Central Digital Platform registration: a step-by-step guide

Central Digital Platform registration has three steps: you create a GOV.UK One Login, complete your platform registration, then register your organisation as a supplier. It is free, and gov.uk’s supplier guide says you only need to do it when you want to bid.

TenderWorthy is an independent service. We’re not part of the Central Digital Platform, Find a Tender, the Cabinet Office or GOV.UK, and we can’t register you. The official walkthrough is gov.uk’s registration guide. This page adds what to prepare, what the platform holds about your business and when a buyer needs it. It is part of our guide on how to win public sector contracts.

Labels in quotation marks come from gov.uk’s guides (updated 23 June 2026). The service may differ, so go by what you see on screen.

Central Digital Platform registration: what to have ready

The Central Digital Platform asks for a few things you may not have to hand.

• An administrator. gov.uk says each supplier should assign one person to set up and register the organisation. That person can add and approve other users and enters and amends the organisation’s details. Agree who it is before anyone starts.
• Two email addresses. An individual work email for the administrator’s login, and a shared organisation email that other team members can access.
• Your registration details. A Companies House number, or an equivalent such as a Charity Commission number, and your registered address. A non-UK address is allowed.
• A phone or authentication app for security codes.
• Business information. The supplier guide lists your website, your last two years of accounts if you have them, details of connected people or businesses and anyone with significant control, and any convictions or offences.

Our first tender checklist covers the rest of what a first bid needs.

Step 1: create a GOV.UK One Login

Select “Create your Gov.UK One Login” and enter your individual work email address. Agree to the terms of use and privacy policy. A 6-digit security code is emailed to you; it may take a few minutes, so check your spam folder. Enter it and choose a password.

Then choose how to receive security codes: a text message or an authentication app. If you pick text, the 6-digit code goes to your mobile and expires after 15 minutes.

Already have a One Login? Select “Sign in” and go straight to step 2.

Step 2: complete your platform registration

Read and agree to the Central Digital Platform service privacy policy. Enter your first and last name and continue. You land on “My account”, which shows your account details and the option to register an organisation.

That is all this step involves. Nothing about your business has been entered yet.

Step 3: register your organisation as a supplier

From “My account”, select “Register an organisation”. When asked whether you are a buyer or a supplier, choose Supplier.

Then work through the questions:

• Registered number. Enter your Companies House number. If you don’t have one, select “No” and follow the alternative options shown. If none apply, a unique identifier is generated for you.
• SME status. Select it if it applies.
• Registered name. It fills in automatically if you gave a Companies House number; otherwise type it.
• Shared email. Use the organisation address your team can reach, not the administrator’s individual work email.
• Address. Also auto-filled from Companies House. You can enter a non-UK address.

Check your answers, change anything that’s wrong and select “Save”.

Your unique identifier: where to find it and when to share it

On the next page, select “View” to see your organisation’s details and your unique identifier. gov.uk’s instruction is to give it to the buyer before you are awarded a contract.

gov.uk’s guidance adds four points:

• Identifiers are generated when you first register. If you already hold one from an official register such as Companies House, you can enter that instead (para 18).
• Your identifier is published whenever a notice contains information about you (para 19).
• A contract award notice must include your identifier, and basic supplier information is enough to obtain one (para 72).
• If you win a notifiable below-threshold contract, the buyer must make sure you are registered, have submitted the specified information and have given your identifier (para 74).

Your supplier information: the six sections

After registering, the administrator completes your supplier information. The three-steps guide names six sections: basic information, connected persons, qualifications, trade assurances, exclusions and financial information.

Separately, the regulations group the core supplier information into four categories: basic information, economic and financial standing from your latest accounts, connected persons, and exclusion grounds (guidance para 59). The factsheet says the exclusion details relate to schedules 6 and 7 of the Act.

Three points from the guidance and factsheet:

• You can complete the information in advance or for a specific opportunity. You can update it, add to it and upload supporting documents, and you should check it before sharing (para 62).
• You declare that it is accurate. The platform doesn’t verify it before sharing, and the factsheet says the buyer does its own due diligence.
• Your details go only to the buyers you choose to share them with.

A buyer must not ask you separately for information the regulations require; it should ask you to provide it on the platform (para 63). It can still ask for other things separately, for example in a Procurement Specific Questionnaire.

Sharing with a buyer: declaration and share codes

To share, you check the information, make a declaration, then create a share code or download a file. For the declaration you tick a box to confirm you understand and agree, enter your name, job title, work email and the organisation’s postal address, and select “Confirm and get share code”.

A share code is a number you enter in the buyer’s tendering portal. Alternatively, send the downloaded file by email or upload it, as the buyer directs. If your information changes, update it and create a new share code; earlier codes stay visible with their dates.

When does the buyer need it? Under the guidance:

• The buyer must obtain confirmation that you have registered and submitted up-to-date core information. The regulations set the latest point, and the buyer can set an earlier deadline (para 60).
• In a competitive tendering procedure, it should request the information before the tendering period ends (para 66). For call-offs awarded by competitive selection under a framework, confirmation must be in place before the award decision (para 67). For direct awards, it should generally have the information before the transparency or contract award notice (para 69).
• If you correct your information before the award decision, the buyer must get further confirmation (para 65).

Missing a buyer’s deadline matters. A buyer may disregard a tender that breaches a procedural requirement in the notice or tender documents, and that includes a requirement to provide information (s.19(3)(d), (11)). Check the dates in the notice; see how to read a tender notice in five minutes.

Problems to watch for

• Using a different email. gov.uk says that if you register with a new email address, your old information will not be pulled through. Re-registering with the same email keeps your notices and saved searches from your old account.
• Codes not arriving. Check your spam folder. Text codes expire after 15 minutes.
• Two people setting up the organisation. Agree the administrator first, as above.
• A Scottish buyer. Devolved Scottish authorities are excluded authorities under the Act (s.2(5)(a), except for procurement within section 115A), and gov.uk names Public Contracts Scotland as the portal for Scottish opportunities. Check what that buyer asks for. See tenders in Scotland.

Once you’re registered, our guide on how to use Find a Tender covers searching and email alerts.

Your next step

Tell us your trade and postcode to join the free weekly list of live tenders, starting soon. On Pro (£49/month), notices that fit your trade and area are checked against what each states about insurance, certifications and location, and you get an email each morning on days with new matches.