AU Government Tenders Scraper — Apify Actor

The most comprehensive Australian tender scraper on Apify — covering government, council, utility, and procurement portals across the entire country.

---

Quick Overview

This actor scrapes tender opportunities from 12 Australian sources — state/federal government portals, council aggregators, utilities, and procurement platforms:

Government Portals

#	Jurisdiction	Portal	Tenders	Status
🇦🇺	Commonwealth	tenders.gov.au	15	✅ requests
🔵	NSW	buy.nsw.gov.au	135+	🛡️ Playwright (needs residential proxy)
🟤	QLD	etender.hpw.qld.gov.au	90	✅ requests
🔷	VIC	vic.consolidatedtenders.com	62	✅ requests
🟡	WA	tenders.wa.gov.au	141	✅ requests
🔴	SA	tenders.sa.gov.au	TBD	🛡️ requests (needs AU proxy for Cloudflare)
🟢	TAS	tenders.tas.gov.au	35	✅ requests
🟠	NT	tendersonline.nt.gov.au	35	✅ requests

Council, Utility & Aggregator Sources

#	Source	Tenders	Status
⭐	VendorPanel	462	✅ requests — 100+ councils, QLD Health, universities
🌐	Tenders.Net	1,130	🛡️ requests (needs proxy for Cloudflare)
🛒	Local Buy	42	✅ requests — QLD/NT council procurement
🏙️	Brisbane City Council	7	✅ requests
💧	Sydney Water	ready	✅ requests — NSW utility

12 sources covering ~2,000+ tenders. Residential proxy recommended for NSW, SA, and Tenders.Net to bypass WAF/Cloudflare. All other 9 sources work without proxy.

What you get:

• Structured tender data: ID, title, description, agency, category, close date, estimated value, status, and direct URL
• Filter by keywords, source state, and category
• Automatic status detection: open, closing soon (≤7 days), closed
• Cross-source category normalization — consistent labels across all portals
• Historical tracking across runs — see when tenders first appeared and were last updated
• Runs on Apify's reliable infrastructure — schedule daily via Apify Cron

Use cases:

• Procurement teams monitoring relevant opportunities
• Bid managers tracking competitor activity
• SMEs searching for government contracts
• Market research and government spending analysis

---

Data Schema

Each dataset item is a single tender with these fields:

Field	Type	Description
tender_id	string	Unique identifier from source (e.g., ATM_2026_2772)
title	string	Tender title
description	string	Full description of the opportunity
agency	string	Government agency/department
location	string	Geographic location (state/region)
category	string	Source-specific industry category (e.g., "Information Technology")
normalized_category	string	Cross-source standardized category (one of 18 normalized labels)
type	string	Procurement type: RFT, RFP, EOI, RFQ
status	string	open / closing_soon (≤7 days) / closed
close_date	ISO 8601	Submission deadline
publish_date	ISO 8601	When the tender was published
estimated_value	string	Dollar value if disclosed
source	string	austender, nsw, qld, vic, wa, sa, tas, act, or nt
url	string	Direct link to full tender details
last_updated	string	Source's last-updated timestamp
first_seen	ISO 8601	When this tender was first detected (historical archive)
last_seen	ISO 8601	When this tender was last confirmed active
scraped_at	ISO 8601	When the data was scraped

Example output:

{
  "tender_id": "ATM_2026_2772",
  "title": "Mechanical Services Infrastructure Upgrade - Questacon",
  "description": "Questacon is seeking work to ensure its mechanical services...",
  "agency": "Department of Industry, Science and Resources",
  "location": "ACT",
  "category": "Pneumatic and hydraulic and electric control systems",
  "normalized_category": "Construction & Engineering",
  "type": "Request for Tender",
  "status": "closing_soon",
  "close_date": "2026-05-12T15:00:00",
  "publish_date": "2026-04-10T00:00:00",
  "estimated_value": "$500,000",
  "source": "austender",
  "url": "https://www.tenders.gov.au/Atm/Show/8becfc76-a89a-4db7-bad0-4653860c328d",
  "last_updated": "30-Apr-2026 3:41 pm (ACT Local Time)",
  "first_seen": "2026-04-10T15:13:29.070193+00:00",
  "last_seen": "2026-05-11T15:13:29.070193+00:00",
  "scraped_at": "2026-05-11T15:13:29.070193+00:00"
}

---

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
states	string	"Commonwealth"	Comma-separated: Commonwealth, NSW, QLD, VIC, WA, SA, TAS, NT, vendorpanel, tendersnet, localbuy, brisbane, sydneywater
keywords	string	""	Comma-separated search keywords (e.g., "IT, construction")
maxPages	number	3	Max listing pages to scrape per source
proxyConfiguration	object	Residential	Apify proxy config — residential recommended for NSW, SA, Tenders.Net

All parameters are optional — defaults scrape current Commonwealth tenders.

---

Output

The actor outputs:

1. Tender records — one dataset item per tender with all 18 fields
2. Run summary — metadata: total count, status breakdown, errors, run duration
3. Archive changes — new, updated, and closed tender counts since last run
4. Historical archive (KV store) — persistent cross-run archive with first/last seen tracking

Dataset items are viewable in Apify Console as a sortable table with 5 views (Overview, Closing Soon, Full Detail, Run Summary, Historical Archive). Export as JSON, CSV, XML, or Excel.

---

What Makes This Actor Different

• Most comprehensive AU tender coverage on Apify — 12 sources, 2,000+ tenders
• Government + council + utility — state portals, VendorPanel (100+ councils), Tenders.Net, utilities
• Cross-source category normalization — consistent labels across all 12 sources
• Historical tracking — persistent archive across runs tracks first_seen, last_seen, and status changes
• Residential proxy included — pre-configured for WAF-protected sources (NSW, SA, Tenders.Net)
• Mostly requests-based — 9 of 12 sources use lightweight HTTP scraping, no browser needed

---

Pricing

$1.00 per 1,000 tender records. Each record represents a government contract typically worth $10K–$10M+. Free tier: first 100 records/month for evaluation. No monthly subscription — pay only for what you use.

---

Scheduling

For ongoing monitoring, configure Apify Cron to run daily or twice-daily. The historical archive accumulates automatically across runs — each run builds on the last. Combine with Apify webhooks to receive alerts when new tenders match your criteria.

---

Who Is This For?

• Procurement teams at companies that bid on government contracts
• Bid managers tracking competitor opportunities and market intelligence
• SMEs looking to enter the government procurement market
• Consultants and researchers analyzing government spending patterns
• Industry associations keeping members informed of relevant opportunities

---

FAQ

Is this legal? Yes. AusTender data is published for public access under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU). NSW and QLD tender portals similarly publish data for public use. Our actor operates within each site's terms of use.

How often should I run this? Daily at minimum. Twice daily catches new postings faster. The historical archive automatically tracks changes across runs — no data is lost between runs.

Can I get historical data? Yes — the actor maintains a persistent historical archive across runs. Each run automatically records when tenders first appeared, were last updated, or closed. Run it daily to build a comprehensive archive over time.

Do I need a paid Apify plan? No — free tier users can run the actor with the included free monthly results.

Which sources are supported? 12 sources: Commonwealth (AusTender), NSW (buy.nsw.gov.au), QLD (eTender construction), VIC (Consolidated Tenders), WA (Tenders WA), SA (Tenders SA), TAS, NT (QTOL), VendorPanel (100+ councils/orgs), Tenders.Net (local government), Local Buy (QLD/NT procurement), Brisbane City Council, and Sydney Water. Select any combination via states.

Are categories consistent across states? Yes — raw portal-specific categories from all 9 portals are mapped to 18 normalized categories (e.g., "Information Technology", "Construction & Engineering", "Healthcare & Medical"), so you can filter across all sources with a single category selection.

---

Built on the Apify platform. Part of the AU Data Suite — Australian web data for developers and businesses.