# UK Contracts Finder: government tenders and awards by keyword (`steadydata/uk-contracts-finder`) Actor

UK public sector tenders and contract awards from Contracts Finder by keyword, stage, value and date: buyer, title, description, value, CPV, region, deadline, contract period, SME suitability, awarded supplier and links, from the official OCDS API. Up to 50 searches a run. Pay per notice.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/steadydata/uk-contracts-finder.md
- **Developed by:** [Steadydata Team](https://apify.com/steadydata) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.30 / 1,000 notice listeds

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

## UK Contracts Finder: government tenders and awards by keyword

UK public sector tenders and contract awards from Contracts Finder by keyword, stage, value and date: buyer, title, description, value, CPV, region, deadline, contract period, SME suitability, awarded supplier and links, from the official OCDS API. Up to 50 searches a run. Pay per notice.

### Why this scraper

- **Only delivered results are charged.** Inputs that fail come back as clear error
  records at no cost.
- Straight from the Cabinet Office's own OCDS API, the open data behind contractsfinder.service.gov.uk, under the Open Government Licence. Measured on the platform: 240 open tenders for two search terms in 92 seconds for one cent; the source itself is slow, the actor is not.
- One row per notice in the Open Contracting shape, flattened: buyer, title and description, estimated value, main and additional CPV codes with their description, delivery region, procurement method, goods, services or works, bid deadline, contract start and end, whether the buyer marked it suitable for SMEs or voluntary organisations, and for awards the winning supplier, the awarded value and the award date.
- Stages map to the buying cycle: `tender` for open opportunities, `award` for who won, `planning` for early market engagement; a value range filter drops what is too small or too large to bid on.
- Newest first with a per-search ceiling and a default window of the last 90 days, so a daily run returns only what is new.

### Who this is for

Put search terms in `queries` (up to 50 per run), set `stages` (default `tender`), optionally `publishedSince` (YYYY-MM-DD), `valueFrom` and `valueTo` in pounds, and `maxNoticesPerQuery` (default 100). Built for bid teams and sales teams that sell to UK councils, NHS trusts, universities and agencies, for market research on public spending by category and region, and for lists of buyers and winning suppliers.

### Who this is not for

Contracts Finder covers England and, partly, the wider UK for contracts above 12,000 pounds (central government) or 30,000 pounds (other bodies); Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own portals and the large above-threshold notices also appear on Find a Tender. The keyword search is the source's own and matches broadly, so a term can return notices that mention it only in passing. `valueGbp` is empty when the buyer publishes no estimate, never guessed. The source answers slowly, a page of 100 in one to two minutes, and refuses searches over its whole archive, which is why a run without `publishedSince` looks back 90 days. The contact person named on a notice is not read.

### Input example

```json
{
    "queries": [
        "software",
        "cleaning services"
    ],
    "stages": [
        "tender"
    ],
    "maxNoticesPerQuery": 100
}
```

### Output example

- `noticeId`
- `ocid`
- `title`
- `description`
- `buyerName`
- `stage`
- `noticeStatus`
- `publishedDate`
- `deadline`
- `contractStart`
- `contractEnd`
- `valueGbp`
- `currency`
- `cpv`
- `cpvDescription`
- `additionalCpv`
- `region`
- `procurementMethod`
- `procurementMethodDetails`
- `category`
- `suitableForSme`
- `suitableForVcse`
- `awardedSupplier`
- `awardValueGbp`
- `awardDate`
- `url`
- `query`

Error codes: `INVALID_QUERY`, `NO_RESULTS`, `BLOCKED`.

One delivered row looks like this:

```json
{
  "noticeId": "MT238218",
  "ocid": "ocds-b5fd17-0ef77028-82a3-4664-830f-1408fc3afa4e",
  "title": "Contract for the Provision of Hire Vehicles",
  "description": "Provision of three hire vehicle for use by Members of Authority staff to travel to and from MWDA's facilities.\r\nFurther details are provided in the Specification within the Tender documents.",
  "buyerName": "Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority",
  "stage": "tender",
  "noticeStatus": "active",
  "publishedDate": "2026-09-24",
  "deadline": "2026-10-26",
  "contractStart": "2026-12-01",
  "contractEnd": "2029-11-30",
  "valueGbp": 48600,
  "currency": "GBP",
  "cpv": "34100000",
  "cpvDescription": "Motor vehicles",
  "additionalCpv": [],
  "region": "North West",
  "procurementMethod": "open",
  "procurementMethodDetails": "Open procedure (below threshold)",
  "category": "services",
  "suitableForSme": true,
  "suitableForVcse": false,
  "awardedSupplier": null,
  "awardValueGbp": null,
  "awardDate": null,
  "url": "https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/2fc5a2e0-854f-43ec-b88b-0eafbb58d740",
  "query": "cleaning services",
  "status": "ok"
}
```

### Related actors from steadydata

- [eu-tenders](https://apify.com/steadydata/eu-tenders): the same for EU-wide notices on TED
- [company-career-site-jobs](https://apify.com/steadydata/company-career-site-jobs): who a winning supplier is hiring
- [google-news](https://apify.com/steadydata/google-news): press coverage of a buyer or a contract

### Pricing

Pay per event: one `notice-listed` event per delivered result. No charge for inputs
that fail, no separate platform-usage surcharge.

**Free Apify plan:** this actor delivers up to 25 rows per run for accounts on the Apify free
plan, and then stops with a message. That limit is set by us, not by Apify. It exists so the
actor keeps paying for itself for the people who do pay. Any paid Apify plan runs it at full
size, billed per delivered row, with failed rows never charged.

**Reviews:** if this actor saves you time, a short review on this page is the one thing that
helps most. Ratings are what other buyers look at first, and we have no other way to ask.

### FAQ

**Is personal data collected?**
No. Rows carry the public body, the notice and, on awards, the supplier company. The contact person with phone and email that notices carry is not read.

**How do I see who won?**
Set `stages` to `award`: those rows carry `awardedSupplier`, `awardValueGbp` and `awardDate`. The `ocid` is the same for the tender and its award, so the two can be joined.

**How do I get only new opportunities every morning?**
Run with `publishedSince` set to yesterday and your search terms. Searches with nothing new come back as a free `NO_RESULTS` row.

**Why does a search for cleaning return a vehicle contract?**
Because the keyword search is the source's own and matches any of the words anywhere in the notice. Combine a term with `valueFrom` or check `cpv` on the row to keep what fits.

**Why is the run slow?**
Contracts Finder itself takes one to two minutes per page of 100 notices. The actor waits, retries a gateway error on a fresh connection, and charges only for what arrives.

**What does a run cost when a search finds nothing?**
Nothing. `NO_RESULTS`, `INVALID_QUERY` and `BLOCKED` rows are free; only delivered notices are charged.

**What happens when the source changes?**
Sources change from time to time; that is the nature of this work. The actor is
monitored daily and fixed fast, and while it is broken you are not charged, because
only delivered results cost anything.

# Changelog

This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/steadydata/uk-contracts-finder/changelog.md

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

One search per row, up to 50: words in the notice title or description, for example software development.

## `stages` (type: `array`):

tender for open opportunities, award for awarded contracts, planning for early engagement. Empty means tender.

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

Only notices published on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD). Empty means the last 90 days.

## `valueFrom` (type: `integer`):

Only notices with an estimated or awarded value of at least this amount. Empty means no minimum.

## `valueTo` (type: `integer`):

Only notices with a value up to this amount. Empty means no maximum.

## `maxNoticesPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Cost ceiling per search, newest first.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "software",
    "cleaning services"
  ],
  "stages": [
    "tender"
  ],
  "maxNoticesPerQuery": 100
}
```

# 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 = {
    "queries": [
        "software",
        "cleaning services"
    ],
    "stages": [
        "tender"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("steadydata/uk-contracts-finder").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 = {
    "queries": [
        "software",
        "cleaning services",
    ],
    "stages": ["tender"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("steadydata/uk-contracts-finder").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 '{
  "queries": [
    "software",
    "cleaning services"
  ],
  "stages": [
    "tender"
  ]
}' |
apify call steadydata/uk-contracts-finder --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,steadydata/uk-contracts-finder"
        }
    }
}
```

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/9EsiuUzKN3IgXWeBz/builds/qyLVxAUPL53WIOlaR/openapi.json