Last edited 24 Jan 2020

Contract notice

A contract notice is any notification that provides information about an upcoming construction contract. It is essentially an advertisement. Today, most contract notices appear online but they may also be published in the hard copy versions of professional or other journals.

The UK government publishes public contract notices on its website and in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). The OJEU is the official on-line gazette of record for the EU. Publishing contract notices in the OJEU is required for public projects above a certain value.

Publishing contract notices in the OJEU is intended to open up public procurement and ensure the free movement of supplies, services and works within the EU. Private projects may also need to be published in the OJEU if they have been publicly subsidised.

Contracts posted in the OJEU may range from the supply of materials, to the installation of a school football pitch, to large multi-million-pound framework contracts for infrastructure. Details of the project will be provided to enable interested parties to ascertain whether the contract is of interest and how to pursue it.

Typical details published in the OJEU can include:

Type of contract;
Estimated value;
Information about whether the project is divided into lots;
Description of the procurement process;
Duration of the contract;
Any extension periods, and
Administrative and procedural information

The UK Government’s Contract Finder provides a search engine for contract notices on government and agency projects worth more than £10,000. It divides project notices into public sector and supply chain, breaking opportunities down further into location and contract value.

In Scotland, public contract notices must be published on Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) which provides free access to contract opportunities. It has details of contracts with Scottish local authorities, NHS Scotland, the Scottish Government, agencies and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), higher and further education and emergency services. When published on PCS, the contract notice is also published in the OJEU.