As part of transition to the Procurement Act 2023, the Government is refreshing and expanding its notification service, transitioning from two platforms - Contracts Finder (for below-threshold contracts) and Find a Tender (for above-threshold contracts).
A new Central Digital Platform has been created and the notifications service retains the Find a Tender Service branding. Don’t be fooled by the name remaining the same, the approach to its use is different and that difference is quite important for both buyer and suppliers in the public sector.
Suppliers
A quick note about suppliers’ use and access to the new platform, as you need to understand this from a buyer’s perspective. Suppliers are being asked to “tell us once” for a substantial amount of the business information requested from them each time they tender for a public sector contract or framework. You will be familiar with the Supplier Questionnaire (formerly the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire). This long, complicated questionnaire was sent out with every open or restricted tender opportunity and suppliers had to complete a new questionnaire for each (and every) tender.
The new Central Digital Platform will enable suppliers to upload most of their information once and amend only when something in their business changes. In future, for each above-threshold tender, participating suppliers will simply provide buyers with a link to their information on this platform. For the lesser amount of contract/framework-specific information that cannot be foreseen in advance, a smaller Procurement Specific Questionnaire will be used, a template for which is available on the Government Commercial Function webpage.
We are developing guidance for suppliers to support them in their transition to using the new Central Digital Platform and that guidance will be available on our Procurement Act 20233 - A Guide for Suppliers page from mid/late January 2025.
Buyers
The platform also has a big change for buyers. Whilst previously buyers could register on the previous Find a Tender / Contracts Finder services to manually post notifications (such as contract notices, award notices, modification notices and the like) if using an eSender/eProcurement service such as the CPC-provided MultiQuote platform, that platform did all of the work for the buyer and no buyer registration was strictly necessary.
The new platform is different and all buyers in the public sector (known as Contracting Authorities) must register their institution on the new Find a Tender Service before undertaking their first notifiable procurement process under the new Act.
Why this change and additional responsibility? Simply put, it is to enable buyers to have more flexibility over how notifications about a contract are made.
Under the current system, if your contract requirement started its life as a tender on your eSender/eProcurement platform, you had no choice but to use that platform for all notifications connected with that contract. Under the new arrangements for the Find a Tender Service, you have the flexibility of using your eSender/eProcurement platform to tender and award your contract but then take control of future notifications such as contract modifications and the new contract termination notice with manual postings to the new service.
This is a positive step, though the administrative burden initially placed upon all buyers will come as a surprise to those not used to getting into the detail of notifications.
When must I register my institution?
The new Find a Tender Service will open for pre-registration at the end of January 2025. Remember, the Procurement Act goes live on 24th February 2025. Don’t try to register before the beginning of February 2025. You do not need to register until you intend to issue a new tender opportunity (whether openly advertised, or called off a Procurement Act established framework). It may be some months into the new Act going live before you need to register, or you may wish to simply register as soon as the new services goes live for pre-registration, so you don’t forget to do it.
How do I register my institution?
We have developed a step-by-step guide to registering your institution (pdf), adding in additional ‘buyers’ from within your team who have responsibility for tendering and/or contract management, and importantly, generating the software key (called an API Key) which your eSender/eProcurement platform provider will need in order to post notifications on your behalf.
Some important points to think about:
The first person to register your institution becomes the administrator. That person must register with their business email address. However, once registered, you will be encouraged to provide a resource email address for future communications (such as [email protected]). This will assist your institution to deal with future issues if the person making the initial registration moves on from their position and their business email becomes defunct.
Once registered and adding a further user, consider making that user a joint administrator, so you have a second point of control for your registration.
Don’t simply register and forget. The Find a Tender Service is a mandated notification service, and you will be expected to use it to inform the wider business community of your tendering and contracting processes.