8 Public Sector Tender Portals You Need to Track in 2025

Monitoring tender portals is a tireless job - but it's vital if you want to ensure you're not missing any opportunities with the public sector.

In this article, we list the 8 public sector tender portals you should be tracking in 2025 - plus which ones not to bother with - if you want to act efficiently and maximise your public sector coverage. 

Skip ahead to read about:

• How to choose which tender portals to monitor
• The 8 tender portals every bid team should monitor
• Which tender portals aren't worth tracking?
• Why tender tracking could mean you're already too late

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🤔 How to choose which tender portals to monitor

With hundreds of tendering portals out there, it’s no wonder that many bidding teams feel overwhelmed. But smart bidders know that success starts with focus - and that means deciding which tender portals to monitor based on your target market.

To help you cut through the noise, we’ve compiled a list of 8 of the most important tender portals in the UK public sector. This guide breaks down their key functions and core buyer bases, so your team can make informed decisions about which platforms are truly worth your time.

Not every portal is equal – or relevant to your market. Whether you're selling into Central Government, local authorities, the NHS or education, monitoring the right portals means:

• More relevant tender alerts

• Less time spent on irrelevant opportunities

• A better win rate through more targeted bidding

But before we start - and let’s be honest - manually checking multiple portals every day is time-consuming, inconsistent, and prone to human error.

That’s why hundreds of the UK’s top bidding teams use Tussell.

Tussell saves you hours by:

• Aggregating new tender notices from across UK portals

• Cleaning and enriching the data so it’s instantly usable

• Categorising notices by sector and buyer type

• Giving you deep market context to make better bid/no-bid decisions

If you want to stop missing key opportunities, cut through the clutter, and focus your team’s energy where it counts, Tussell is the tool for you.

Book a chat with the Tussell team to learn how we can help you.

🔎 The 8 tender portals every bid team should consider monitoring

The tender portals you choose to monitor may depend on many things - industry, target buyer type, contract value, capacity, etc.

If you're not already using Tussell, consider tracking these 8 tender portals for maximum coverage across a range of public sector verticals.

1.  👉  Find a Tender Service (FTS)

Find a Tender - also known as the Central Digital Platform - is the UK Government’s official portal for above-threshold procurement notices.

For public contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023, Find a Tender is the single official portal for publishing notices. However, some procurements are still running under the previous regulations, and not all UK public sector buyers or procurements are covered by the Act.

💼 Used by: All UK public sector buyers, including Central Government, local authorities, NHS, and utilities

💷 Covers:  Above-threshold contracts

🌍 Scope: UK-wide – includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Why it matters: If you supply to the public sector at scale, Find a Tender is non-negotiable - it’s the only place where high-value opportunities covered by the Procurement Act must be published by law.

2.  👉  Contracts Finder

Contracts Finder may eventually be replaced by Find a Tender, but for now it remains a vital source of new tenders and opportunities.

For any above-threshold procurement where the process began before 24 February 2025, you’ll still find the tender notice here. And in reality, Contracts Finder offers far more than just those - it’s a rich source of below-threshold opportunities, awarded contracts, and early market engagement notices.

💼 Used by: Central government, NHS, local authorities, and more

🔍 Covers: Live tender notices, awarded contracts, and early engagement opportunities

🌍 Scope: UK-wide – includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Why it matters: As a mandated publication platform for Central Government buyers, Contracts Finder is one of the most critical portals for public sector suppliers to monitor.

3  👉  Public Contracts Scotland

Public Contracts Scotland is the official national tender portal for Scotland, hosting all public sector contract opportunities across Scottish Government bodies.

💼 Used by: Scottish Government, local councils, NHS Scotland, universities, police, and other devolved bodies

💷 Covers: Contracts of all values, including low-value and Quick Quote opportunities

📢 Publishes: Tender notices, contract awards, PINs, and market engagement events

🌍 Scope: Scotland-focused, but open to UK-wide suppliers

Why it matters: PCS is the central hub for public procurement in Scotland. If you want to work with Scottish public bodies, monitoring PCS is essential.

4.  👉  Sell2Wales

Sell2Wales is the official public procurement portal for Wales, designed to connect suppliers with public sector buyers across the country.

💼 Used by: Welsh Government, local authorities, NHS Wales, universities, and housing associations

📢 Publishes: Tender notices, contract awards, PINs, and buyer profiles

🌍 Scope: Wales-focused, but open to suppliers across the UK

Why it matters: If you’re bidding for public sector work in Wales, Sell2Wales is the primary portal to monitor.

5.  👉  Proactis

Proactis - often branded as ProContract or Due North - is a widely used e-procurement platform for managing tenders, particularly among local authorities and regional public bodies across the UK.

💼 Used by: Local councils, housing associations, combined authorities, and blue light services

📍 Notable regional portals: YORtender (Yorkshire & Humber), NEPO Portal (North East Procurement Organisation), Supplying the South West, London Tenders

Why it matters: With so many regional public buyers using Proactis portals, this platform is a must-monitor for suppliers targeting local government or devolved services.

6.  👉  eTendersNI

eTendersNI is the official public sector tender portal for Northern Ireland, used for all procurements above certain thresholds by Central and Local government bodies.

💼 Used by: Northern Ireland Executive departments, local councils, health trusts, universities, and housing bodies

🌍 Scope: Northern Ireland-focused, but open to UK and ROI suppliers

Why it matters: If you're targeting public contracts in Northern Ireland, eTendersNI is the single most important portal to monitor, offering full visibility across devolved government procurement.

7.  👉  eSourcingNI

eSourcingNI is an eProcurement platform used by Northern Ireland’s Housing Executive (NIHE) for managing tenders, supplier interactions, and contract awards independently of eTendersNI.

🌍 Scope: Northern Ireland-focused, but open to UK and ROI suppliers

Why it matters: If you’re bidding for housing-related work in Northern Ireland, eSourcingNI is a critical portal to monitor alongside eTendersNI -especially for suppliers in construction, repairs, and FM.

8. 👉  Digital Outcomes

Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) is a dynamic procurement framework run by Crown Commercial Service (CCS). It helps UK public sector buyers procure digital project teams and individual specialists to deliver agile IT and digital services.

💼 Used by: Central Government departments, local authorities, NHS bodies, regulators, and arms-length agencies

💻 Hosted on: The Digital Marketplace (being merged into the new Public Procurement Gateway)

🏛️ Access: Only pre-approved suppliers on the live DOS framework can bid

Why it matters: DOS is a key route to market for suppliers in digital transformation, software development, agile delivery, and user research – particularly those targeting central government.

DOS stands out among high-value public sector technology frameworks because it’s one of the few where you can view opportunities without being on the framework - though you’ll need to be registered to bid.

❌  Which tendering portals aren't worth tracking?

Selecting which tender portals to monitor is all about striking the right balance: saving time while making sure you don’t miss a single opportunity.

There are dozens of excellent portals that didn’t make our list - often because of overlaps. Many public sector buyers will publish the same opportunity across multiple sites. But that doesn’t mean those portals aren’t worth tracking for your business.

Some highly specialised portals - like the MOD’s Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP) – aren’t included here due to their niche focus and the fact that some opportunities require specific security clearances. If you work in that space, DSP is most likely essential!

It’s also not just about portals. Specialist frameworks are a critical route to market, and unlike most portals - which are open to anyone - opportunities on frameworks are only visible to approved suppliers.

Tussell’s analysis shows that in 2024, public sector suppliers missed up to £43.3bn in opportunities simply by not being on the right frameworks.

With over 4,000+ live frameworks in the UK public sector, finding the right ones for your business can be daunting. Tussell makes it easy – helping you identify and target the frameworks that matter most.

Talk to our sales team to see how we can help you track the right portals, focus on the right frameworks, and win more public sector work.

⏰  Why tender tracking could mean you're already too late

If your first interaction with a public sector buyer is when the tender drops, you’ve already missed your best chance.

While procurement teams must assess tenders fairly against published criteria, those criteria are often shaped long before the tender stage -sometimes with a particular supplier or solution already in mind.

These are subtle indicators that a buyer has a need, often appearing months or even years before a formal procurement notice. They can be buried in:

• Council meeting minutes

• Central Government whitepapers

• Or tucked away in obscure public PDFs

The challenge? There are hundreds of possible sources, making manual tracking virtually impossible.

Launching mid-September, Tussell’s Early Opportunities module brings together thousands of early buying signals across the public sector - using AI to surface them and human verification to ensure accuracy.

You’ll see:

• Opportunities before anyone else

• The specific pain points a buyer is facing

• The chance to start tailored sales and marketing months before pre-market notices appear

🗓️  To learn more about the untapped value of pre-tender intel, sign up for our webinar, 'How to predict tenders & build your pipeline', on September 16th.

📩  Want a one-on-one walkthrough of Tussell Early Opportunities? Register your interest, and we'll get in touch closer to launch date.