Winston IntelligenceResources
Learn the market, then put it to work.
Practical, source-aware guidance for suppliers in every industry. Start with the job in front of you, then move into the working Scout product when you are ready to search.
Understand public procurement
Start with the records, routes and decisions that shape a public procurement.
- Guide
What is public procurement?
Understand how public bodies turn a need into a fair buying process, a supplier decision and a public contract.
Updated - Guide
What is a tender?
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.
Updated - Guide
Public procurement glossary
Plain-English definitions for the records, stages, routes and identifiers UK suppliers meet when finding and assessing public work.
Updated - Guide
The UK public procurement lifecycle
Understand what pipeline, planning, tender, framework, award and contract records mean, and the supplier decision each can support.
Updated - Guide
Procurement Act notice types for suppliers
Understand UK1 to UK17, what each Procurement Act record can evidence and which supplier action its stage supports.
Updated - Guide
Public procurement frameworks for suppliers
Compare frameworks, open frameworks and dynamic markets, then understand lots, call-offs and the 2026–27 thresholds.
Updated - Guide
How to read a public-sector tender notice
Extract the source facts, test the practical bid conditions and keep estimates, normalised fields and supplier judgement separate.
Updated - Guide
How to use contract-award notices
Read award evidence in sequence, verify supplier, value and dates, and avoid turning a published decision into proof of current delivery or spend.
Updated - Guide
Common tender documents explained
Understand the central digital platform, core supplier information and Procurement Specific Questionnaire in a Procurement Act tender pack, with the separate Scottish route made clear.
Updated - Guide
How public tenders are evaluated
Read award criteria, assessment methodology and weightings under the Procurement Act 2023, tell conditions of participation apart from award criteria, and check social value at source.
Updated - Guide
Tender clarification questions
Use the clarification window well: ask early and specifically, expect the buyer to share questions and document changes with every supplier, and keep to the official portal.
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Find and monitor opportunities
Choose a monitoring approach and turn published activity into a repeatable working routine.
- Comparison
Find a Tender alerts and a supplier workspace
Compare manual official-service checks, portal email alerts and Scout's joined search, buyer-following and daily-digest workflow.
Updated - Guide
How tender alerts work
Turn a tested search into useful alert criteria, understand what an email can and cannot prove, and keep official verification in the routine.
Updated - Guide
How to monitor public-sector buyers
Build a named-buyer watchlist, follow new procurement activity and separate published evidence from assumptions about future buying intent.
Updated - Guide
How to research a public-sector buyer
Build a source-linked buyer profile from identity, remit and published procurement history without manufacturing a spend forecast or buying plan.
Updated - Comparison
Which official UK tender service should you use?
Choose between Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales and eTendersNI without assuming any one service is exhaustive.
Updated - Guide
How to find public-sector tenders in Scotland
Use Public Contracts Scotland, understand when Find a Tender also appears, and follow the service named in the notice for documents and responses.
Updated - Guide
How to find public-sector tenders in Wales
Search Sell2Wales and Find a Tender together, set up the two supplier profiles correctly and verify the response route in each notice.
Updated - Guide
How to find public-sector tenders in Northern Ireland
Search eTendersNI and Find a Tender together, then use the official portal and documents to register interest and respond.
Updated
Sell in your market
Apply the same evidence discipline to the language and routes used in your sector.
- Guide
Selling to the NHS
Map NHS bodies, national buying routes and tender portals across the UK, with the separate English and Welsh Provider Selection Regimes kept clear.
Updated - Guide
Selling to local government
Map councils, shared services, local portals and public buying organisations without assuming one route or supplier list covers every authority.
Updated - Guide
Selling to central government
Join department pipelines, Find a Tender notices and Government Commercial Agency routes to the live procurement documents that control participation.
Updated - Guide
Selling to schools, colleges and universities
Separate school and trust, college, university and sector-consortium routes, then verify the legal buyer and live tender portal.
Updated - Guide
How to find public-sector tenders
Build a practical cross-industry search with buyer language, CPV codes, geography, notice stage and official-source verification.
Updated - Guide
How to research a possible incumbent supplier
Use award and contract records to identify a possible incumbent, then test dates, scope and later evidence before describing current delivery.
Updated - Guide
A public-sector bid/no-bid checklist
Screen a tender for eligibility, then run a general bid/no-bid decision on fit, capacity, competitiveness and economics without asking Winston to make the call.
Updated
Use the evidence
Ready to look at the live market?
Scout brings notices, buyer activity and saved work together while retaining the route back to the published record.
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