Why can I only find a few tenders for my business?
Only about 2,200 UK tenders are open on any day, but around 81,000 public contracts are awarded each year. Here’s where the rest are, and how to see more.
Richard Hiller · 6 November 2026 · 5 min read
If you've searched for public sector work and found only a handful of tenders for your trade, you're not looking in the wrong place. You're looking at one moment in time. Most tenders are only open for about four weeks, so on any given day you see a thin slice of a much bigger year.
Here's what that looks like in numbers, where the rest of the work goes, and what you can do to see more of it.
A day versus a year
On 6 November 2026 there were about 2,200 UK public sector tenders open for bids. Over the previous 12 months, public buyers awarded around 81,000 contracts.
The gap is mostly timing. Of the single contracts published over the last three months, half were open for 28 days or fewer, and most were open for between 24 and 34 days. So a tender that suits you can appear and close between two of your searches.
Take cleaning as an example. Over the last 12 months:
- 456 cleaning contracts were awarded across the UK
- 264 of them went to small and medium-sized firms
- 249 of them end in the next 12 months, and many of those will be put out to tender again
In London alone, 77 cleaning contracts were awarded, 32 of them to small firms. Yet on a typical day you might see only five London cleaning tenders open.
Figures: TenderRoad's analysis of award notices and tenders published on Contracts Finder and Find a Tender, to 6 November 2026.
Where the rest of the work goes
Not every contract is advertised as an open tender you can simply apply for. A lot of public work reaches suppliers in other ways.
Frameworks
A framework is an approved list of suppliers that a buyer, or a group of buyers, sets up for several years. When the buyer needs work done, they choose from the suppliers on the framework, often without advertising again. If you're not on the framework, you won't see that work. The time to get on is when the framework is first advertised. Our guide to framework contracts explains how they work.
DPS (dynamic purchasing systems)
A DPS (dynamic purchasing system: an approved supplier list you can join at any time) works like a framework, except it stays open for new suppliers to join while it runs. Once you're on it, you're invited to bid for the jobs that come through it. Many DPSs run for several years. See What is a DPS?
Small quotes
For lower-value jobs, many councils and public bodies don't run a full tender. They ask a few suppliers for quotes, usually ones already registered on their tendering portal. Each council sets its own limits. For example, Chelmsford City Council's current rules (October 2025) say that for contracts under £25,000 managers should ideally get three quotes, for routine purchases between £25,000 and £50,000 they must get at least three, and above £100,000 the work has to go to tender or through a framework. Other councils draw these lines at different values, and you'll find each council's rules in its "contract procedure rules", usually published with its constitution.
This is why registering on the portals your local buyers use matters so much. If you're not registered, you can't be invited.
How to see more of the work
1. Check every day, or let something check for you
Because tenders are open for about four weeks, a monthly look will miss many of them. Check at least weekly, or set up alerts so new tenders come to you.
2. Register on your buyers' portals
Find out which tendering portals the councils, schools and housing associations near you use, and register on all of them. It's free. Most buyers say which portal they use on their tender notices and on their website's "selling to the council" page.
3. Join approved lists and DPSs
When you see a DPS or approved supplier list for your trade, consider joining even if there's no specific job yet. That's how you get invited to work that's never advertised publicly.
4. Watch for contracts coming up for renewal
Award notices say when a contract ends. A contract ending next spring will often be re-tendered a few months before. If you know it's coming, you can prepare: check what the buyer asked for last time, get your policies and case studies ready, and make sure you're registered on their portal.
5. Look for early notices
Under the Procurement Act 2023, public bodies that expect to spend more than £100 million in a financial year must publish a pipeline notice by 26 May each year. It lists the contracts worth more than £2 million that they plan to advertise over the next 18 months. Plans can change, because buyers aren't bound by them, but it tells you what's likely coming and when. Buyers may also publish preliminary market engagement notices, inviting suppliers to talk to them before a tender starts. Both appear on Find a Tender.
6. Widen your search honestly
If you'd genuinely travel further, or you do more than one kind of work, include it. Don't stretch so far that you'd struggle to deliver. Buyers check that you can actually do the job.
A quick checklist
- Check for new tenders at least once a week, or set up alerts
- Register on the portals used by buyers in your area
- Look out for DPSs and approved lists in your trade
- Note when contracts in your trade end, and prepare early
- Watch for pipeline and early market engagement notices on Find a Tender
- Keep your case studies, insurance and policies up to date, so you're ready when the right one appears
What to do next
Start by seeing what's open now in your trade, and what's coming up. For example, cleaning contracts across the UK shows today's open tenders alongside the year's figures and contracts due for renewal.
TenderRoad checks every new tender against your business each night and emails you the ones that fit, so you don't miss the four-week window. Start free.