Skip to content

What Is the Central Digital Platform? (The New Home for UK Tenders)

Finding training tenders · Updated 1 October 2026

When the Procurement Act 2023 went live on 24 February 2025, it brought a new piece of plumbing with it: the central digital platform. If you run a training or L&D business and a council or NHS trust has asked for your "PPON" or "CDP number", this guide explains what that is and what to have ready.

In short, the central digital platform is where buyers publish notices and where training providers register once and reuse their details across bids. Registration is free and quick, and buyers now need it even for smaller contracts.

At a glance

  • The central digital platform launched on 24 February 2025; its public face is the enhanced Find a Tender service.
  • It is free to use for everyone.
  • Registering gives your organisation a PPON (public procurement organisation number), sometimes called a CDP number.
  • From 1 April 2026, buyers must have your PPON before they publish the details of a notifiable below-threshold contract they have awarded to you.

What is the central digital platform?

It is the government's online system behind the new procurement regime. The part you see is the enhanced Find a Tender service, where buyers publish notices and you register.

The idea is "tell us once". You store your core supplier information centrally and share it with a buyer using a share code, instead of re-entering it on every buyer's portal.

Your PPON (public procurement organisation number)

When you register, the platform gives your organisation a unique identifier, the Public Procurement Organisation Number (PPON). Government guidance tells you to share it with the buyer before you are awarded a contract, and the Cabinet Office has built a PPON lookup tool for buyers.

Since 1 April 2026, a buyer must make sure its supplier has registered and has provided this identifier before it publishes the contract details notice for a notifiable below-threshold contract. That covers contracts from £12,000 for central government, which includes NHS bodies, and from £30,000 for other authorities such as councils (both including VAT).

So a provider winning a £20,000 mental health awareness programme for an NHS trust, or a £40,000 management development contract for a district council, will be asked for a PPON before the award is published.

Central digital platform registration

Registration runs through GOV.UK One Login in three steps: register, enter your details, and share. You will need:

  • Your organisation's name, address and email address
  • Your Companies House number (or an equivalent, such as a Charity Commission number)
  • Your VAT number, if you have one
  • Whether you are an SME or VCSE

To complete a bid, the platform also collects your core supplier information:

  • Copies of your accounts from recent financial years
  • Details of any connected persons (for example, people with significant control)
  • Any exclusion grounds that apply to you or your connected persons, as set out in the Procurement Act 2023

What a training provider should have ready

Buyers of training usually ask for more than the platform holds, and the gaps are easier to close before a deadline than during one:

  • Insurance certificates at the levels the buyer sets.
  • ICO registration. Organisations, including sole traders, that use personal information must register with the Information Commissioner's Office unless they are exempt. You will hold learner names, contact details and attendance records.
  • Cyber Essentials, where the contract involves handling certain personal information. Government policy (PPN 014) asks central government and NHS bodies to require it for those contracts, not as a blanket rule.
  • DBS checks for trainers, where the role involves contact with children or adults at risk.

Our insurance, ICO and DBS checklist and our guide to Cyber Essentials for training providers go through each one.

When should I register?

Government guidance says you only need to register at the point you want to bid. In practice, with buyers needing your PPON for awards from £12,000, registering early saves a scramble. If you used the old Find a Tender, you register again; using the same email address keeps your old notices and saved searches.

Registering is the easy bit

Registration is short admin, done once. What follows is harder. Finding the right opportunity is a monitoring job, and much training work is bought through frameworks and DPSs that open for applications only now and then. Winning is a writing job: method statements, social value and quality answers against a published scoring scheme, to a deadline.

Plenty of capable providers register and never apply. Help to qualify and write the application, in your own name, is worth considering. Our frameworks page lists the training frameworks and DPSs we follow, and training tenders in the UK explains how frameworks and open tenders fit together. For the search itself, see how to use Find a Tender.

Frequently asked questions

Is the central digital platform the same as Find a Tender?

Yes, in practice. The enhanced Find a Tender service is the public-facing part of the central digital platform, where training providers register and search.

What is a PPON?

A PPON is a public procurement organisation number: the unique identifier your organisation receives when it registers on the central digital platform. Buyers ask for it before they publish the award of a contract, including below-threshold contracts from 1 April 2026.

Does central digital platform registration cost anything?

No. The central digital platform and Find a Tender are free to use for everyone.

What do I need to register?

Your organisation's name, address and email, a Companies House or charity number, your VAT number if you have one, and your SME or VCSE status. To bid you also provide accounts, connected-person details and exclusion declarations.

I registered on the old Find a Tender. Do I need to do it again?

Yes. Existing users re-register on the enhanced service. Using the same email address keeps your old notices and saved searches.

Sources

Not sure which framework fits you?

Lentora helps specialist training and L&D providers get onto public sector frameworks and win tenders, in their own name. Tell us what you deliver and we'll tell you honestly whether frameworks or tenders are worth your time.

Get your free qualification check