If you run a small business in the UK, you may have heard that the government spends over £300 billion a year buying goods and services from outside suppliers. That’s an enormous amount of money — and a significant share of it is actively earmarked for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) just like yours.
The problem is that most small business owners have no idea where to start. The process can look intimidating from the outside: dense tender documents, compliance requirements, formal evaluation criteria. But here’s the truth most guides don’t tell you: the basics are simpler than they appear, and the businesses winning these contracts are often no larger or more sophisticated than yours.
This guide walks you through everything you need to know to place your first bid — in plain English.
What exactly is a government contract?
A government contract is simply an agreement where a public body — a council, an NHS trust, a government department, a school — pays a business to provide something it needs. That could be:
- IT support or software development
- Cleaning or facilities management
- Training and consultancy services
- Construction and maintenance work
- Catering, printing, security, transport
- Care and support services
If your business provides any of these, there are almost certainly contracts you could bid for right now.
Step 1: Understand where contracts are advertised
The UK government is legally required to publish most contracts publicly. The two main platforms are:
Contracts Finder (find.contracts.service.gov.uk) — for contracts worth £10,000 or more from central government, and £25,000 or more from other public bodies. This is where most SME-friendly, lower-value contracts appear. It is free to use and requires no registration to search.
Find a Tender Service (find-tender.service.gov.uk) — for higher-value contracts (generally above £139,688 for goods and services). These are more competitive but also worth monitoring as your experience grows.
Local councils, NHS trusts, housing associations and universities often publish contracts on their own portals too. Registering with your regional procurement hub or portal (for example, London Tenders Portal, The Chest in the North West, or YORtender in Yorkshire) gives you access to hyperlocal opportunities.
Practical tip: Start with Contracts Finder. Set up a free email alert using keywords related to your service. You will receive notifications whenever a matching contract is published — without having to check the site manually.
Step 2: Know which contracts you can realistically win
Not every contract is right for you, especially at first. Before spending time on a bid, run a quick sense-check:
- Contract value: Is it a size your business can deliver? Aim for contracts between 20% and 50% of your annual turnover at first.
- Timescale: Can you fulfil the contract within the required timeframe?
- Requirements: Does the tender ask for accreditations, insurance levels or financial thresholds you currently meet?
- Competition: Have you delivered similar work before? Buyers want evidence.
A common mistake first-time bidders make is going after the largest, most prestigious contracts immediately. Smaller, lower-value contracts are less competitive, faster to complete, and give you the track record you need to win bigger work later.
Step 3: Register on the buyer’s e-tendering portal
Each contracting authority typically uses an online procurement system — called an e-tendering portal — to manage bids. Common ones include Delta eSourcing, ProContract, Jaggaer, and Atamis. You will need to register a supplier profile on whichever platform the buyer uses before you can download the tender documents or submit a response.
Registration is free. You will typically need:
- Company registration number
- Contact details and company address
- SIC code (your business activity classification)
- Basic information about turnover and number of employees
Register as soon as you spot a contract you like — portals can take a few days to approve new supplier accounts, and you don’t want to miss a deadline.
Step 4: Read the tender documents thoroughly
Once registered, download all the tender documents. A typical tender pack includes:
- Specification or Statement of Requirements — what the buyer needs you to deliver
- Invitation to Tender (ITT) or Request for Quotation (RFQ) — the questions you need to answer
- Pricing schedule — where you enter your costs
- Terms and conditions — the contractual framework
- Evaluation criteria — how your bid will be scored
Read these carefully before you spend any time writing. Pay particular attention to the evaluation criteria — they tell you exactly what the buyer values most. A bid that scores 70 on quality and 30 on price will evaluate very differently to one that’s 40/60.
Step 5: Write a winning response
This is where most first-time bidders go wrong. They answer the question but don’t demonstrate value.
Every question you answer should do three things:
- Directly address what was asked — don’t go off-topic or pad with generic claims
- Provide specific evidence — case studies, numbers, named examples from past work
- Connect your answer to the buyer’s priorities — use the same language they use in the specification
For example, if the question asks “Describe your approach to quality assurance,” a weak answer says “We take quality very seriously and have robust processes in place.” A strong answer describes your specific quality management process, names the standard you work to (e.g. ISO 9001), and gives an example of where that process delivered a measurable outcome for a past client.
You don’t need a professional bid writer to do this well. You need to be specific, evidence-led, and focused on what the buyer cares about — not what you want to say about yourself.
Step 6: Prepare your supporting documents in advance
Most tenders will ask you to submit supporting documents alongside your written response. The most common ones are:
- Public liability insurance certificate (usually minimum £1m–£5m depending on contract value)
- Employers’ liability insurance certificate
- Most recent two years’ filed accounts or a management account if you’re newer
- Health and safety policy (if you employ staff)
- Equality and diversity policy
- GDPR / data protection policy (especially for service contracts involving personal data)
- References from past clients (two or three recent, relevant examples)
Gather these now, even before you spot a contract. Having a ready-made compliance folder saves hours when a deadline is tight.
Step 7: Price competitively — but don’t underprice
Many SMEs assume they need to be the cheapest bid to win a government contract. This is a myth. Most public sector contracts are evaluated on a “most economically advantageous tender” (MEAT) basis — meaning quality, experience and approach count alongside price.
Underpricing is actually a red flag to experienced buyers. It suggests you haven’t fully understood the scope, or that you’ll cut corners to make the margins work. Price to deliver the contract well and build in a realistic contingency.
If you are unsure how to price, look at what similar contracts have been awarded for on Contracts Finder (awarded contracts are published with their values) and use that as a market benchmark.
What happens after you submit?
Once your bid is submitted, the authority evaluates all responses against the published criteria. The process typically takes two to twelve weeks depending on the contract size. You will receive written notification of the outcome — win or lose.
If you don’t win, always request feedback. Most authorities are required to provide it, and it is invaluable for improving your next bid. Many businesses win their second or third tender after refining their approach based on that feedback.
Your first contract is the hardest to win
The biggest barrier for SMEs isn’t capability — it’s track record. Public sector buyers want evidence that you’ve delivered similar work before.
If you genuinely have no public sector experience yet, consider:
- Bidding as a subcontractor to a larger prime contractor to build initial experience
- Targeting lower-value contracts (below £25,000) where requirements are lighter
- Offering a free or reduced-cost pilot to a local public body to generate a reference
Every large supplier started with a small contract. The sooner you begin, the sooner you build the track record that unlocks bigger opportunities.
