Our data and how we score
Where every listing comes from, what we change, and exactly how scores are worked out.
Sources
- Find a Tender and Contracts Finder: tender, award and contract notices, read through their public data feeds (OCDS format).
- Company details for suppliers come from the notices themselves; Companies House numbers are shown only where the buyer published them.
This data is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. BidTrowel is not endorsed by, or affiliated with, the UK Government or any public buyer.
What we do to the data
- We tag notices by trade, place them in a region and remove duplicates.
- We take out email addresses, phone numbers and named contacts found in notices before we display them. Follow the link to the official notice for contact details.
- Suppliers without a Companies House number are shown as "a small supplier" rather than by name.
- We do not copy tender documents. We link to the official notice, where documents are held by the buyer.
- AI writes the short summaries in alerts. Summaries can contain mistakes; the official notice always takes precedence.
How scores work
| Signal | Points |
|---|---|
| Matches one of your trades | +40 |
| In one of your regions | +25 (outside your regions: −10; not stated: +8) |
| Value inside your usual range | +15 (not published: +8) |
| Days left to bid | 10 or more: +10; 5 to 9: +5; under 5: −15 |
| Buyer marked it suitable for SMEs | +5 |
| Each accreditation the notice asks for (flagged so you can check you hold it) | −5 |
| Looks like consultancy rather than hands-on work | −20 |
Scores are capped between 0 and 100. They are a quick guide to fit, not a prediction of winning.
How we tag trades
We use the official Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes on each notice, plus keywords in the title and description. Main code groups:
| Trade | CPV code prefixes |
|---|---|
| Cleaning | 9091 |
| Pest control | 90920, 90921, 90922, 90923, 90924 |
| Grounds and trees | 7731, 7732, 7734, 7721, 77300, 77000000 |
| Building repairs and maintenance | 507, 508, 4545, 4526, 4544, 4542 |
| Electrical, heating and plumbing | 4531, 4533, 50711, 5072, 5073, 4532 |
| Fire and security | 7971, 50610, 4531200, 5041 |
| Waste and recycling | 9050, 9051, 9052, 9053 |
Freshness and corrections
Pages are rebuilt every morning. Closed contracts stay listed as "recently closed" for 30 days, then drop off. If you spot a mistake, email [email protected] and we will fix it.