# UK Public Tender Monitor (CF + FTS) (`flamelit_constellation/uk-public-tender-monitor`) Actor

Unofficial tool, not affiliated with UK Government/Cabinet Office. Get only new and amended UK public notices from Find a Tender and Contracts Finder since your last run, in one feed. OGL v3.0 data.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/flamelit_constellation/uk-public-tender-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Two Five Labs](https://apify.com/flamelit_constellation) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.00 / 1,000 new or amended records

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 Public Tender Monitor (CF + FTS)

**Not affiliated with or endorsed by the UK Government or the Cabinet Office (including Contracts Finder and Find a Tender).** This is an independent tool from Two Five Labs that reads publicly available data. No government seals or logos are used.

### What it does

Reads the Find a Tender and Contracts Finder OCDS APIs (one or both, set by `portals`) for notices published or updated in your look-back window, and returns only what is new or changed since your last run.

**Duplicates:**

- Within each portal, several releases of the same notice are collapsed to the latest.
- Across portals, a notice is merged when it has the **same normalized title and buyer** on both. The Find a Tender record is kept and the Contracts Finder copy is listed in `extra.alsoOn`.
- The match is title+buyer only, so a notice with a different title on each portal is not merged, and two different notices with an identical title and buyer would be. In a live run, a few records were merged this way.

### Who it's for

Suppliers that bid on UK public contracts at any value.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `portals` | list, default `["fts","cf"]`. `fts` = Find a Tender, `cf` = Contracts Finder. Cross-portal merging applies only with both. |
| `lookbackDays` | integer, default 3. Days of published/updated notices to check. |
| `keywords` | list. Matches the notice title (case-insensitive). |
| `includeDescriptions` | boolean, default false. Off: no free-text description is output. On: the description is added in `extra.description`, trimmed to remove contact names (marked `[contact details removed]`). Leave it off unless you need it. |
| `maxPages` | integer, default 5. API pages (100 notices each) per portal per run. |
| `maxSpendUsd`, `emitUnchanged`, `stateStoreName` | see "How runs work". |

There is no CPV or region filter.

No API key is needed for this source.

### Run it via API

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/flamelit_constellation~uk-public-tender-monitor/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"maxSpendUsd": 1.0}'
```

Use your own Apify token.

### How runs work

- **First run:** returns every matching record in the look-back window, all marked `changeType: "new"`. A first run can return many records, so the default spend cap may stop it early. The rest are output on the next run.
- **Later runs:** return only records that are new, or whose content changed since they were last seen (`amended`). The actor keeps a content hash per record in a key-value store. A second run over the same data outputs nothing.
- `stateStoreName`: give each saved search its own name so each one tracks its own history.
- `emitUnchanged: true` also outputs unchanged records (`changeType: "same"`), which are never charged.
- **Spend cap:** `maxSpendUsd` (default 1.0) is a hard cap. When it is reached, the actor stops charging and stops output. Records not yet output are kept for the next run.
- **Errors and rate limits:** network errors, HTTP 429 and 5xx responses are retried up to 3 times with backoff. `Retry-After` is honoured in both its seconds and date forms; if the source asks for a wait longer than 2 minutes, the run stops instead of waiting.

### Output

Tender record: `id (OCDS ocid), source ("uk-fts" or "uk-cf"), title, buyer, cpv[], region, value, currency, posted, deadline, url, changeType, extra{portal, tag, status, attribution, modified, alsoOn (merged records only), description (only with `includeDescriptions`, max 1,000 chars)}`.

Output includes award and contract notices, not only open tenders. Check `extra.tag` and `extra.status`. `posted` is the date of the latest release.

Excerpts from a live run:

```json
{
 "id": "ocds-h6vhtk-078805",
 "source": "uk-fts",
 "title": "Air Source Heat Pump installation at Fullwell Cross Medical Centre",
 "buyer": "NHS Property Services Limited",
 "posted": "2026-10-14T18:05:40.000Z",
 "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/097237-2026",
 "changeType": "new",
 "extra": {
  "portal": "fts",
  "tag": [
   "award",
   "contract"
  ],
  "status": "complete",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ © European Union, https://ted.europa.eu, 1998–2020 (notice schema)."
 }
}
```

```json
{
 "id": "ocds-b5fd17-19814284-7c7b-4dc3-b05f-6e646dadb7e2",
 "source": "uk-cf",
 "title": "Asset Management Surveys",
 "buyer": "Environment Agency",
 "cpv": [
  "71311300"
 ],
 "value": 150000,
 "currency": "GBP",
 "posted": "2026-10-14T18:05:16.000Z",
 "url": "https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/a8021dbb-046b-457b-b502-1dcc0e2788f6",
 "changeType": "new",
 "extra": {
  "portal": "cf",
  "tag": [
   "award"
  ],
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ © Crown copyright."
 }
}
```

`cpv`, `region` and `value` are often empty for Find a Tender records.

**Personal data:** contact fields such as `contactPoint` are removed, and emails and phone numbers in text are masked. Free-text descriptions are off by default. If you turn them on, they are trimmed to remove contact names: Contact names after role labels are removed; other names in free text may remain. Long descriptions may be shortened, sometimes before any contact details, to remove contact names.

### Pricing

Pay per event: one `run-start` charge per run and one `new-item` charge per new or amended record output. Current prices are shown on this actor's Apify Store page.

### Limits

- **One shared throttle for both portals:** at least 6 seconds between any two requests, so 10 requests per minute or fewer overall, and at most 20 requests per run.
- The live run used 10 requests.

### Data source and terms

- Sources: Find a Tender OCDS API (`https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk`) and Contracts Finder OCDS API (`https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk`).
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (`https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/`).
- Contracts Finder records: © Crown copyright. Find a Tender records: notice schema © European Union (`https://ted.europa.eu`), 1998–2020.
- Each record carries its line in `extra.attribution`. The data has been modified: notices are normalized, filtered, merged as described above, and compared between runs.
- **Not affiliated with or endorsed by the UK Government or the Cabinet Office (including Contracts Finder and Find a Tender).**

### FAQ

**Does it return every record?** The first run returns everything matching. After that it returns only new or changed records.
**How often should I run it?** Daily is enough.
**Can I cap spend?** Yes. `maxSpendUsd` is a hard cap, and records it stops are output on the next run.
**Does it need a key?** No.

### Support

Questions or problems: please use the Issues tab on this actor's Apify page first.
Publisher: Two Five Labs, contact `twofivelabs@gmail.com`.

Requests to the source identify themselves with a contact address: `flamelit-constellation-actors/0.1 (+mailto:twofivelabs@gmail.com)`.

# Actor input Schema

## `includeDescriptions` (type: `boolean`):

Off by default. If on, the notice description is included in extra.description, trimmed at the first contact detail (role label, initials, name pattern) with "\[contact details removed]". Descriptions are free text written by buyers and may still contain personal names that the trimming misses; leave off unless you need them.

## `portals` (type: `array`):

Which UK portals to check: "fts" (Find a Tender) and/or "cf" (Contracts Finder). With both, notices that appear on both portals (same title and buyer) are merged into one Find a Tender record, with the Contracts Finder copy listed under extra.alsoOn.

## `lookbackDays` (type: `integer`):

How many days of published/updated notices to check, counting back from now.

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

Only include notices whose title contains at least one of these words (case-insensitive). Leave empty for all.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

Upper limit on API pages (100 notices each) per portal per run. Pages are at least 6 seconds apart.

## `maxSpendUsd` (type: `number`):

Hard spending cap for this run, in US dollars. The actor stops charging and stops adding results once this amount is reached. Unsent items are kept for the next run.

## `emitUnchanged` (type: `boolean`):

If on, items already seen in earlier runs (changeType "same") are also output. Off by default, so you only get new and amended items. Unchanged items are never charged.

## `stateStoreName` (type: `string`):

Optional name of the key-value store that remembers what earlier runs saw. Use a different name per saved search so each search tracks its own new/amended items. Leave empty to use the run's default store.

## `fixturePath` (type: `string`):

Testing only. Path to a local file to replay instead of calling the live source. Leave empty for normal use.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "includeDescriptions": false,
  "portals": [
    "fts",
    "cf"
  ],
  "lookbackDays": 3,
  "keywords": [],
  "maxPages": 5,
  "maxSpendUsd": 1,
  "emitUnchanged": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Tender records (new and amended only)

# 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 = {
    "lookbackDays": 3
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("flamelit_constellation/uk-public-tender-monitor").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 = { "lookbackDays": 3 }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("flamelit_constellation/uk-public-tender-monitor").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 '{
  "lookbackDays": 3
}' |
apify call flamelit_constellation/uk-public-tender-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/BPEy6FKVDMbV2sWy0/builds/sCqA4PEjS19Cal95W/openapi.json