A faster, smarter alternative to UK Contracts Finder.

What is UK Contracts Finder?

Contracts Finder is the UK government's official portal for publishing England public-sector contracts below the formal procurement threshold (currently ~£138,760 for services/supplies). It's operated by Cabinet Office and is the central record for ~£240bn/year of below-threshold contracting activity.

Every English contracting authority is required to publish contracts above £12,000 (£30,000 for central government departments) to Contracts Finder. That includes councils, NHS trusts, schools, police forces, fire authorities, housing associations, and arm's-length bodies.

Where Contracts Finder falls short for suppliers

Contracts Finder does its job — it's the central record. The limitations from a supplier's perspective are well documented:

• Slow search. The UI is functional but dated; complex filters take time.
• England-only. Scottish (PCS), Welsh (Sell2Wales), and Northern Irish (eTendersNI) contracts have their own portals. Contracts Finder doesn't aggregate them.
• No keyword alerts. You can save searches but the email system is unreliable and many users find it doesn't fire.
• No buyer intelligence. You can see a notice but not the buyer's award history, top suppliers, or spend by category.
• No competitor visibility. No way to see what suppliers are currently winning against this buyer.
• No export. Building a weekly digest of matching contracts requires manual copy-paste.

How WinAContract solves these gaps

WinAContract sits on top of Contracts Finder + the other UK portals as a faster supplier-friendly search layer:

• One search across all 5 UK portals — FTS, Contracts Finder, PCS, Sell2Wales, eTendersNI
• Smart filters — value range, sector, region, deadline, framework only, etc.
• Free keyword alerts — daily digest of matching tenders, reliable delivery
• Buyer pages — every buyer gets a profile with award history, top suppliers, spend by category
• Supplier intelligence — who's winning what, by how much
• CSV export — paid plans
• Direct link back to Contracts Finder — every WinAContract listing includes the source notice link for formal submission

Should I still use Contracts Finder?

Yes — but for submission, not search. Contracts Finder is the official record: when you bid, you bid via the source portal link (Contracts Finder hosts the submission form for many notices). Use WinAContract to find the right opportunities; use Contracts Finder to submit the formal response.

Every WinAContract contract page includes a direct deep link back to the source notice on Contracts Finder (or FTS / PCS / Sell2Wales / eTendersNI), so you're never more than one click away from the official submission flow.