": "London",
  "categories": "50000000",
  "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/091197-2026",
  "source": "uk-fts",
  "licence": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (Find a Tender Service, UK Cabinet Office)"
}
```

And one coming-soon row (a market engagement notice from 2026-09-24):

```json
{
  "id": "090757-2026",
  "title": "Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Maintenance Services RFI",
  "description": "The University is seeking to appoint a suitably qualified and competent Supplier to delive...",
  "buyerName": "Ulster University",
  "value": 485000,
  "currency": "GBP",
  "valueGbp": 485000,
  "published": "2026-09-24T16:21:17Z",
  "startDate": "2027-03-31T23:00:00Z",
  "endDate": "2031-03-31T22:59:59Z",
  "daysUntilEnd": 1646,
  "stage": "Market engagement",
  "expectedTenderDate": "2026-11-09T23:59:59Z",
  "replyBy": "2026-10-08T22:59:59Z",
  "region": "UKN0C",
  "country": "GB",
  "categories": "50000000, 42123300, 42530000, 42943100, 50700000, 45259300, 42113130, 42500000",
  "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/090757-2026",
  "source": "uk-fts",
  "licence": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (Find a Tender Service, UK Cabinet Office)"
}
```

On a coming-soon row, `startDate` and `endDate` are the planned contract period.

The descriptions are shortened here; each row carries the full text that the notice
published. Fields a notice does not publish are simply missing. Results download as CSV,
Excel or JSON from the dataset tab.

### Pricing

You pay per result: one tender, early notice or contract is one result, charged when its row is written.
Rows you never receive are not charged for, and the run stops by itself if it reaches the
maximum cost per run set on the run.

### FAQ

**How fresh is the data?**
Every run reads the live Find a Tender OCDS API, so it shows the notices published in the
window you set. `onlyOpen` is on by default, which drops tenders whose bid deadline has
already passed. Schedule a daily run for a steady flow.

**How much does a run cost?**
You pay only for the rows you receive: one notice, one charge. Set a maximum cost per run
and the run stops by itself when it is reached; rows that are never returned are never
charged for.

**Can I get only tenders I can still bid for, or only awards?**
Yes. `noticeTypes` chooses open tenders, awarded contracts or both, and `onlyOpen` (on by
default) leaves out tenders whose deadline has passed.

**What are "coming soon" notices?**
Since February 2025 the Procurement Act 2023 has UK buyers publish notices before a tender
opens: pipeline notices (large buyers' plans for the next 18 months), preliminary market
engagement notices (the buyer wants to talk to suppliers first) and planned procurement
notices. Choose "Coming soon" in `noticeTypes` to get them, with the expected tender date
and the date market engagement closes. The coming soon view in the dataset tab shows those
columns.

**Can I filter by region, category or buyer?**
Yes. Use CPV prefixes for a category (for example "72" for IT services), the regions list,
a minimum value, a buyer name, and keywords.

**Is this official data?**
Yes. It is the Find a Tender Service OCDS API published by the UK Cabinet Office, used
under the Open Government Licence v3.0, and every row carries the attribution line.

**Does it include lower-value contracts?**
No. Find a Tender covers notices above the UK procurement thresholds, and the notices the
Procurement Act 2023 requires since February 2025. Lower-value contracts are often
advertised only on Contracts Finder, which this Actor does not include.

### Data source and licence

The Find a Tender Service OCDS API, UK Cabinet Office,
`https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/api/1.0/ocdsReleasePackages`. Licence text, copied
from the source and kept on every row:

> Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0
> (Find a Tender Service, UK Cabinet Office)

The Open Government Licence v3.0 allows commercial use and reuse with attribution.

### Privacy

Some UK suppliers are sole traders. When a supplier name looks like a person's name, the
row shows "Individual (sole trader)" instead and drops that person's ID, postcode and town,
keeping only the region and country.

### Limitations

Find a Tender covers notices above the UK procurement thresholds and, since February 2025,
the notices required by the Procurement Act 2023. Lower-value contracts are often
advertised only on Contracts Finder, which this Actor does not include. Contract
performance updates are left out: they are not something you can bid for. Early notices are
only included when you choose "Coming soon", and a buyer can still change or drop its plans
after publishing one.
Deadlines, values and regions come from the notice, so a notice that publishes none of
them has those fields missing, and a few notices name a supplier based overseas.
`daysUntilDeadline` counts whole UTC days from the run date, so a tender closing today is
0\. When the list is longer than `maxResults`, the run stops at the limit and the rest are
neither returned nor charged for.

# Actor input Schema

## `noticeTypes` (type: `array`):

What to collect: open tender opportunities, early "coming soon" notices, awarded contracts, or any mix. Coming soon means pipeline, market engagement and planned procurement notices, published before the tender opens: they carry the date the tender is expected and when the buyer's market engagement closes. Leave empty for open tenders and awarded contracts.

## `daysBack` (type: `integer`):

Look for notices published between this many days ago and today.

## `onlyOpen` (type: `boolean`):

Leave out tenders whose bid deadline has already passed. Off means every tender published in the period, open or closed.

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

Only notices whose title or description contains at least one of these words, case-insensitive. Leave empty for every notice.

## `minValueGbp` (type: `integer`):

Only notices with a published value of at least this many pounds. Notices with no published value are left out when this is set. 0 means no minimum.

## `cpvPrefixes` (type: `array`):

Only notices with a category code starting with one of these CPV prefixes, e.g. "72" for IT services. Leave empty for all categories.

## `regions` (type: `array`):

Only notices whose buyer (tenders) or supplier (awards) is in one of these UK regions. Leave empty for all of them.

## `buyerContains` (type: `string`):

Only notices whose public buyer name contains this text (case-insensitive), e.g. "Council". Leave empty for all buyers.

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

Stop after this many notices. Each one is charged as one result.

## `failIfEmpty` (type: `boolean`):

For monitoring: mark the run as failed when nothing is found. Leave off for normal use.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "noticeTypes": [
    "openTenders"
  ],
  "daysBack": 7,
  "onlyOpen": true,
  "keywords": [],
  "minValueGbp": 0,
  "cpvPrefixes": [],
  "regions": [],
  "buyerContains": "",
  "maxResults": 1000,
  "failIfEmpty": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ausgovdata/uk-find-a-tender").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ausgovdata/uk-find-a-tender").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 '{}' |
apify call ausgovdata/uk-find-a-tender --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,ausgovdata/uk-find-a-tender"
        }
    }
}
```

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/UH5BLQ65VBUg8qbOZ/builds/9Uvvfwcv0QQqrjXPh/openapi.json