Find a Tender: the new system to advertise public sector contracts

From 1 January 2021, Find a Tender Service (FTS) will be the new UK-wide system used to advertise UK public sector contracts, replacing the EU’s TED system. 

The Cabinet Office has published the first of two PPNs, Procurement Policy Note 08/20 – Introduction of Find a Tender, setting out the changes to procurement which will come into effect at the end of the Transition Period.

What is the url for the new UK e-notification service?

The URL of the new UK e-notification service, Find a Tender (FTS) is www.find-tender.service.gov.uk. You will not be able to access this url until the site goes live at 11pm on 31 December 2020.

If I have already started my procurement before the end of the transition period, will I have to republish all of my previous notices on the new portal?

No. Procurements that were launched and not finalised before the end of the transition period are to continue to follow the same rules. Consequently you have to continue to publish any notices for these procurements on OJEU/TED.

You must still send details of the contract award to Contracts Finder or the relevant Devolved or Defence portal in line with relevant legal and policy requirements. For ease of use, notices which are required to be sent to OJEU/TED for publication, should also be sent to FTS so that suppliers have only one place to look for UK opportunities (see guidance in the PPN).

In these cases, details of the results of the procurement must still be published first to OJEU/TED before they appear elsewhere.

Will the notices all be the same as they were before?

All the current procurement notices will exist and be available on FTS.

Why do we have a new system at all? Why not just extend Contracts Finder?

After the end of the transition period, a UK-wide service is necessary. This does not affect existing portals such as Contracts Finder, Sell2Wales, eTendersNI, Public Contracts Scotland.

Click here for the full list of FAQs and more information about this service.

Should you wish to find out more about this please contact the CCS service desk on 0345 410 2222 or info@crowncommercial.gov.uk.