Public sector tenders in the West Midlands

West Midlands tenders are spread across several portals, because the region has no single one. Birmingham City Council runs its own In-Tend site, Coventry points suppliers to Sell2Midlands, and Wolverhampton uses ProContract. New opportunities under the Procurement Act 2023 are also advertised on Find a Tender, which is where our live list comes from. In the week to 10 Oct 2026, 37 live notices named a West Midlands delivery location (as of 10 Oct 2026).

Where West Midlands buyers publish tenders

Birmingham City Council. The council has its own In-Tend site with a registration page. We have not assessed the site itself, so check its own pages for what it lists and how to take part. A Birmingham notice on Find a Tender says registration and use of In-Tend is free and that correspondence goes through the system.

Coventry and Warwickshire. Coventry City Council’s supplier help sheet (September 2025) says the CSW-JETS and Warwickshire portals are reached via Sell2Midlands. Start there. The older address, csw-jets.co.uk, may still resolve, but we don’t link it. Coventry City Council also has an e-tendering page.

Wolverhampton. Wolverhampton City Council publishes on ProContract.

Staffordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire. We haven’t verified their systems. Check each notice for where to respond.

Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. Since 24 February 2025 no new procurements can start under the old rules (the Public Contracts Regulations 2015), and new below-threshold opportunities must be advertised on Find a Tender (PPN 019, para 8). Contracts Finder still carries notices for procurements that started under the old rules (PPN 019, para 7). We list those two only, so quotes run solely on a council’s portal won’t appear here. For how the main portals compare, see our guide to UK tender portals.

Who buys in the West Midlands

Councils are the visible buyers: Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire and Wolverhampton all appear above, and they don’t all use the same system. NHS bodies, universities and combined authorities also advertise, but we haven’t verified which system any of them uses, so check each notice. The live list on this page shows who is publishing right now.

Local support for small suppliers

The Business Support Service gives free advice to businesses in England on 0800 998 1098, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm (gov.uk). The page points to local growth hubs, which you can find through the growth hub finder. Ask whether yours helps with tendering. We haven’t checked what each hub offers.

Winning public contracts in the West Midlands

Register once where one registration covers several buyers. Coventry’s help sheet points Coventry and Warwickshire suppliers to Sell2Midlands, so follow Coventry’s registration guidance and check on registering which buyers it covers. Birmingham’s In-Tend site and ProContract (Wolverhampton) are separate registrations; if you already have a ProContract account, check whether it covers Wolverhampton. Do those if you’d genuinely travel to deliver.

Plan with future and awarded tenders. If a buyer’s portal lists future tenders and awarded contracts as well as live ones (check the portal’s own pages), use them. Future tenders give you notice to line up insurance and references. The awarded list shows who won what before, which helps you judge whether a contract is realistic for a firm your size.

Bid for the lot that fits. Before publishing a tender notice for an above-threshold contract, a buyer must consider lots and, if lots would be appropriate but it doesn’t use them, give reasons (section 18). In the week to 10 Oct 2026, 62 of the 470 live UK notices were multi-lot (as of 10 Oct 2026).

Follow the channel the buyer names. Birmingham’s notice says correspondence goes through In-Tend. Use the system the notice names for questions and submissions, not email.

Use the rules for lower-value contracts. A below-threshold contract is “notifiable” at £12,000 or more for central government bodies (NHS trusts included) and £30,000 or more for other authorities, including VAT (section 87(4); gov.uk guidance). If the buyer advertises a contract of that size, it must first publish a below-threshold tender notice on Find a Tender. It needn’t if it only invites suppliers it has chosen. For most of these contracts, buyers can’t shortlist on experience or accounts before inviting tenders (section 85). Larger works contracts and framework call-offs are exceptions. That gives a newer firm a fair first go on many of them.

Make your local credentials concrete. Central government departments, their agencies and non-departmental public bodies must weight social value at least 10% where relevant and proportionate, on above-threshold procurements started on or after 1 October 2025 (PPN 002). NHS trusts and councils aren’t covered by that note, so read the evaluation criteria in the pack. Staff who live nearby and local suppliers are easy to count, so put the numbers in your answer.

Read the award notices. For a notifiable below-threshold contract, the buyer must publish a contract details notice after entering into it (section 87(3)). The gov.uk guidance sets out 30 days for central government bodies and 90 days for others (gov.uk guidance). Combined with any awarded list a buyer’s portal publishes, that gives you a fair picture of who already supplies each buyer.

Look in the pack for insurance. Only 29 of the 470 UK live notices in the week to 10 Oct 2026 (about 6%) stated insurance requirements in the notice itself (as of 10 Oct 2026). Check public liability and health and safety accreditation requirements before you commit bid time. Named certifications are just as rare in notice text: 29 of the 470 live UK notices (about 6%) named one (as of 10 Oct 2026), so ask early what the pack expects and whether you can obtain it before award. Our tender eligibility checker is coming soon. Until then, tell us your trade and postcode to join the free weekly list of live tenders, starting soon.