What "Hard to find" means on a tender
Updated 2 Oct 2026
The Hard to find badge marks a tender that is not on any national portal, so you would not spot it by checking those portals yourself.
The Hard to find badge marks a tender that is not on any national portal. If you only watch Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales, eTendersNI or eTenders, you would not see it. Around one in four live tenders is not on any national portal, so the badge points you at opportunities that checking those portals alone would miss.
Where you will see the badge
The badge appears in several places:
- on tender cards in Browse and on your Dashboard;
- at the top of the tender page, beside the other status badges.
Hover over the badge on a computer, or tap it on a phone, to read the short explanation: "Not on Find a Tender, Contracts Finder or the other free portals".
What it means for you
A tender with this badge is real and open to suppliers. The badge is about where the notice appears, not about its quality. Because the national portals do not list it, you will not find it by checking them.
What you can see on a Hard to find tender
Everyone, including free accounts, can read the full tender page: the title, buyer, value, deadline and description. Two things differ by plan:
- Buyer contact details. Pro and Business plans see the contact name, email address and phone number on Hard to find tenders. On a Free plan these show as locked. See Find the buyer's contact details.
- The link to the buyer's portal. The portal link is a Pro feature. See Get the bid documents and submit your bid.
How to find these tenders
- Open Browse and search or filter as usual.
- Look for the Hard to find badge on the cards in your results.
- Open a tender to read the full notice.
- Select Add to watchlist if you want to keep an eye on the deadline. See Watch a tender.
On the Dashboard, matches that are Hard to find sit alongside your other matches, so you do not need to hunt for them.
Good to know
- The badge describes where a notice is listed. It is not a quality rating and says nothing about how likely you are to win.
- Do not assume you are the only supplier who can see a Hard to find tender. The buyer publishes it for suppliers to bid on, and the badge simply tells you it is not on the national portals.
- The badge text is always Hard to find. If you see another label, it is describing something else, such as a stage or an early signal. See What the RFI, PQQ and ITT badges mean.
To see what each plan includes, visit Pricing.
More in Understanding a tender
- What the RFI, PQQ and ITT badges meanA stage badge tells you how far along a procurement is, so you know whether to start preparing, register interest or submit a bid.
- Early signals and planned contractsEarly signal and Planned Contract labels mark opportunities that are coming, so you can prepare before a tender opens for bids.
- Deadlines and time zonesDeadlines are shown in UK time, with a days-left chip, a countdown on the closing day and a note when the buyer gave no time.
- Get the bid documents and submit your bidOpen the bid documents from the tender page, then use the Respond to this tender button to go to the buyer and submit your bid.
- Find the buyer's contact detailsThe Contact section of a tender page shows who to ask about the notice; everyone sees it on tenders also on a national portal, and Pro adds Hard to find tenders.
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