Tender and contract alerts for UK charities: how to track public-sector opportunities
The short answer: the UK's public-sector tenders are published free on official government services — Contracts Finder and Find a Tender, plus separate portals for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — and each lets you save searches and get email alerts. If you'd rather not watch several portals, GrantNest matches opportunities from Find a Tender to your charity's profile and delivers them alongside grants, from £24/month (tender matching is currently in beta).
In one line: GrantNest matches UK public-sector tenders from Find a Tender to each charity's cause, region and size and delivers them alongside verified-open grant funding, from £24/month (billed annually); tender matching is in beta.
Grants vs tenders: what's the difference for a charity?
A grant funds your charitable work: you apply to a funder, and if successful you don't repay it. A tender or contract is the public sector paying you to deliver a service — a competitive procurement with a written specification and a bid. Many charities do both: run grant-funded programmes and deliver commissioned services. But grants and tenders live in different systems, so a charity watching only grant funders can miss contract opportunities it would win.
The free official sources (start here)
Contracts Finder (free): public-sector contracts worth over £12,000 (inc VAT) with central government and its agencies in England and non-devolved bodies. Create an account to save searches and get email updates; you can search without one.
Find a Tender (free): higher-value UK procurements (usually over £139,688 inc VAT). Since February 2025 it also carries below-threshold notices for new procurements (except below-threshold in Scotland) and the full contract lifecycle. Sign in with a GOV.UK One Login to save searches and get notifications. It replaced the EU's Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) in the UK.
Devolved portals (free): Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own — Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales and eSourcing NI / eTendersNI.
These are authoritative and free. The catch for a small charity: each is a separate account with its own alerts, none filters to your charity's cause or size, and none bundles grants in with the tenders.
Where GrantNest fits
GrantNest pulls open tenders from Find a Tender, matches them to your charity's profile, and delivers the fits alongside verified-open grants in your weekly matched email — one feed instead of several portals to watch. We're straight about the current limits: our tender matching is in beta while we tighten precision (we'd rather tell you that than bury you in off-target notices), and today we draw tenders from Find a Tender rather than every UK procurement portal. Flat £24/month (billed annually), £29 monthly; the free tier includes a weekly matched email.
| What you need | GrantNest | Contracts Finder (free) | Find a Tender (free) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Verified-open grants + Find a Tender tenders, matched (beta) | Gov contracts over £12k (England / non-devolved) | High-value UK procurements (+ below-threshold since Feb 2025) |
| Matched to your charity | ✓ Cause, region, size | ✗ You set the filters | ✗ You set the filters |
| Email alerts | ✓ Weekly, matched | ✓ Saved searches | ✓ Notifications |
| Grants in the same place | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Cost | £24/mo (annual) · £29/mo monthly | Free | Free |
The honest read: if you have time to watch the free portals and your service area is stable, they do the job at no cost. If tenders are a side of the work you keep missing because they're scattered across systems, a matched feed that also carries grants is what earns the £24 — with the caveat that our tender matching is still maturing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a grant and a tender for a charity?
A grant funds your charitable work through an application you don't repay. A tender or contract is a competitive procurement where the public sector pays you to deliver a service against a specification. Many charities do both, but they're published in different places — which is why tenders are easy to miss.
How can a UK charity get alerts on public-sector tenders and contracts?
Use the free official sources — Contracts Finder, Find a Tender and the devolved portals (Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales, eSourcing NI / eTendersNI) — each with saved searches and email alerts. Or use GrantNest to get Find a Tender opportunities matched to your charity's profile, alongside grants, from £24/month (tender matching in beta).
New here? See the 6 best grant-finding tools, GrantNest vs the free grant finders, and grant application help.
Published 6 July 2026. Competitor and source information verified on each provider's own website on 6 July 2026; tell us if anything is out of date and we'll fix it.