# UK Tenders Scraper: Find a Tender & Contracts Finder API (`datatoolsuk/uk-government-tenders-feed`) Actor

Scrape UK government tenders and public sector contracts from Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. Filter by keyword, CPV code, region and value; contract awards with winning suppliers and Companies House numbers; daily new-tender alerts.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/datatoolsuk/uk-government-tenders-feed.md
- **Developed by:** [Data ToolsUK](https://apify.com/datatoolsuk) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Business
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% 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 Tenders Scraper: Find a Tender and Contracts Finder API for UK government contracts

The easiest way to get **UK tenders**, **UK government contracts** and **public sector contract awards** into a spreadsheet, CRM or alert. Get **UK public sector tenders, contract opportunities and contract awards** as clean, flat JSON/CSV/Excel rows. This Actor reads the official **Find a Tender (FTS) OCDS API**, where every new UK public procurement notice has been published since the Procurement Act 2023 changes (24 February 2025), and the **Contracts Finder API** for older and below-threshold notices in England. No login, no browser, no blocked pages: just the official open data, filtered the way you need it.

**Popular searches:** uk tenders, contracts finder, find a tender, UK government tenders, public sector contracts, Find a Tender scraper, Contracts Finder API, UK procurement data, bid alerts, tender alerts, CPV search, contract award data, council tenders, NHS tenders, OCDS UK.

### What you get

- Open tenders, contract awards and pipeline/planning notices from **Find a Tender** and **Contracts Finder**
- Filters: **keywords**, **CPV codes** (prefix match), **UK region** (name or ITL/NUTS code), **value min/max**, **notice type**, **published since**
- **Only new since last run** (alerts mode): remembers what it already sent you in a named key-value store, so a daily schedule gives you a clean new-tenders feed for email, Slack, Sheets or a CRM
- **Winning supplier names and award values** for awarded contracts
- **Companies House company numbers**: taken free from the notice when present, and (optional) matched for buyers and suppliers using your free Companies House API key
- Robust: automatic retries with backoff on rate limits (HTTP 429) and server errors, cursor pagination, de-duplication across both sources

### Use cases

- **Bid writers and SMEs**: daily alert of new tenders in your CPV codes and region
- **Sales and business development**: see who just won public contracts (and their company number) to prospect suppliers and buyers
- **Market research**: track public spend by sector, buyer or region
- **Recruiters and consultants**: spot new frameworks and big awards early

### Input example

```json
{
  "keywords": ["software", "digital"],
  "cpvCodes": ["72000000"],
  "regions": ["London", "South East"],
  "valueMin": 50000,
  "noticeTypes": ["tender", "award"],
  "daysBack": 7,
  "onlyNew": true,
  "maxResults": 200
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
  "id": "104641-2026",
  "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-...",
  "noticeType": "award",
  "title": "Lakes Estate Regeneration",
  "buyerName": "Milton Keynes City Council",
  "regions": ["UKJ12"],
  "value": 72400000,
  "currency": "GBP",
  "cpvCodes": ["45000000"],
  "status": "complete",
  "awardSuppliers": ["John Graham Construction Ltd Trading as GRAHAM"],
  "supplierCompanyNumbers": ["NI003503"],
  "awardValue": 72400000,
  "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/104641-2026",
  "source": "Find a Tender",
  "isNew": true
}
```

Fields: `id, ocid, noticeType, tags, title, description, buyerName, buyerAddress, buyerPostcode, buyerLocality, regions, value, currency, cpvCodes, cpvDescription, procurementMethod, deadline, publishedDate, status, awardSuppliers, awardValue, awardDate, buyerCompanyNumber, supplierCompanyNumbers, url, source, isNew, scrapedAt`. A run summary is saved as `SUMMARY` in the default key-value store.

### Tips

- **Tender alerts**: turn on *Only new since last run*, then schedule daily. Give each saved search an *Alert name* if you want to reset it later.
- CPV `45` = all construction work, `72` = IT services, `79` = business services, `85` = health and social work.
- Regions accept names (London, Scotland, Wales, North West...) or ITL codes (UKI, UKM, UKL...).
- Value filters skip notices without a published value.

### FAQ

**Is it legal?** Yes. Both services publish this data openly under the Open Government Licence v3.0 through public APIs. The Actor does not scrape behind logins.
**Why both sources?** Find a Tender is the main UK service for all new notices; Contracts Finder holds older and lower-value notices published before February 2025.

### Pricing

Pay per result: **$5 per 1,000 results** ($0.005 per row in the dataset), plus a tiny $0.00005 per run start. No subscription and no extra charges for filters, alerts mode or Companies House matching. Set a **maximum cost per run** in Apify and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached, keeping everything it has already returned.

### Data licence and attribution

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Find a Tender service and Contracts Finder (Cabinet Office). Notices may contain business contact names published by buyers; use them in line with UK GDPR.

# Actor input Schema

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

Return notices whose title, description or buyer contains ANY of these words (case-insensitive). Leave empty for everything.

## `cpvCodes` (type: `array`):

CPV codes or prefixes, e.g. 72000000 (IT services) matches every 72xxxxxx code; 45 matches all construction work.

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

UK regions by name (London, South East, Scotland, Wales, North West...) or ITL/NUTS code (UKI, UKJ, UKM...). Matches buyer or delivery region.

## `valueMin` (type: `integer`):

Skip notices below this estimated or awarded value. Notices with no value are skipped when set.

## `valueMax` (type: `integer`):

Skip notices above this value.

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

Which stages to return.

## `publishedSince` (type: `string`):

Only notices published or updated on/after this date (YYYY-MM-DD). Overrides 'Days back'.

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

Look back this many days when 'Published since' is empty.

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

Remembers notice IDs already returned for the same filters (in the named key-value store 'uk-tenders-feed-state') and outputs only new ones. Schedule it daily for tender alerts.

## `stateKey` (type: `string`):

Name for the 'only new' memory. Defaults to a hash of your filters, so different searches never mix.

## `sources` (type: `array`):

Find a Tender is the main UK service; Contracts Finder adds older and below-threshold notices.

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

Stop after this many records.

## `maxPagesPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap: 100 notices per page are scanned before filtering.

## `companiesHouseApiKey` (type: `string`):

Free key from developer.company-information.service.gov.uk. When given, buyers and winning suppliers are matched to a company number. Without it, only company numbers printed in the notice are used.

## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`):

Retries with backoff on rate limits and server errors.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "software"
  ],
  "noticeTypes": [
    "tender"
  ],
  "daysBack": 7,
  "onlyNew": false,
  "sources": [
    "findATender",
    "contractsFinder"
  ],
  "maxResults": 100,
  "maxPagesPerQuery": 30,
  "maxRetries": 6
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Tender, award and pipeline notices as flat records in the default dataset.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

JSON summary of the run (counts, source dates, whether a spending limit was reached).

# 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": [
        "software"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("datatoolsuk/uk-government-tenders-feed").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": ["software"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("datatoolsuk/uk-government-tenders-feed").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": [
    "software"
  ]
}' |
apify call datatoolsuk/uk-government-tenders-feed --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,datatoolsuk/uk-government-tenders-feed"
        }
    }
}
```

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/0JEwU9Vlc6RQJ3SQ1/builds/kGpP6P9bWGF58xtnm/openapi.json