Find a Tender, the OJEU and TED
Since Brexit UK notices go to Find a Tender, not the OJEU. Irish notices still go to TED. Thresholds, what the notices contain and how to use both for alerts.
Updated on September 5, 2026
The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) is where public contracts above the EU thresholds must be advertised, and TED, Tenders Electronic Daily, is the free website that carries the procurement supplement in every EU language. Since the United Kingdom left the European Union, UK notices no longer go there: they are published on Find a Tender, the UK e-notification service, while Irish notices continue to go to TED as well as eTenders.
How it works
UK contracting authorities publish through the central digital platform, which feeds Find a Tender for above-threshold notices and Contracts Finder for English below-threshold ones. Publication is required from £135,018 including VAT for central government goods and services, £207,720 for local authorities and other sub-central bodies, £415,440 for utilities and £5,193,000 for works and concessions (verified 2026-09-05). The details are on the thresholds page.
In Ireland, contracting authorities publish on eTenders and, above the EU thresholds, in the OJEU: €140,000 for central government supplies and services, €216,000 for other contracting authorities, €432,000 for utilities and €5,404,000 for works and concessions, all excluding VAT. The relevant notices are planned procurement and prior information notices, tender notices, corrigenda and contract award notices.
Both systems now use structured electronic forms, eForms in the European Union and the notice types set out in the Procurement Act 2023 in the UK, so the same fields appear each time: buyer, CPV codes, place of performance, estimated value, procedure, dates and criteria. Find a Tender and TED both publish open data, and Find a Tender offers a free OCDS interface.
What it means for a bidder
Between them the two services cover the largest contracts on these islands. An SME can bid on the same terms as a large group, alone or in a consortium, and above-threshold procedures come with more generous minimum response periods than a below-threshold quotation.
For UK monitoring, Find a Tender is the reference above the threshold, but a great deal of the volume, and most of the work accessible to smaller firms, sits below it on Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales and eTendersNI. TED is worth watching for Irish opportunities and for planned procurement notices, which flag contracts months ahead.
Do not assume everything on Find a Tender or TED is huge: a four-year services framework worth £250,000 appears there too.
Example
Val Severe University Hospital renews its pathology sample transport contract, estimated at £380,000 including VAT over four years. That is above £207,720, so the trust publishes a tender notice on Find a Tender through the central digital platform. A regional medical courier firm, alerted on the CPV code for courier services, bids and wins two of the three lots.
Frequently asked questions
Do Find a Tender and TED cost anything?
No. Searching and setting up alerts is free on both, and publication is free for buyers.
Does a UK notice still appear in the OJEU?
No. Since Brexit UK notices appear on Find a Tender. Only Irish and other EU buyers publish in the OJEU.
Can I bid for a contract advertised in another country?
Yes. UK suppliers can bid in Ireland and the EU, and vice versa, subject to any qualification, insurance and establishment requirements in the tender documents.