The short answer
If you sell to other organisations and need more clients, public procurement data gives you four kinds of lead for free: open tenders you can bid on, award notices that show who just won work and may need help delivering it, contracts that are about to end, and notices of what public bodies plan to buy. Most of it is published by law, and it tells you who is buying, what they want and, often, what they paid.
This works best for companies whose services public bodies buy, such as marketing agencies, builders and specialist trades, IT firms, consultants and suppliers. It's slower than referrals or outreach, so treat it as a steady channel alongside them rather than a quick fix.
Four kinds of lead in procurement data
1. Open tenders
An open tender is the warmest lead there is: a buyer has a need, usually a budget and a deadline. On 1 November 2026, Tender Radar held 905 open notices for agency work and about 14,800 for construction work across the portals we collect. A tender can appear on more than one portal, so those are notices rather than distinct tenders.
Search by CPV code, the EU's standard code for what's being bought. In the EU, contracts above the thresholds go on TED, and smaller ones are mostly on national and regional portals. In the UK, new opportunities go on Find a Tender, including those below the thresholds. In the US, look at SAM.gov.
2. Award notices
An award notice names the winner of a contract, and usually its value and what it covers. That creates two leads. The winner may need subcontractors or specialist help to deliver, especially if the contract covers work it doesn't normally do. The buyer has also shown that it spends money on your category, which makes it worth adding to your list even though this contract has gone.
That matters because tender alerts don't show everything. Many smaller contracts are awarded directly or after a buyer invites a few suppliers. Where a country publishes those too, as Portugal does, the register shows you who buys your kind of service, so you can introduce yourself before their next purchase.
Contact winners soon after the award, while they're still organising delivery. Keep your message specific: which part of the contract you can take on, your relevant experience and when you're available.
3. Contracts that are about to end
Most public contracts have an end date, and many services are tendered again when they finish. Award notices often give a start date and duration, so you can work out roughly when a contract will come back. Remember to allow for extension options, which can delay this by a year or more.
Keep a simple calendar of contracts in your market: buyer, current supplier, value and likely end date. Start getting known to those buyers well before the likely tender date, because you can't influence the requirements once it's published.
4. Notices of what buyers plan to buy
Some buyers announce purchases early. In the EU, watch for prior information notices and preliminary market consultations, although neither is compulsory. In the UK, larger public bodies publish pipeline notices under the Procurement Act 2023. In the US, look for sources sought notices on SAM.gov. These give you the longest lead time, and a consultation is a legitimate chance to speak to a buyer before the tender opens.
How to get started in an afternoon
- Pick your codes. Choose three to five CPV codes that match what you sell. Check a few real notices, because buyers don't always use the code you'd expect.
- Pick your markets. Start with the countries where you can deliver and work in the language.
- Set up alerts. Use the free search tools on TED and your national portals, or a service that combines them.
- Read 12 months of awards. Note who buys, who wins and how much contracts are worth.
- List 10 target buyers. Add likely contract end dates and any contact routes the buyer publishes.
- Take one action a week. Bid for a tender, approach a recent winner or respond to a market consultation.
What this looks like in practice
A small marketing agency
Track 79340000 for advertising and marketing, along with PR, design, events and web codes. Then look at who buys. In Portugal's full contract register, the median agency contract from January 2024 to April 2026 was €17,000, and 85% of those contracts were awarded directly or by invitation. Only 8% went through a public tender, though those carried 36% of the money. So use tender notices for the larger work, and use the register to find buyers to introduce yourself to for the smaller work. Our guide to how agencies win public sector clients covers the steps, and the full data shows sizes by category. Portugal may not be typical of other countries.
A builder or specialist trade
Search by your trade, such as 45310000 for electrical work or 45330000 for plumbing, and look beyond TED. EU rules only require works contracts of €5,404,000 or more to go there. In Portugal's register, the median works contract was €66,231. Direct awards and invitations made up 58% of contracts, while the 36% that went to public tender carried 80% of the money. If a job is too large, look for single lots, or use award notices to approach the winner as a subcontractor. Our construction guide has more.
Using the data to bid better
Past awards help you decide what's worth pursuing. Look at what a buyer has paid for similar work before you price. Check whether the same supplier keeps winning or the work moves around. If the same company has held a contract for years, ask yourself what you could offer to beat it, and be realistic about whether to spend the time.
Check whether a stated value covers one job or a framework shared between suppliers over several years, as the two can look alike. Once a tender is live, only contact the buyer through the channel named in the documents. Buyers have to treat all bidders equally.
Is this right for your business?
It's a good fit if public bodies already buy what you sell, you can wait months for a result, and you can reuse bid material. Bids take real time, decisions can be slow, and price usually counts. If you need new clients within weeks, put your effort into referrals and direct outreach first, and build this channel in parallel.
Doing this without checking every portal
You can do all of this by hand with free portals, but it gets harder as you add countries. Tender Radar covers 90+ procurement portals, builds a profile from your website and scores new notices against it, so you only review the ones that fit. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial.