UK Tender Pipeline Monitor

SOURCE COVERAGE & PRACTICAL LIMITS

Full product guide

Documentation captured from build 1.0.2. Example outputs retain their original sample context; they are not live results.

Keep a UK bid pipeline current

Turn official Find a Tender notices into one current procurement observation per OCID. Watch deadlines, published values, buyer details, lots, awards and document links, then compare the fields with your last saved observation.

Built for bid teams, procurement analysts and suppliers maintaining a shortlist. The Actor discovers a bounded window of recent notices and resolves each procedure through the official compiled OCDS record, so repeated notices do not become duplicate pipeline entries.

Run in Apify Console · Output · Watchlist · Coverage

Start with three procedures

{
  "maxResults": 3,
  "maxSourcePages": 1
}

Run the Actor, open Dataset for observations, and open Run report for checked procedures, failures and limits. The default inspects up to 20 recent official releases and saves at most three matching procedures. It requires no account or API key for the source.

What you receive

For example, retained official source evidence from 15 October 2026 contains procedure ocds-h6vhtk-0784ad, Sevenoaks District Council's sports-hall roof replacement, with GBP 120,000 excluding tax and a published tender deadline of 6 November 2026. This dated example is not a promise that the opportunity is still open.

Watch a named procedure

{
  "ocids": ["ocds-h6vhtk-0784ad"],
  "maxResults": 3,
  "comparePrevious": true,
  "snapshotName": "roof-procurement-demo"
}

1. Save your exact OCIDs in a private Apify task.
2. Use a dedicated snapshotName; the first comparison emits new and establishes history after each row is saved.
3. On later runs, route changed rows to review. changedFields identifies top-level fields; previous lets your integration inspect the old deadline or amount.
4. Set onlyChanges: true when you want unchanged observations counted in SUMMARY without additional dataset rows. Empty output can therefore be a successful no-change check.
5. Upsert into your own spreadsheet or CRM by ocid. Check the run's own summary before treating missing output as meaningful.

Use one writer per snapshot namespace and filter scope. A concurrent history change prevents overwrite and makes the run partial; it is not a distributed lock. Only confirmed saved rows advance history. No missing procedure becomes a deletion signal.

Inspect recent award procedures

{
  "stages": ["award"],
  "maxResults": 3,
  "maxSourcePages": 1
}

stages selects notices during discovery. The compiled record represents the current procedure and can include later changes. Optional keywords match title, description or buyer; cpvPrefixes match published item codes. OR applies within each filter list, AND between keyword and CPV lists. Filtering a small window can correctly return no matches.

Pricing and controls

The base result price is $0.005 per saved procurement observation, plus the Actor's published start event. Your Apify plan may apply its displayed discount. A no-change row skipped by onlyChanges, a failed source request, or a filtered record is not a paid result.

• maxResults: 1-100 confirmed rows, default 3.
• maxSourcePages: 1-5 discovery pages of up to 20 releases each, default 1.
• ocids: up to 50 exact procedures; bypasses discovery.
• maxRunSeconds: default 240, also constrained by the platform timeout with a 25-second reserve.
• Set a platform spending limit appropriate for your task. A spending stop is explicit in SUMMARY; check saved counts before downstream actions.

Coverage and boundaries

Source: Find a Tender only. This does not aggregate Contracts Finder, devolved portals or all UK purchasing. The source exports OCDS records under the Open Government Licence.

The Actor reads current compiled records, not an as-of reconstruction. updatedFrom and updatedTo filter the source's release last-update window in its documented timezone-less YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS format. They do not filter deadlines or freeze the compiled record at that date. Date and stage discovery filters cannot be combined with an explicit watchlist.

Published dates, amounts and labels are preserved. Missing optional fields remain null or empty arrays; they are not estimated. This is a selected metadata projection, not every OCDS field: it does not download attachments, collect contact details, submit bids or assess eligibility. Supplier organization names in awards remain public procurement evidence.

status: "ok" means the configured bounded work succeeded. Read coverageComplete, discoveryComplete, stoppedOnSourcePageLimit, sourcesNotReached and stoppedOnMaxResults to understand its extent. Reaching a configured sample cap is distinct from a failed source. Partial source failures and time/spending stops are explicit; an all-failed run fails instead of emitting error rows.

Source references and support

• Official Find a Tender developer documentation
• Release package API and discovery parameters
• Record package API and compiled records

For source changes, support or data correction requests, use this Actor's Issues tab or bmay@mayd-it.com. Include a run URL and OCID; do not send credentials or private bid documents.