If you run a training or L&D business, whether that is leadership programmes, statutory and mandatory training, coaching or apprenticeship delivery, the first job in winning public sector work is finding it. UK tenders are spread across several official portals, one per nation plus a legacy system, and a good share of training work never appears on any of them as an open contest.
This guide maps the portals that carry UK tenders and the part they miss. Take a council re-procuring its leadership programme or an NHS trust buying statutory and mandatory training: where would the notice appear, and would you see it in time?
At a glance
- Find a Tender is the central platform under the Procurement Act 2023 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Contracts Finder is the older England portal. New below-threshold notices now go on the central digital platform first; Contracts Finder holds historic notices and procurements started before 24 February 2025.
- Public Contracts Scotland is Scotland's portal. Scotland runs under its own procurement law.
- Sell2Wales and eTendersNI are the Welsh and Northern Irish portals.
- Much training is bought through frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems (DPSs), where only appointed providers compete.
The big change: the Procurement Act 2023
The Procurement Act 2023 went live on 24 February 2025, replacing the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The same day an enhanced Find a Tender service launched as the central digital platform. For any procurement started on or after that date by an in-scope buyer in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, notices are published on Find a Tender. Our guide to the Procurement Act 2023 covers the wider changes.
Find a Tender
For new procurements, Find a Tender carries both above-threshold notices and the below-threshold opportunities buyers choose to advertise. The one gap is Scotland, whose below-threshold notices are not published there. If a county council in England advertises a management development programme today, this is where the notice lands. Registering gives you a PPON, explained in our guide to the central digital platform.
It is the most important tender portal for England, Wales and Northern Ireland: find-tender.service.gov.uk. Our guide to using Find a Tender sets up a training search from scratch.
Contracts Finder
Under the Act, new below-threshold notices must be published on the central digital platform first, replacing the old requirement to publish them on Contracts Finder. Contracts Finder still holds historic notices and procurements that began under the old rules, so it is worth a check during the transition: contractsfinder.service.gov.uk. See Contracts Finder vs Find a Tender.
Public Contracts Scotland
Scotland is outside the Procurement Act 2023. Scottish public bodies advertise on Public Contracts Scotland, and Find a Tender does not carry Scotland's below-threshold notices. A Scottish council's modest coaching contract would appear on Public Contracts Scotland only: publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk.
Sell2Wales
Wales is in the Act. Welsh authorities publish through the Welsh Digital Platform, commonly called Sell2Wales, which forwards notices to Find a Tender. A Welsh council's training notice should show on both: sell2wales.gov.wales.
eTendersNI
Northern Ireland is also in the Act. eTendersNI, run by the Department of Finance, is where Northern Ireland departments, agencies and arm's length bodies advertise: etendersni.gov.uk.
Where much training work actually sits: frameworks and DPSs
The portals show open competitions, but a lot of public sector training is not bought that way. Councils, NHS trusts and other buyers set up a framework or a dynamic purchasing system for training, appoint a pool of providers, and then run further competitions among that pool each time they need a course delivered.
Government guidance is explicit that a buyer does not have to publish a below-threshold tender notice when it invites quotes only from a closed group of pre-selected suppliers, such as those on a framework. So the safeguarding course or leadership cohort you never saw advertised may simply have been competed among providers who were already on the list.
That is why the notices that matter most are often the ones that open a framework or DPS for applications. Find a Tender's Commercial tools search lists frameworks, dynamic markets and DPSs, filtered by CPV code and by whether a lot is upcoming, active or closed. Some DPSs stay open to new applications for their whole term.
Our guide to training tenders in the UK explains how the two routes fit together, and the frameworks page lists the training frameworks and DPSs we follow, such as the Hull learning and training DPS.
The part nobody warns you about
On paper this looks manageable. In practice it is four or five portals plus the relevant frameworks and DPSs, each with its own search syntax and alerts, checked often, because an opportunity or an application window can open and close inside a few weeks.
That monitoring is a real job, and not the one you started a training business to do. Lentora watches the market for the providers we work with and only comes to you when something is worth your time.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main UK tender website?
Find a Tender (find-tender.service.gov.uk) is the central platform for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the first place a training provider should search. Scotland uses Public Contracts Scotland.
Is Contracts Finder still used?
Yes, during the transition. New procurements, including below-threshold ones, publish on Find a Tender first, but Contracts Finder holds historic notices and procurements that began before 24 February 2025.
Why don't I see many training tenders on the portals?
Much training is bought through frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems, where buyers run further competitions among appointed providers without a public tender notice. Watching for frameworks and DPSs to open is how you get into that pool.
Do I have to check every portal separately?
Yes. Each nation runs its own system and alerts are set portal by portal. Saved searches with email alerts on each portal covering your area are the practical minimum.
Sources
- GOV.UK — Central digital platform factsheet
- GOV.UK — Guidance: below-threshold contracts
- GOV.UK — Guidance: devolved contracting authorities
- GOV.UK — Guidance: frameworks
- Find a Tender — Home: about Find a Tender
- Find a Tender — Commercial tools search
- GOV.WALES — Procurement Act 2023: Welsh Digital Platform
- Department of Finance NI — eTendersNI