Proactis tenders: how to use ProContract as a supplier

The tenders people call “Proactis tenders” are, in our reading, opportunities that buyers list on ProContract, an e-tendering portal whose register page says it is operated by Proactis. Councils and other public bodies use it to publish opportunities and take bids. TenderWorthy does not ingest it, so a tender run only there will not appear in our alerts.

This guide covers registering, alerts, finding and answering opportunities, and whether a ProContract tender is also on Find a Tender. We reviewed ProContract’s register page on 12 October 2026.

What TenderWorthy covers

TenderWorthy is an independent service. We are not part of Proactis, ProContract or any council that uses it.

We take notices from two places only: Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. We do not ingest ProContract. A tender run on ProContract appears in our live list only where the buyer has also published it on one of those two. Anything advertised only on ProContract will not reach a TenderWorthy alert.

So treat our lists as part of what a ProContract buyer advertises, not all of it. If a council has told you to register on ProContract, do that as well. Our comparison of every UK tender portal shows what each one holds and which we watch, and the tenders we cover shows what is live today.

Proactis tenders or ProContract: what is the difference?

ProContract is the portal this guide covers. Its register page says it is operated by Proactis, and you will see its web address starts procontract.due-north.com. We haven’t assessed how the Proactis and Due North names relate.

“Proactis” is the operator’s name, and we have only assessed ProContract. Not assessed: whether Proactis runs other systems that buyers use with suppliers. Check the portal’s own help pages.

You may also see the company name in buyers’ instructions. Gloucestershire County Council’s current opportunities page refers suppliers to a Proactis helpdesk for portal queries.

The practical rule is to use the link in the buyer’s notice or tender page. That is the portal where the buyer wants your response.

Registering on ProContract

Here is what the vendor says, and where we stop.

• Cost. The register page says “Registration is free” (fetched 12 October 2026).
• Scale. The same page says opportunities are “managed by over 30,000 buyers”. That is the portal’s figure, not ours, and we haven’t verified it.
• Everything else. Not assessed: the registration fields, any approval step, how login works and who to contact for help. Check the portal’s own help pages, starting from the supplier help site.

Buyers add their own instructions. Hackney’s tenders page tells suppliers to register in the portal’s Suppliers’ Area and select all relevant categories. That is Hackney’s statement about its own portal, so don’t assume every buyer works the same way.

Registering on the Central Digital Platform is a separate job: see how to register on the Central Digital Platform.

Categories and alerts

The register page says suppliers set areas of interest and locations, and matching opportunities are emailed overnight. That is all the vendor statement we have. Not assessed: the list of areas on offer, how many you can pick, or whether you can change them later. Check the portal’s own help pages.

Buyers describe the same step in their own words. The South East Business Portal, which runs on ProContract, has you choose categories to get alerts, and Hackney asks for all relevant categories.

Our own point is simple. An alert based on areas of interest and locations can still send you tenders you can’t bid for, for example because of the insurance or certifications they ask for. Treat each alert as a lead. Open the notice, check the requirements it states for insurance, certifications and location, and find the rest in the tender pack before you spend time on it.

Finding an opportunity and responding

Not assessed: how ProContract’s search, filters and response screens work. The portal has an opportunities list, but we haven’t described its screens or filters. Not assessed: check the portal’s own help pages, starting from the supplier help site.

What we can attribute is what individual buyers say about their own tenders:

• Browsing. Gloucester City Council’s page says you can browse opportunities on Supplying the South West without registering.
• Registering interest. Plymouth City Council’s explainer says you register to get alerts, and register interest in each tender you want to bid for. Fareham Borough Council’s page says registering does not mean you will be invited, so express interest in each notice you want.
• Questions. Hackney says queries go only through ProContract messaging, so send questions there, not to the buyer directly.
• Submitting. Blaby District Council publishes a bidder guide (PDF) on how to submit a response and manage notifications. It is Blaby’s guide for Blaby’s tenders.

Our advice, not a portal rule: submit well before the closing time in the notice.

If the pack includes a procurement-specific questionnaire, our guide to the PSQ explains it.

Regional portals that run on ProContract

These run on ProContract according to our region pages, each of which carries its own sources.

• London Tenders Portal. Runs on ProContract, with free supplier registration and email alerts. Its member list shows which boroughs use it, so check it on the day you register.
• The Chest (North West). The Chest says registration is free and that suppliers already registered on ProContract don’t need to register again. That is its rule for The Chest.
• EastMidsTenders. Runs on ProContract. Nottinghamshire County Council says it lists all tenders over £25,000 there and that registration is free.
• Supplying the South West. A free service with email alerts, running on ProContract.
• South East Business Portal. Runs on ProContract, with free registration, categories and alerts. Its home page lists councils in Hampshire, Oxfordshire and the Isle of Wight.
• Essex County Council’s portal. Essex’s supplier page points to ProContract for opportunities of £100,000 and over. It says registration is free and that one registration also shows opportunities from other public bodies on the platform.
• Wolverhampton’s portal. Wolverhampton City Council publishes on ProContract.

Yorkshire’s YORtender is not on this list. ProContract’s YORtender page notes that it has moved to EU-Supply; see our Yorkshire page.

Not every council uses ProContract. Delta eSourcing is another buyer system you will meet, and we have a guide to Delta eSourcing.

Will a ProContract tender also be on Find a Tender?

It may be, if the buyer started it under the Procurement Act 2023. But not always.

Section 21(1) says a contracting authority must publish a tender notice to invite tenders in an open procedure. In a competitive flexible procedure it must invite requests to participate or, where there is no such invitation, first tenders. gov.uk’s guidance says notices are published by all contracting authorities in one place on the central digital platform (para 8). It also says they must first be published there before being posted elsewhere (para 30). The guidance gives the platform’s address as find-tender.service.gov.uk (para 1), which is Find a Tender.

So when a public buyer runs a Procurement Act tender on ProContract, the tender notice should also be on Find a Tender, and then it can appear in our list. Here is when that may not be so:

1. It started under the old rules. PPN 019 says the Contracts Finder rules apply only to procurements commenced under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, so those may be on Contracts Finder instead.
2. It is below the notice values. A below-threshold tender notice is required from £12,000 for central government authorities and £30,000 for others, including VAT (para 10; see section 87(4)). Smaller quotes may be advertised only on a buyer’s own portal.
3. The buyer is a devolved Scottish authority. Section 2(5)(a) excludes them, apart from procurement falling within section 115A. See Public Contracts Scotland.
4. The buyer is not a contracting authority. The duty in section 21 falls on contracting authorities, as defined in section 2.
5. It is invitation-only. For below-threshold contracts, no notice is needed if the buyer invites only particular or pre-selected suppliers and doesn’t advertise any other way (section 87(2)).

This list may not be complete. If you can’t find a ProContract tender on Find a Tender, that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. Go to the portal.

Or let us check what we do cover

ProContract is a buyer-side portal you use directly, and we don’t replace it. For the Find a Tender and Contracts Finder side, 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.

Trade marks belong to their owners. TenderWorthy is not affiliated with Proactis, ProContract or any council or portal named here.