Find a Tender - the national portal for high value notices
From 1 January 2021, above threshold tenders in the UK are published on the Government’s new procurement portal, Find a Tender Service (FTS).
FTS is the new portal for all above threshold notices published in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Publishing notices to the OJEU was an EU requirement, and is no longer required with the conclusion of Brexit. Existing requirements to publish notices to Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales, and eTendersNI are unaffected.
The EU thresholds introduced on 1 January 2020 will remain in place until 1 January 2022. Future thresholds will be determined by the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) - which the UK has been a member of since 1 January 2021.
How will this affect procurement?
myTenders customers will be unaffected by the introduction of FTS. As a recognised e-Sender, our systems allow customers to publish notices directly to FTS.
If you do not currently use myTenders, the introduction of FTS means you’ll have a new portal to log into to publish notices. Through one myTenders login, you can easily publish notices to FTS and Contracts Finder – saving you time and increasing efficiency.
For the time being, procurement policies will remain closely aligned with the rules in place before Brexit. However, with no requirements to comply with EU directives for public procurement, the UK Government has scope to introduce changes.
Can we still advertise to the OJEU?
Only as per government guidelines. Not for new above threshold Notice Publications from 1 January 2021 onwards.
What happens if I have a live OJEU?
Any high value (above threshold) procurement started before 1 January 2021 will be conducted in-line with all procurement regulations prior to 1 January 2021.
What if European funding is involved?
Only as per government guidelines, however we believe this will only affect a small number of notices, and our Customer Services team will be able to support you in this instance.
Will the myTenders site be changing significantly?
Through your account and notice manager, you will notice some text changes.
Will Find a Tender Service display live and past contracts on 1st January 2021?
Find a Tender Service will have a blank slate on the 1st January, meaning all new notices will be published to Find a Tender Service from that date onward.
Will Find a Tender make the ESPD redundant?
No – the ESPD (European Single Procurement Document) will be renamed to SPD (Single Procurement Document) and will function as it currently does.
Will European suppliers have access to Find a Tender Service?
All suppliers should be able to access Find a Tender Service, just as UK suppliers can access OJEU.
Further Information
The Policy Procurement Note: Introduction of Find a Tender explains the upcoming changes in greater detail.
The UK Government have a page dedicated to Public Procurement After Brexit, which has useful information for both buyers and suppliers.