Resources
Guides for winning public sector work as a small firm.
Finding contracts on Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, deciding what to bid for, getting ahead of renewals, the Procurement Act 2023 and writing the bid. Written for firms without a bid team.
New to this? Read these three, in order.
About 7 minutes in total
- Find a Tender and Contracts Finder: what each one carries Start by knowing where your size of work is published. The two services overlap less than you would expect.
- How to read a tender notice in ten minutes Then learn to rule a notice in or out before you open a single document.
- Bid or no bid: a checklist for firms of five to fifty people And decide which tenders are worth the days they will cost you.
01Finding contracts
Where the work is published, and which part of it is yours.
Public contracts are published on more than one service, and the smaller jobs are easy to miss if you only ever check one of them.
3 guides
- Find a Tender and Contracts Finder: what each one carries Two free government services publish UK public contracts. They overlap less than you would expect, and the smaller jobs are mostly on the one people stopped checking. 2 min
- Below-threshold contracts: where small firms actually win The biggest contracts get the attention, but most small suppliers build their public sector business on work well under the procurement thresholds. How that end of the market works. 2 min
- Frameworks and dynamic markets: getting on the list A lot of public work is never tendered on its own. It is called off from lists of approved suppliers. How those lists work, and which ones you can still join. 2 min
02Deciding whether to bid
Reading a notice quickly, and knowing when to walk away.
Every tender you write costs days you could have spent on paying work. These guides are about spending those days well.
3 guides
- How to read a tender notice in ten minutes Most notices can be ruled in or out before you open the documents. The order to read them in, and what each part is really telling you. 3 min
- Bid or no bid: a checklist for firms of five to fifty people Every tender you write costs days you could have spent on paying work. A straightforward way to decide which ones deserve them. 2 min
- Contract size, turnover tests and national coverage: what rules a small firm out Three things in a notice most often put a contract out of reach for a small supplier. How to spot them, and when they are less of a barrier than they look. 2 min
03Renewals, buyers and competitors
Using the public record to get in front of a tender.
By the time a notice is published, the specification is written. Much of the useful work happens in the year before that.
4 guides
- Who holds the contract now? Using award notices to find the incumbent Award notices tell you who won past contracts, for how much, and for how long. How to read them, and the limits of what they can tell you. 2 min
- Contract renewals: why a year out is the right time By the time a tender is published, the specification is written. The best time to hear about a contract is about twelve months before it ends. 2 min
- Watching competitors without guesswork The contracts your rivals win are published. Used carefully, that tells you where they are growing, what they charge, and when their contracts come back to market. 2 min
- Researching a buyer before you bid An hour spent understanding a buyer before writing a bid is the best hour in the process. Where to look and what to look for. 2 min
04The Procurement Act 2023
What the new rules changed for small suppliers.
The biggest change to public procurement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in a generation took effect on 24 February 2025.
2 guides
- The Procurement Act 2023: what changed for small suppliers The biggest change to public procurement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in a generation took effect in February 2025. What it means in practice for a small firm. 2 min
- The notices under the Procurement Act, and which ones to watch The Act puts a notice at almost every stage of a contract's life. Which ones tell a small supplier something useful, and when to look for them. 3 min
05Writing the bid
Turning a decision to bid into an answer that scores.
Evaluators score what is on the page against a published guide, and what you learn from the result shapes the next bid.
3 guides
- Writing a tender response that scores Evaluators score what is on the page against a published guide. How to write for the person holding the scoring sheet. 2 min
- Social value: commitments a small firm can make and keep Many buyers now score what a contract does beyond the work itself. How social value is assessed, and why a local firm is often well placed to score. 3 min
- After the result: assessment summaries, standstill and learning from a loss The days after an award decision tell you more about your bid than the weeks spent writing it. What you are owed, and how to use it whether you won or lost. 3 min
06Reference
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