Winston IntelligenceProcurement essentials
The buyer invites suppliers to compete, often through a published notice and associated documents. Each supplier submits a tender explaining its offer. Everyday speech often calls the whole competition “a tender”, but the records are not interchangeable.
Invites suppliers to compete, often through a published notice and associated documents.
Submits a tender: its formal offer to meet the stated requirement.
Assesses the tenders against the published process and criteria.
Records the award decision and, if the process continues, enters into a contract.
Video guide
Separate the buyer's notice and documents from the supplier's tender, then read a real opportunity without confusing it with an award or contract.
5 min 16 sec · English (UK) captions included
The important distinction
A tender notice is the buyer’s published invitation. The associated documents describe the requirement and process. A tender is a supplier’s response to that invitation.
An award records the buyer’s decision to select a supplier. Under the Procurement Act regime, the contract award notice appears before the contract is entered into. A contract is the agreement that follows. An opportunity can end without an award, and an award record is not an invitation to submit another tender.
Real Scout example · closed 23 September 2026
This construction tender closed to responses on 23 September 2026, so it is no longer an opportunity to bid for. It still shows the minimum shape of a useful first read. Scout retains the source identifiers and official link; the official record remains the authority for documents, eligibility, changes and any later award.
Tender-stage record · deadline passed
Current value context
Public bodies can compete contracts below the main thresholds. The figures determine which statutory provisions apply, not whether a supplier’s response can be called a tender.
Procurement Act main thresholds
1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027
These are selected main thresholds, not a complete decision table. Light-touch, utilities, concessions, defence, below-threshold and exempt contracts have separate provisions. Devolved Scottish procurement follows Scottish legislation; its official 2026–27 page lists both the applicable GPA-derived figures and the unchanged Scottish regulated-procurement thresholds.
Keep learning
Primary sources
Winston checked these official sources on 25 September 2026.