Set up a search before turning on email

  1. Search the service. Start at Contracts Finder on GOV.UK and follow its link to the search service.
  2. Describe the work. Use the words a buyer might use for your service. Inspect the results before making the search narrower.
  3. Refine the results. Use the available criteria to focus on relevant work. Distinguish an open opportunity from an award or a future plan.
  4. Create or sign in to your account. Use the service's account options to save the search and receive email updates.
  5. Check the first emails. Compare them with the results you expected. Adjust one part of the search at a time so you can see what changed.

GOV.UK's service guidance confirms that an account enables saved searches and email updates; you can still search without one. These steps follow that guidance, checked on 15 September 2026. They are not a recorded test of the current account screens.

Add Find a Tender to your routine

Check Find a Tender as well. It offers individual notice searches and summarised procurement searches, and its service information explains the February 2025 transition, legacy procurements and Scottish exceptions. An account uses GOV.UK One Login and enables saved criteria and email notifications.

A useful alert routine depends on where you bid and the type of procurement. Check the official service information for the relevant nation and notices, rather than assuming one search covers all public work.

What to do with a matching notice

An alert tells you that something matched the search. Before you decide to bid, check the deliverables, conditions, evidence requested, deadline and commercial fit. Follow the buyer's links to the full documents and ask a clarification when a requirement is unclear.

Our screening checklist for UK digital agencies includes a worked exercise showing how a plausible match can still leave an important question unanswered.

Where TenderVerdict adds a judgement

TenderVerdict assesses published notices against a capability profile you check and explains BID, STRETCH or SKIP in a brief. It uses Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, TED and BOAMP within the coverage limits of those feeds and our filters.

Start with five free briefs, no card. This is a way to try profile-specific screening alongside your official alerts. It does not replace reading the tender pack or making your own bid decision. See how to interpret a TenderVerdict judgement before relying on one.

Related

Find a Tender vs Contracts FinderWhat changed in February 2025, and the current thresholds. All UK and EU tender sourcesThe four feeds that matter, and who should watch each one. How a UK digital agency finds public workWhere to search, what to check, and a worked screening exercise. How the judge worksThe pipeline, the three verdicts, and the failure modes.

See your own tenders judged.

Start with five free briefs, no card. Confirm your email and check the capability profile drafted from your website. See which published notices deserve a closer look, with the reasons.