As of 1 October 2026, there were 2,166 open public tenders in the United Kingdom across every sector, published on official procurement portals and still open for bids. That places the United Kingdom 20th of 183 countries by open tenders. These counts change daily, so treat any figure here as a snapshot rather than a fixed total.
For a company that sells to government, the practical question is not whether demand exists, but where it is published, what is being bought, and how much time you have to respond. This guide covers those points using the current data, and ends with a routine for keeping track without opening every portal by hand.
Where public tenders are published
The open tenders ScoutTide tracks in the United Kingdom come from four official sources. Each publishes its own notices, and each is worth knowing by name.
- UK Find a Tender: 1,535 open tenders
- UK Contracts Finder: 459 open tenders
- EU TED: 171 open tenders
- UN Global Marketplace: 1 open tender
UK Find a Tender carries the largest share by a wide margin. Contracts Finder adds a substantial second stream, EU TED a smaller one, and UN Global Marketplace a single notice.
Each portal publishes its own registration requirements, and they are not identical. If you intend to respond to a notice, check the requirements on the portal where that notice appears. ScoutTide does not restate them, and nothing here should be read as guidance on registration, eligibility or procurement rules.
ScoutTide collects open tenders from official portals, matches them against what a company sells, sends a daily list of new matches, and shows English titles where available. It does not replace the portals themselves; it saves you from checking each one separately. You can see the official sources ScoutTide reads for the full list.
What is in demand
Demand is spread across sectors, but it is not evenly spread. The sectors with the most open tenders as of 1 October 2026 were:
- Construction: 409
- Healthcare: 380
- Engineering services: 366
- Transport and logistics: 158
- Facilities management: 146
- Energy and utilities: 107
- Manufacturing: 99
- IT services: 97
Construction, Healthcare and Engineering services together account for the three largest groups, and they sit close to one another in size. A supplier in any of those three fields has several hundred open tenders to review.
The next tier, from Transport and logistics down to IT services, is smaller. In these sectors the number of open notices is low enough that a focused bidder can review the whole relevant set rather than sampling it.
You can browse these directly:
- Construction tenders in the United Kingdom
- Healthcare tenders in the United Kingdom
- Engineering services tenders in the United Kingdom
- Transport and logistics tenders in the United Kingdom
- Facilities management tenders in the United Kingdom
The full set, across every sector, is at all open tenders in the United Kingdom.
Who buys
Open tenders in the United Kingdom came from 957 different buyers as of 1 October 2026. That is a broad buyer base, and it matters: it means no small group of organisations controls the market.
The busiest buyers, by number of open tenders each, were:
- Procurement Assist Limited c/o Integrated Facilities Management Bolton Ltd (iFM Bolton): 52
- YPO: 25
- Ministry of Defence: 20
- Lancashire County Council: 19
- Crown Commercial Service: 18
- L&Q Group: 18
- Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board: 17
- Natural England: 16
- L&Q Construction: 15
- City & County of Swansea: 14
The five busiest buyers together accounted for 134 open tenders, which is 6% of the total. The remaining 94% sits with other buyers across the 957 organisations. For a supplier, that distribution is encouraging: the largest single buyer holds 52 notices out of 2,166, so there is no need to win the attention of one dominant authority to build a pipeline.
It also means a watchlist built around a handful of known buyers will miss most of the market. The work is in scanning widely and filtering by what you actually sell.
Deadlines: how much time you get
Time to bid varies considerably. Of the open tenders with a stated deadline as of 1 October 2026:
- 124 close in under 7 days
- 764 close in 7 to 29 days
- 128 close in 30 to 59 days
- 557 close in 60 days or more
The median time left until the deadline was 26 days. The median gap between a notice first appearing and its deadline was 32 days. In other words, the typical notice gives you roughly a month from publication to submission, and at any moment about a month remains on the typical open notice.
Two practical consequences follow. First, the 124 notices closing within a week are hard to answer from scratch unless you already have the material prepared. Second, the 764 notices in the 7-to-29-day band are the largest group with a stated deadline, and those near the start of that band will close within days.
A further 593 open tenders had no stated deadline. These are treated as open if they were first seen within the last 60 days, and they are easy to overlook if you only track closing dates.
What contracts are worth
1,455 of the 2,166 open tenders, or 67%, stated an estimated value. Among the 1,452 with values in GBP, the median was GBP 2,000,000, and the middle half fell between GBP 300,000 and GBP 25,000,000. That is a wide middle band, so the median says little about any single notice.
A practical routine for finding tenders
Checking four portals by hand every day is possible, but it does not scale, and it does not tell you which notices match what you sell. A workable routine looks like this.
1. Define what you sell in specific terms
Not "IT services" but the particular service or product you can deliver, with the categories and keywords a buyer would use. The sector lists above are a starting point, not a filter. A construction notice and an engineering services notice can describe overlapping work.
2. Watch the sources, not just one
UK Find a Tender carries the majority of open tenders, but in ScoutTide's count 631 of the 2,166 came from Contracts Finder, EU TED and UN Global Marketplace. A single-portal watch will miss a meaningful share of the market.
3. Sort by deadline, then by fit
Start with what closes in the next 7 to 29 days, since that is the largest group with a stated deadline. Discard anything you cannot credibly deliver, regardless of value. The median stated value of GBP 2,000,000 is not a target; it is a description of the middle of a very wide distribution.
4. Track the no-deadline notices separately
The 593 open tenders without a stated deadline are easy to miss in a view sorted by closing date. Review them on a fixed schedule so they do not accumulate unseen.
5. Keep a record of what you reviewed
Because counts change daily and notices expire, a short log of what you saw, when, and why you passed makes the next review faster and prevents duplicate work.
ScoutTide fits into this routine by collecting open tenders from official portals, matching them against what a company sells, sending a daily list of new matches, and showing English titles where available. That replaces the manual sweep of four portals with a single daily list. You can see the full country view at all open tenders in the United Kingdom.
If you want tenders like these matched to what you sell, sign up to receive a daily list of new matches. Details of what each plan includes are at plans and pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How many open public tenders are there in the United Kingdom?
There were 2,166 open tenders as of 1 October 2026. This count changes daily.
Which sectors have the most open tenders?
Construction had 409, Healthcare 380, and Engineering services 366. Transport and logistics followed with 158, and Facilities management with 146.
Which portals publish these tenders?
UK Find a Tender (1,535 open tenders), UK Contracts Finder (459), EU TED (171) and UN Global Marketplace (1). Each portal publishes its own registration requirements, so check them on the portal where a notice appears.
How long do I have to respond to a tender?
The median time left until the deadline was 26 days, and the median gap between a notice first appearing and its deadline was 32 days. Of the open tenders with a stated deadline, 124 closed in under 7 days, 764 in 7 to 29 days, 128 in 30 to 59 days, and 557 in 60 days or more.
How many different buyers publish tenders?
There were 957 different buyers with open tenders as of 1 October 2026. The five busiest buyers together accounted for 134 open tenders, or 6% of the total.