# TenderFeed: UK Tenders (Find a Tender + Contracts Finder) (`tenderfeed/uk-tenders`) Actor

UK government tenders and awards from Find a Tender and Contracts Finder (official OCDS APIs). Filter by keyword, CPV, region, value, deadline, SME. GDPR-safe defaults. MCP-ready.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/tenderfeed/uk-tenders.md
- **Developed by:** [TenderFeed](https://apify.com/tenderfeed) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Open source, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 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 Public Tenders Scraper (Find a Tender + Contracts Finder) by TenderFeed

Search **UK government tenders and contract awards** from both official UK procurement portals in one run:
**Find a Tender (FTS)**, the UK-wide service for higher-value contracts (mandatory under the Procurement Act 2023), and **Contracts Finder**, England's portal for lower-value contracts. Filter by **keyword, CPV code, region, buyer, value (GBP), stage, deadline and SME suitability**. Clean, normalized JSON, CSV or Excel.

Built by **TenderFeed** ([tenderfeedhq.com](https://tenderfeedhq.com)) on the official **OCDS (Open Contracting Data Standard) APIs**, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. No API key, no login.

### What can you do with it?

- **Daily UK bid alerts** for NHS, councils, universities, central government and devolved administrations.
- **Lead generation**: buyer organisation and city in every row; contact name, email and phone on request (`includeBuyerContacts`).
- **Win/loss and competitor analysis**: award notices with supplier names and contract values.
- **Pipeline planning**: `planning` stage notices (preliminary market engagement) before the tender goes live.
- **AI agents**: use it as an **MCP tool** (Apify MCP server) to answer *"Which councils are tendering for cyber security this month?"*

### Input example

```json
{
  "keywords": ["software", "digital", "cloud", "cyber"],
  "sources": ["find-a-tender", "contracts-finder"],
  "stages": ["tender"],
  "cpvCodes": ["72"],
  "regions": ["London", "UKI"],
  "publishedFrom": "7 days",
  "onlyOpen": true,
  "minValue": 100000,
  "maxResults": 0
}
```

- `stages`: `tender` (open opportunities), `award` (contract awards), `planning` (pipeline notices).
- `latestPerProcess` (default on): a procurement that published several notices (tender, then tender update) appears once, with its latest notice.
- `smeSuitableOnly`: Contracts Finder's "suitable for SMEs" flag.

### Output example

Real row from a live run (2026-10-29):

```json
{
  "source": "uk-find-a-tender",
  "sourceId": "102912-2026",
  "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-07818a",
  "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/102912-2026",
  "title": "Contract for the Provision of Digital Marketing Tourism & Economic Development Services",
  "noticeType": "tenderUpdate",
  "status": "active",
  "procedureType": "Open procedure",
  "contractType": "services",
  "buyerName": "Petersfield Town Council",
  "buyerCountry": "GB",
  "buyerCity": "Petersfield",
  "cpvCodes": ["79340000"],
  "publishedAt": "2026-10-29T18:09:28Z",
  "deadlineAt": "2026-11-15T23:59:00Z"
}
```

Same schema as the TenderFeed [EU TED](../ted-eu-tenders) and [SAM.gov](../sam-gov-opportunities) Actors, so US, UK and EU tenders merge into one table. The example uses the default `includeBuyerContacts: false`; with `true` it also carries `"buyerContactEmail": "clerk@petersfield-tc.gov.uk"`.

### Buyer contacts and GDPR (`includeBuyerContacts`)

By default (`includeBuyerContacts: false`) the Actor returns **organisation-level data only**: buyer name, country, city, documents and submission links. Contact person names, email addresses and phone numbers are removed from the output, from the optional `raw` payload, and email addresses embedded in description text are masked as `[email removed]`.

Set `includeBuyerContacts: true` to keep the contact name, email and phone exactly as the authority published them. Only do this if you have a lawful basis under UK GDPR (for example legitimate interest for B2G sales) and will honour objection and erasure requests. In a live test (29 UK notices, 2026-10-29) contacts-on returned an email on 29/29 rows, a named person on 11/29 and a phone on 9/29; contacts-off returned 0 of each while keeping `buyerName` on 29/29.

### Daily alerts ("only new" monitoring mode)

Turn on `onlyNew` and give the search a `monitoringId` (e.g. `"it-tenders-daily"`), then schedule the Actor daily. Each run returns, and charges for, only notices you have not received before. Pair it with an Apify integration (Slack, email, Google Sheets, Zapier, Make) to get a ready-made tender alert.

### Pricing

**Pay per result: $2.00 per 1,000 notices** ($0.002 per row) plus Apify's small run-start fee. A daily alert with 20 new notices costs about **$1.20 a month**.

### Notes and limits

- Find a Tender rate-limits bursts (HTTP 429 with `Retry-After`); the Actor waits and resumes automatically, so a 7-day full scan takes ~3 minutes.
- Find a Tender filters by *last updated* date; the Actor re-checks the publication date so you only get notices in your window.
- Contract values are as published by the buyer (usually GBP, excluding VAT).

### FAQ

**Is this legal?** Yes. Both feeds are UK Government open data under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Personal contact details are excluded unless you set `includeBuyerContacts: true`; if you do, handle them in line with UK GDPR.

**Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland?** Higher-value notices from all UK nations appear in Find a Tender. Public Contracts Scotland / Sell2Wales lower-value notices are separate TenderFeed Actors (coming soon).

# Actor input Schema

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

Words to look for in title or description, e.g. \["software", "cyber security"]. Empty = all notices. Keyword filtering happens after download, so narrow keywords over long date ranges take longer (Find a Tender is rate-limited).

## `keywordMode` (type: `string`):

Match ANY or ALL keywords.

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

Find a Tender = UK-wide, higher-value notices. Contracts Finder = England, lower-value (from GBP 12k-30k).

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

tender = open opportunities, award = contract awards, planning = early market engagement / pipeline.

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

CPV codes or prefixes; 72000000 or 72 = all IT services.

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

Delivery region text or NUTS/ITL codes, e.g. \["London", "UKI", "Scotland"].

## `buyer` (type: `string`):

e.g. "NHS" or "Council".

## `publishedFrom` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD or relative ("7 days"). Default: last 7 days.

## `publishedTo` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD. Default: now.

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

Keep only notices with a submission deadline today or later.

## `smeSuitableOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Contracts Finder flag: suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises.

## `minValue` (type: `integer`):

Estimated contract value.

## `maxValue` (type: `integer`):

Estimated contract value.

## `includeUnknownValue` (type: `boolean`):

Keep notices that publish no value when a value filter is set.

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

0 = no limit. Default 50 (Find a Tender is rate-limited, so large pulls take minutes).

## `includeBuyerContacts` (type: `boolean`):

Include named contact persons, emails and phone numbers published in the notices (buyerContactName/Email/Phone). Off by default for GDPR/UK GDPR data minimisation: you then get organization-level info only (buyer name, city, country, notice and document links). Turn on only if you have a lawful basis (e.g. legitimate interest for B2G bid contact) to process this personal data.

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

Remember what earlier runs delivered and return (and charge for) only notices you have not received yet. Ideal for scheduled daily alerts.

## `monitoringId` (type: `string`):

Name of the watch-list memory used by 'Only new'. Use a different ID per saved search/schedule.

## `latestPerProcess` (type: `boolean`):

A procurement can publish several notices (tender, tenderUpdate...). Keep only the latest per OCDS ocid.

## `includeRawData` (type: `boolean`):

Adds the full OCDS release under `raw` (bigger output).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywordMode": "any",
  "sources": [
    "find-a-tender",
    "contracts-finder"
  ],
  "stages": [
    "tender"
  ],
  "onlyOpen": false,
  "smeSuitableOnly": false,
  "includeUnknownValue": true,
  "maxResults": 20,
  "includeBuyerContacts": false,
  "onlyNew": false,
  "latestPerProcess": true,
  "includeRawData": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

All normalized records from the default dataset, opened in the Overview view.

# 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 = {
    "maxResults": 20
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("tenderfeed/uk-tenders").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 = { "maxResults": 20 }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("tenderfeed/uk-tenders").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 '{
  "maxResults": 20
}' |
apify call tenderfeed/uk-tenders --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/cUerjpSbFZoqM6Y3a/builds/MbXTLCmYQSCKR2I9e/openapi.json