To find government tenders, start where the contracts are actually published: your country's national procurement portal and, for higher-value contracts, TED (Tenders Electronic Daily). From there, filter by CPV code and region, then set up alerts so new opportunities reach you automatically. Below is the process in full.
1. Know where tenders are published
Public bodies are legally required to advertise most contracts above certain values. In practice that means two layers:
- National portals — each country runs an official platform where contracting authorities post notices (for example the UK's Find a Tender / Contracts Finder, Estonia's riigihanked register, or France's BOAMP). These carry the widest range of opportunities, including smaller local contracts.
- TED — the EU-wide journal that aggregates higher-value notices from across member states. It is the best single source for large, cross-border contracts but does not include most low-value local tenders.
2. Search by CPV code, not just keywords
Every tender is classified with one or more CPV codes (Common Procurement Vocabulary). Searching by CPV is far more reliable than keyword search because it captures opportunities regardless of how the buyer phrased the title. Identify the two-digit division and specific codes that describe what you sell, and use them as your primary filter.
3. Filter by value, location, and deadline
Not every published tender is worth pursuing. Narrow the field by contract value (so you focus on work you can deliver), by region or delivery location, and by submission deadline — a tender is only actionable while its deadline is still in the future. Leaving enough time to prepare a quality response is often the difference between bidding and not.
4. Set up alerts
Manually re-checking portals wastes time. The buyers you want to win from publish on their own schedule, so the reliable approach is to save your CPV and location filters and receive alerts when a matching tender appears. This turns tender-finding from a daily chore into a background process.
5. Qualify before you commit
Once you have a shortlist, read each notice carefully for the eligibility criteria, required certifications, and award criteria (how the buyer will score bids). A quick qualification pass — can we meet the requirements, is the value worth the effort, do we have time — saves you from pouring effort into bids you cannot win.
How Tendly helps
Tendly aggregates tenders from national portals and TED across 23 markets, then uses AI to match each opportunity against your company profile and explain why it fits. Instead of searching multiple portals, you get a ranked list of relevant tenders, plus tools to draft and review your bid documents. You can browse tenders by country and category to get a feel for what is live right now.