Built by framework owners, bid evaluators, social value champions, e-sourcing experts, category managers and commercial leads.

Built for SMEsBy government buyers

Public sector bids for SMEs, with a real buyer on your side.

Built by senior public sector buyers: framework owners, evaluators, social value champions and e-sourcing experts. Find tenders you fit, close every gap, and have an experienced buyer review your bid before you submit.

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You stay in control of every bid.

Test Preferred Bidder on a real tender

Paste a link from Find a Tender, Contracts Finder or your council's portal. See your fit, your gaps and what it takes to close them.

Tender link

Your first fit check is free. Create a free account for 3.

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Reviewed by public sector buyers

Credentials verified NDA signed before every review

Meet the reviewers

How it works

From first notice to signed contract

Every public sector tender follows the same five stages. Follow along to see what the buyer is doing, where small firms get stuck, and how we help at each one.

Free course

How to win a government contract

Cites official guidance, with the sources listed in every lesson. Finish each module to unlock the next.

Discover

Tenders ranked for your sector

Always free. Pick your sector and we rank live public tenders by how well they fit you.

Want a human on your bid?

For any tender you find here, you can ask an experienced public sector buyer to review your bid before you submit. Choose your reviewer by sector and strengths.

No one can guarantee a win. A review helps you bid better, and the decision always rests with the buyer.

Meet the reviewers

Sample data with fictional buyers. Splits (Quality, Social value, Price) come from each notice's award criteria where stated. The 5,300 figure is Tussell's count of live UK public sector frameworks, April 2025.

Sample report

Every gap costed, timed and checked against your deadline

Automated fit check29 Sep 2026

PB Certified

Human review by a public sector buyerfrom £295

Encrypted and private. When reviews open, your report will be shared only with the reviewer you choose, after they sign an NDA. How we protect your data

Bid readiness68%

Feasible: 6 gaps fixable in time, 1 tight, 1 to clarify with the buyer

Northbrook Metropolitan Borough Council

Targeted 1:1 Tuition for Children in Care (Virtual School)

Ref NMBC/2026/0147 · Published on Find a Tender · Open procedure

CPV 80000000 · Education and training

Contract value£450,0003 years + 1 optional year

Evaluation split 60%Quality10%SV30%Price From the notice's award criteria

Status:

Sample report for a fictional council. Costs and timings are estimates. Pass/fail items always stay on top.

Close the gaps

How to meet every requirement

Pick a requirement from your report. See your options, what each costs and how long it takes, then choose.

Sample report for a fictional council. Provider details were researched on 29 September 2026 and change often; confirm on the provider's site.

Before you submit

AI drafts your answers. A buyer you choose reviews them.

Pick a public sector buyer by sector and strengths. They mark your draft against the scoring scheme before you submit.

Step 2Choose your reviewerA public sector buyer marks your draft before you submit

Encrypted and private. When reviews open, your bid will be shared only with the reviewer you choose, after they sign an NDA, and only for that bid. How we protect your data

Choose your reviewer

Choose a reviewer to continue. Ask about a buyer review

Sample profiles for fictional people. Every reviewer has real public sector experience and signs a confidentiality agreement. Reviewers can't currently work in the sector they're reviewing, even if they've worked in it before.

What you get back

Sample buyer review · fictional

Q3. Describe how you will keep children in care safe during tuition. (20% of the score)

Strong. Names your Designated Safeguarding Lead and explains the DBS process clearly.
Missing. What a tutor does if a child makes a disclosure during an online session.
Weak. No example of reporting a concern to the Virtual School Head. Add one real case.

Your draft12 / 20

After the fixes16 / 20 estimated

Reviews from £295 per tender. See pricing

After the decision

Turn every score into the next win

Add your assessment summary. We show where the marks went and what to change next time.

Sample assessment summary · fictional

Targeted 1:1 Tuition for Children in Care

You scored79

Winner scored87

Delivery plan

Weight 40%

You 32/40

Winner 35/40

No named lead for each pupil.

Safeguarding

Weight 20%

You 18/20

Winner 18/20

Nothing lost.

Social value

Weight 10%

You 5/10

Winner 8/10

Commitments weren't measurable.

Price

Weight 30%

You 24/30

Winner 26/30

Two lines priced above the average.

Next time

Name one lead per pupil. Add numbers and dates to your social value answer. Save the improved answers to your evidence vault so they're ready for the next bid.

Not sure which stage you're at?Paste any tender link. We'll tell you where you stand and what to do next.

Get your free fit check

Most SMEs don't lose on price. They lose on bids they should never have chased.

Too many portals

Hundreds of notices a week, and no quick way to tell which ones genuinely fit you.

Hidden pass/fail gates

One missing certificate or policy can knock you out before anyone reads your answers.

No idea if you can close the gap

Is it a two-day fix or a three-month one? Most firms find out too late.

The real cost of bidding

Every bid you can't win costs you thousands. Here's the maths.

Independent UK research on what tendering costs small firms, and what we do about each one.

What does bidding cost you each year?

Change the numbers to match your business.

Bids a year

Writing days per bid

Bids won

Bid writer day rate

You spend a year£12,040

Spent on lost bids£9,030

Saved per no-go£3,010

Bids × days × day rate, in writing time only. It doesn't count your own team's hours, certificates or insurance. £602 is the UK average contract bid writer rate (Bid Solutions, 2025).

The prize

£45.2bn

won by small and medium firms from UK public sector buyers in 2025. That's 21% of direct spend, the highest in six years.

£29.1bnspent with SMEs by local government

33%SME share in education, training and recruitment

The money is there. We help you spend less chasing it.

Get your free fit check

Source: Tussell and British Chambers of Commerce, SME Procurement Tracker, May 2026.

Cebr's per-bid figure is from 2013 and hasn't been adjusted for inflation. FSB figures are from its December 2025 small business survey on public procurement. The framework figure is Tussell's count of live UK public sector frameworks, April 2025.

Built by those who buy it

We know what evaluators look for, because we've been the evaluators.

Preferred Bidder was designed by public sector commercial professionals. Every check reflects how buyers really assess suppliers, not guesswork.