How to win government contracts
Public buyers spend trillions a year and must publish most of what they buy. These free guides cover the whole path from finding a tender to pricing your bid, plus a procurement guide for every country whose tenders Bidstage reads.
Six steps to winning public contracts
- Register where buyers look. SAM.gov in the US, the central digital platform in the UK, CanadaBuys, and the e-procurement platform named in EU notices.
- Find the right tenders. Search official portals by CPV or NAICS code and region, and check them several times a week.
- Qualify hard. Run a bid/no-bid check against the selection criteria, the award weighting and your capacity.
- Write to the scoring scheme. Answer each question as asked, with evidence, within limits, and stay fully compliant.
- Price to the formula. Cost from the specification, model the price scoring formula and keep a defensible margin.
- Learn from every result. Ask for feedback and read award notices to see who wins and at what price.
Guides
How to find government tenders
Where public tenders are published in the EU, UK, US and Canada, how to search them by CPV or NAICS code, and how to stop missing relevant notices.
How to write a tender response that scores well
How to write a winning tender or bid response: answer the question asked, follow the scoring scheme, prove claims with evidence and stay compliant. With a checklist.
Bid/no-bid checklist for public tenders
A practical bid/no-bid checklist for public tenders: 12 questions, a simple scoring matrix and the red flags that mean you should walk away.
How to read a tender notice
A field-by-field walk through a public tender notice: buyer, CPV codes, value, lots, procedure, selection and award criteria, deadlines and how to ask questions.
CPV codes list and how to use them
CPV codes explained: how the 8-digit Common Procurement Vocabulary works, how to find your codes, plus every CPV division with live open tender counts.
Public procurement thresholds 2026-2027: EU, UK, US, Canada
Current public procurement thresholds: EU 2026-2027 (€140,000, €216,000, €5,404,000), UK Procurement Act 2026 amounts, US FAR $15,000/$350,000 and Canada.
Framework agreements in public procurement
What a framework agreement is, how call-offs work (direct award and mini-competition), how long frameworks last in the EU and UK, and how to get onto one.
Government contracts for small businesses
How small businesses and small teams win public contracts: start with lower-value tenders, use lots and set-asides, partner up, and qualify hard.
How to price a bid for a public contract
How to price a public tender: build the cost from the specification, understand price scoring formulas, avoid abnormally low tenders and keep your margin.
A GovWin IQ alternative for small businesses
GovWin IQ is Deltek's enterprise market-intelligence platform for US Federal, SLED and Canadian contracts, sold through a sales demo with no published price. Bidstage publishes its price.
A DemandStar alternative for bidding across more than one country
DemandStar's supplier plans price notifications by US county, state or nationally ($60-$2,699/yr). Bidstage matches tenders across the EU, UK, US, Canada and World Bank for one flat price.
A Stotles alternative for small teams that just need matched tenders
Stotles' own pricing page lists Growth from £475/month for buyer intelligence; Basic starts at £50-75/month. Bidstage is $19 or $49 a month, published, no sales call.
Public procurement by country
Official portals, 2026 thresholds, registration steps and the latest open tenders for each country.
North America and the UK
- United States 10,640 open
- United Kingdom 261 open
- Canada 846 open
European Union
- Germany 6,995 open
- France 5,089 open
- Poland 5,011 open
- Spain 2,183 open
- Italy 1,496 open
- Czechia 1,405 open
- Belgium 1,160 open
- Sweden 1,353 open
- Romania 1,271 open
- Netherlands 1,275 open
- Portugal 692 open
- Bulgaria 677 open
- Finland 641 open
- Lithuania 560 open
- Croatia 487 open
- Greece 525 open
- Slovenia 433 open
- Austria 474 open
- Latvia 452 open
- Ireland 384 open
- Slovakia 361 open
- Denmark 345 open
- Hungary 309 open
- Estonia 208 open
- Luxembourg 229 open
- Malta 100 open
- Cyprus 87 open
EEA and Switzerland
- Switzerland 609 open
- Norway 596 open
- Iceland 42 open
Questions
How do I win my first government contract?
Start with lower-value contracts or lots that match your specialism, register on the official portals, qualify each opportunity before bidding, and answer every question with evidence. Subcontracting to a larger supplier is another way to build public sector references.
Is it hard for a small business to win government contracts?
It takes preparation rather than size. EU rules encourage lots, the UK requires buyers to consider barriers for small businesses, and the US reserves many contracts for small businesses.
Where can I see open government tenders?
On official portals such as TED, Find a Tender, SAM.gov and CanadaBuys, or on Bidstage, which collects them by country and category for free browsing.
See which open tenders fit your business
Give Bidstage your website. It builds a capability profile and scores every open tender for fit, with the reasons, the official deadline and value, and a plain summary.