TendersHub Blog

Guides, tips and insights on finding and winning UK tenders.

Downing Street SW1 street sign on a stone government building in Westminster

10 October 2026

Where UK Government Contracts Are Actually Published

Most companies that say there's no public sector work in their sector are looking in one place. UK tenders are scattered across five national portals and dozens of platform portals that never appear in a Google search — here's the whole map.

A person leaning on a wall overlooking the River Thames and the Elizabeth Tower in Westminster

9 October 2026

The Procurement Act 2023: What Actually Changed for Suppliers

The Act has been live since February 2025 and most suppliers still bid as though nothing happened. Here is what genuinely changed — the notices, the new procedure, the feedback you are now owed, and the things that did not change at all.

Engineers working around a vehicle test rig in a UK automotive engineering facility

8 October 2026

How to Bid for Public Sector Contracts as a Small Business

Public buyers are under real pressure to spend more with SMEs, and the rules were rewritten partly to make that happen. Here is what a first public sector bid actually involves, what disqualifies small companies, and where to start.

Two yellow waymarker signs on a post pointing in opposite directions

7 October 2026

Find a Tender vs Contracts Finder: Which One Should You Be Watching?

Two UK government portals, both free, both official, both full of public contracts — and they do not carry the same things. Which one matters depends almost entirely on the size of contract you can win.

A person going through printed documents at a desk with a calculator and a laptop

6 October 2026

The Selection Questionnaire: What Buyers Actually Ask, and How to Pass

The first stage of most public tenders is not about how good you are. It is about whether you are allowed to bid at all — and it is where a lot of capable companies fall out on a missing certificate rather than a weak answer.

A red pencil resting on a page of marked arithmetic

5 October 2026

How Tenders Are Scored: Weightings, Quality and Most Advantageous Tender

Public tenders are marked, not judged. Once you can read a weighting table and a scoring matrix properly, you can work out before you bid where the marks are, what a score of 3 out of 5 costs you, and whether the competition is winnable at all.

People sitting around a meeting table with notes and pens during a discussion

4 October 2026

Public Sector Frameworks Explained: How to Get On One, and Whether It's Worth It

A huge share of UK public spending never appears as an open tender, because the competition happened years earlier when a framework was set up. Here is how frameworks work, what open frameworks changed, and when getting on one is genuinely worth the effort.

An Open sign hanging on a glass door

3 October 2026

Dynamic Markets Explained: The Route Into Public Contracts That Stays Open

Frameworks close and stay closed for years. Dynamic markets do not — you can apply to join at any point in their life. For a company that was not ready when the door first opened, this is the most useful thing in the Procurement Act.

A London Ambulance Service NHS ambulance driving through the city

2 October 2026

How to Win NHS Contracts: Where They're Published and How They're Awarded

The NHS runs two completely different procurement regimes depending on what it is buying, and publishes across at least four systems. Knowing which applies to you decides whether you are bidding, pitching, or wasting an afternoon.

The Leeds City Council sign and crest on the side of a modern brick civic building

1 October 2026

Council Contracts: How Local Authority Procurement Actually Works

There are hundreds of UK councils, each buying the same broad list of things, each on whichever eProcurement platform it happened to buy. For a small or regional supplier this is the most winnable public sector work there is — if you know where it is advertised.

The Dugald Stewart Monument on Calton Hill overlooking the Edinburgh skyline at sunrise

30 September 2026

Public Contracts Scotland: A Supplier's Guide to Bidding in Scotland

Scotland has its own procurement law, its own portal and its own thresholds — and the Procurement Act 2023 does not apply to most Scottish public bodies. If you are bidding in Scotland with an English playbook, some of it is wrong.

The red-brick Pierhead Building on the waterfront at Cardiff Bay

29 September 2026

Bidding in Wales and Northern Ireland: Sell2Wales and eTendersNI

Both nations are covered by the Procurement Act 2023, and both have their own portal, their own social value rules and their own expectations. Smaller markets mean fewer bidders — which is exactly why they are worth the extra registration.

A fighter jet flying low through a forested British valley

28 September 2026

MOD and Defence Contracts: How to Sell to the Ministry of Defence

Defence is the largest procurement budget in UK government and the one with the most doors. Most of what a new supplier can realistically win is not a direct MOD contract at all — it is a place in somebody else's supply chain.

Engineering students in a university workshop, one operating a machine in safety glasses

27 September 2026

Social Value in UK Tenders: The 10% That Decides Who Wins

Social value must carry at least 10% of the score on central government contracts, and it is the section most bidders answer with generic promises. For a smaller, local supplier it is the easiest place in the whole bid to beat a bigger competitor.

Wooden card-catalogue drawers with lettered index labels, one drawer open

26 September 2026

CPV Codes Explained: How to Find the Tenders Meant for You

Every UK tender notice is tagged with a numeric classification code, and portal alerts run off those codes rather than off the words in the title. Get your codes wrong and you get either nothing or everything — which is why most keyword alerts disappoint.