Public sector work — councils, NHS trusts, schools, housing associations — is one of the most reliable revenue streams a trade business can have. Contracts are predictable, payments are guaranteed (eventually), and winning one can transform your pipeline overnight.
But most small contractors don't even look at public tenders. They assume it's only for the big firms. That's a mistake. Thousands of contracts under £100,000 are published every year, and many are specifically reserved for SMEs.
Where to Find Public Sector Tenders
The UK has five main procurement portals, all free to use:
- Contracts Finder — England & Wales tenders. The main portal for contracts over £12,000 (central government) or £30,000 (local authorities)
- Find a Tender — UK-wide, for higher-value contracts (replaced the old EU OJEU portal post-Brexit)
- Public Contracts Scotland — Scottish public sector
- Sell2Wales — Welsh public sector
- eTendersNI — Northern Ireland public sector
You can search these manually, but it's time-consuming. Gaffer's Tender Watcher monitors all five portals automatically and alerts you when relevant opportunities appear.
Understanding CPV Codes
Every public tender is classified using CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) codes. These are standardised codes that describe what's being procured:
- 45330000 — Plumbing work
- 45310000 — Electrical installation
- 45331000 — Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
- 45261000 — Roof works
- 45440000 — Painting and glazing
Knowing your CPV codes helps you find relevant tenders faster. Gaffer maps these automatically to your trade type.
What You Need Before Bidding
Most public sector buyers require:
- Public liability insurance: Minimum £5 million (sometimes £10 million)
- Employer's liability insurance: If you have employees
- Professional indemnity: Increasingly required
- Health & safety policy: Written policy, ideally with RAMS capability
- Environmental policy: Even a simple one shows awareness
- Equality & diversity policy: Required by most councils
- Trade certifications: Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT, etc.
- References: Usually 3 from similar previous work
Get these in order before you start bidding. Having them ready means you can respond quickly when opportunities arise.
Anatomy of a Winning Bid
Public sector bids are scored on quality (typically 60–70%) and price (30–40%). Quality sections usually include:
Capability Statement
Who you are, what you do, how long you've been doing it. Include your certifications, team size, and geographic coverage.
Relevant Experience
Case studies from similar work. "We completed a 12-property boiler replacement programme for Bristol City Council" is far more compelling than "We do boiler installs."
Method Statement
How you'll actually deliver the work. Be specific: timelines, resource allocation, quality checks, communication methods.
Health & Safety
Your H&S policies, RAMS process, incident record, training programme. Buyers want evidence you take safety seriously.
Social Value
Increasingly important (10–20% of the score). Include apprenticeships, local hiring, community engagement, environmental commitments.
Common Mistakes
- Copy-pasting generic responses: Buyers can tell. Tailor every answer to the specific tender.
- Missing the deadline: Obvious, but it happens. Public sector deadlines are absolute — one minute late means rejected.
- Not answering the question: Read what they're asking. Answer exactly that, not what you want to tell them.
- Underselling your experience: Small doesn't mean unqualified. A 3-van plumbing firm with Gas Safe, CIPHE membership, and 5 years of domestic work is a credible bidder for local council maintenance contracts.
How Gaffer Helps
Gaffer's Tender Watcher monitors all five UK procurement portals and scores opportunities against your trade, location, and keywords. When a relevant tender appears, you get an alert with the deadline, buyer, value, and a relevance score.
The AI Bid Writer then generates draft response sections using your real company data — your workers' certifications, your job history, your H&S policies. It's not generic template filler; it's drawn from your actual Gaffer records.
You review, refine, and submit. What used to take days of writing now takes hours.