How to find companies to write to from UK public contract awards

The short answer: search the UK's two public procurement sites for awarded contracts. Filter for small suppliers in the sectors you serve. Then look each winner up on Companies House to find its directors. Write only when the win creates a need you solve. Most award notices don't pass that test, and that is fine.

This guide is for founders of small B2B service firms who want a steady, public source of reasons to write. It covers where the notices are, which filters matter, how to read the supplier, and what a good first email says.

Key takeaways

• Since the Procurement Act 2023 took effect on 24 February 2025, Find a Tender carries notices for new UK procurements, above and below threshold (except below-threshold notices in Scotland). Contracts Finder still carries procurements started under the old rules, and past contracts.
• Both sites publish their content under the Open Government Licence v3.0, which allows commercial use with attribution. The licence does not cover personal data.
• "Supplier is SME?" describes the winner. "Contract is suitable for SMEs?" describes the contract. Don't confuse them.
• In our first runs, roughly 1 in 15–17 public signals became someone worth writing to. Finding a working email address was the biggest loss.
• A win is a reason to write only if it changes something you can help with. Congratulations alone is not a reason.

Where UK contract awards are published

UK public buyers publish contract notices on two free GOV.UK services. Which one a notice is on depends on when the procurement started.

Find a Tender is now the main source. The rules for public buying changed on 24 February 2025, under the Procurement Act 2023. GOV.UK's platform guide calls the central digital platform, the enhanced Find a Tender service, "the place where all the regulated public procurement notices are published". The Find a Tender home page says that from that date "both above and below threshold notices about new UK procurements" are published there, "except below threshold in Scotland".

Contracts Finder covers the old regime. It lists "contracts worth over £12,000 (including VAT)" with the government and its agencies, according to GOV.UK's Contracts Finder page, and holds past contracts. GOV.UK's guidance on publishing to Contracts Finder now applies only to procurements started under the old Public Contract Regulations 2015. Those can still produce award notices today, so Contracts Finder is worth checking, but new procurements won't appear there.

Some GOV.UK pages still quote the pre-2026 threshold of £139,688. Under PPN 023, the threshold for most central government goods and services contracts is £135,018 for procurements starting on or after 1 January 2026. For prospecting, the threshold matters less than the notice type.

What the licence lets you do

The footer of both Contracts Finder and Find a Tender says all content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The licence lets you copy, publish, adapt and "exploit the Information commercially and non-commercially".

The condition is attribution. If the publisher gives no wording, the licence suggests: "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0." Put it in any list or report you build from the data.

The licence lists "personal data in the Information" as an exemption. Names and contact details of people on a notice are not licensed under the OGL, and UK GDPR applies to them. The licence also does not decide whether you may email anyone. That is a separate set of rules, covered in our guide to B2B cold email law in the UK.

Step 1: Search Find a Tender by notice type and CPV code

Start here, because new procurements are published here. In the Find a Tender search, these filters matter most for prospecting.

• Procurement stage: "Award" and "Contract". These are where award and signed-contract notices sit.
• Notice type. Under the Procurement Act 2023 group, look for "UK6: Contract award notice" and "UK7: Contract details notice". Awards from procurements started under the old rules appear under "F03: Contract award notice" in the other notice types group.
• Suitability: "Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)".
• Publication date. Set "From" to the last seven days, and you have a weekly routine.

The two Procurement Act notice types arrive at different moments. Find a Tender's guide to notice types says a UK6 is "Published after making an award decision and before a contract is signed". It starts a standstill period of at least 8 working days, if one applies. A UK7 is "Published after a contract has been signed, both above and below threshold". Above threshold, it "must be published within 30 days of signature", or 120 days for light-touch contracts.

So a UK7 can appear after work has started. The winner is mobilising. That is often a better moment to write than the award decision itself.

CPV codes for service contracts

CPV codes classify what was bought. The Find a Tender CPV browser lists these top-level divisions, among others. They are the ones most useful to service firms:

Pick codes for the work your clients do, not the work you do. A recruitment firm doesn't need recruitment contracts. It needs firms that just won engineering or IT work and must now staff it.

Step 2: Search Contracts Finder for older procurements

Contracts Finder still receives award notices for procurements that started before 24 February 2025. Open the Contracts Finder search and set three filters.

1. Procurement stage: "Awarded contract". This drops open tenders and early engagement notices. You want firms that already won.
2. Keywords. The box can search contract title, description and buyer. It supports OR, AND and exact phrases. Use words from your clients' work, such as "facilities management" or "software development".
3. Contract location. Pick a region, or a postcode with a radius of 5 to 50 miles. This helps if you sell locally.

Each awarded notice then shows a block of award information. These are the fields worth reading:

Watch the two SME fields. Higher up, the notice also shows "Contract is suitable for SMEs?". That describes the contract, not the winner. A contract can be suitable for SMEs and still go to a large firm. Filter your list on "Supplier is SME?", then check the company yourself. The flag is entered on the notice, so it can be wrong.

Step 3: Read the supplier before you write

An award notice names a company. It doesn't tell you whether that company is worth your time. Four checks remove most of the noise.

1. Is there one winner? "Awarded to 1 supplier" is clear. A framework award with dozens of names is a different thing. The Find a Tender filter "Commercial tool: Framework" lets you spot these. Read what was actually bought before you treat a framework place as a win.
2. Does the size fit? Compare the contract value with the company. A large win for a small firm changes its year. The same win for a large firm may not change anything.
3. Can you prove the website is theirs? Match the name, address or company number on the site to the notice. In our first runs, this step removed about half of the companies that passed the first record check.
4. Is it a repeat? One contract can appear twice: once as a UK6 and again as a UK7. An old-regime award can also appear on both sites. Keep a list of companies you have already looked at.

Step 4: Find the director on Companies House

Copy the Companies House number from the notice. Search for it on the free Companies House service. GOV.UK lists what you get at no cost, including "current and resigned officers", document images and previous company names. You can also set free email alerts for "a change of director or address".

In a firm of 5 to 50 people, a director is usually the right person to write to. In a larger firm, the director may not own the problem you solve. Then look on the company's own website for the person who does.

Companies House gives you a name, not an email address. Don't guess the address. Find it on the company's website, or check it before you send. In our first runs, a missing or unconfirmable address lost more people than any other step.

What a good reason to write looks like

A contract win is a reason to write only when it creates a need you solve. Here is the backwards version.

"Congratulations on the contract. Now you'll want more leads."

It fails because the winner is busy delivering. A new contract adds work. It rarely creates an appetite for more sales right now.

The better version starts from what the win changes for them:

• They must staff it. A recruitment or contractor firm can help.
• They must report on it. For public contracts worth more than £5 million, the contract details notice sets out the three key performance indicators the buyer regards as most material, or explains why none were set, per GOV.UK's guidance. An operations or reporting consultancy can help.
• They must run new systems or train staff. An IT consultancy or training firm can help.
• They now have a public reference. A comms or design studio can help them use it, once delivery is under way.

Then give before you ask. Offer something useful that costs them nothing, such as three named contacts or a one-page checklist. Don't open with a request for a call.

A first email might read:

Subject: Staffing the new [buyer] contract

Hi [first name], I saw on Find a Tender that [company] was awarded the [contract title] in October, starting in November. Mobilising a contract that size usually means hiring fast. We place [role type] in [region]. I've put together three candidates who could start this month. Shall I send their profiles?

It names the source and the date. It says what the win changes. It offers something concrete.

What our first runs showed

These numbers are from ClearIntro's own early runs between 26 October and 2 November 2026. ClearIntro has no paying clients yet, so treat them as an early, small sample.

The funnel is steep. On 2 November we started with 50 signals: 37 UK contract awards, 10 US fundraises and 3 social posts.

• 15 passed the first record check.
• 8 had a website we could prove belonged to the company.
• 6 fit the client's ideal customer.
• 3 had a named person.
• 3 were proposed.

Roughly 1 in 15–17 public signals became someone worth writing to.

Addresses are the bottleneck. On 30 October, 20 signals gave 14 companies but only 1 proposal. Eight were dropped because we could find no email address at all. On 29 October, every address for seven good companies sat on a "catch-all" mail server, which accepts any address. None could be confirmed, so nobody was proposed that day. We now accept a catch-all address only when the company's own website shows it, or shows its staff naming pattern. We label it when we do.

Repeats need handling. The same award appeared every morning for 14 days. The same CEO showed up three days running. We now mark repeats on the list and hold them back after 14 untouched days.

The volume is modest. A 14-day live check of Find a Tender, to 2 November, found 57 UK small-firm winners. That is a steady source, not a flood. It suits a routine of a few well-chosen emails a day.

How ClearIntro does this

ClearIntro runs this routine every weekday morning. It reads Contracts Finder and Find a Tender award notices, Companies House filings and other public sources. It checks the company and finds a named person. Each morning you get a short list of at most 10 new people. Each comes with a dated reason to write and a draft email in your voice. Nothing is sent until you approve it. It takes about 10 minutes a day.

See how it works for consultancies, read whether B2B cold email is legal in the UK, or see the pricing.