What is a contract award notice and when must it be published?

A contract award notice is a formal public notice that a contracting authority must publish after awarding a public contract, informing the market that a procurement process has concluded and a supplier has been selected. In the UK, publication is a legal requirement under the Procurement Act 2023, which replaced the previous Public Contracts Regulations 2015 regime. The sections below address the most common questions contracting authorities ask about contract award notices, from who must publish them to what happens when things go wrong.

Who is legally required to publish a contract award notice?

Contracting authorities in the UK are legally required to publish a contract award notice. This includes central government departments, local authorities, NHS bodies, educational institutions, housing associations, and other public bodies that fall within the scope of the Procurement Act 2023. Private organisations are not subject to this requirement unless they are acting as a utility or operating under a concession contract that brings them within the regulated procurement framework.

The obligation applies whenever a contracting authority awards a public contract above the relevant financial threshold. These thresholds vary depending on the type of authority and the category of goods, services, or works being procured. Contracts below the threshold may still be subject to transparency obligations under the Act’s new below-threshold regime, so contracting authorities should not assume that lower-value awards are entirely exempt from publication duties.

Third sector organisations and charities that receive public funding and carry out procurement on behalf of public bodies may also fall within scope, depending on the structure of the arrangement. If there is any doubt about whether an organisation is a contracting authority for the purposes of the Act, legal advice should be sought before proceeding.

What information must a contract award notice include?

A contract award notice must include the name of the contracting authority, a description of the contract, the value of the award, the name of the winning supplier, and the date the contract was awarded. Under the Procurement Act 2023, the required information has been expanded compared to the previous regime, with a stronger emphasis on transparency and public accessibility of procurement outcomes.

Specifically, the notice should contain:

• The unique procurement reference number assigned to the contract
• A description of the subject matter of the contract, including the relevant CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) codes
• The estimated total value of the contract, including any options or extensions
• The duration of the contract
• The name and registered address of the awarded supplier
• The number of tenders received and, in some cases, the names of unsuccessful tenderers
• The basis on which the award decision was made

The level of detail required is designed to allow unsuccessful suppliers and the wider public to scrutinise the decision. This transparency obligation sits at the heart of the Procurement Act 2023’s reform agenda, which aims to make public spending more accountable and easier to challenge where appropriate.

How long do contracting authorities have to publish a contract award notice?

Under the Procurement Act 2023, contracting authorities must publish a contract award notice within 30 days of entering into the contract. This replaces the 30-day requirement that existed under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, but the new regime also introduces additional transparency notices at different stages of the process, meaning the overall timeline of publication obligations is more structured than before.

It is important to distinguish between the point of award and the point of entering into the contract. The award decision and the formal execution of the contract are separate events. The standstill period, which must be observed between notifying unsuccessful tenderers and signing the contract, typically runs for at least eight working days. The 30-day clock for publishing the contract award notice begins once the contract is signed, not when the award decision is made.

Contracting authorities managing multiple simultaneous procurements should build publication deadlines into their contract management workflows from the outset. Missing the 30-day window is not a minor administrative oversight; it carries real compliance risk, as discussed in the section on consequences below.

Where must a contract award notice be published in the UK?

In the UK, contract award notices must be published on the Find a Tender Service (FTS), which is the official UK procurement notice platform that replaced the EU’s OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union) following the UK’s departure from the European Union. Find a Tender Service is the primary publication channel for all regulated procurement notices in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, while Scotland uses Public Contracts Scotland alongside FTS for cross-border visibility.

Publication on FTS is mandatory for above-threshold contracts. The platform is publicly accessible, free to use, and searchable by suppliers, journalists, and members of the public. Notices published on FTS are also automatically shared with Contracts Finder, the government’s secondary transparency platform, which covers a broader range of public sector contracts including some below-threshold awards.

Contracting authorities should not rely solely on their own websites or sector-specific portals as a substitute for FTS publication. Internal publication does not satisfy the legal requirement. Some authorities also choose to publish notices on sector-specific platforms for additional visibility, but this is supplementary rather than a replacement for the mandatory FTS route.

What happens if a contract award notice is published incorrectly or late?

Publishing a contract award notice late or with material errors exposes the contracting authority to legal challenge and potential remedies under the Procurement Act 2023. Unsuccessful suppliers have the right to bring a claim in the High Court if they believe a procurement has been conducted improperly, and a failure to publish a compliant notice on time can be used as evidence of non-compliance with the Act’s transparency requirements.

The consequences can include:

• A court order setting aside the contract award
• An award of damages to an unsuccessful tenderer who suffered loss as a result of the breach
• Reputational damage and increased scrutiny from oversight bodies
• Internal audit findings and potential requirements to re-run the procurement

In practice, courts will consider the nature and severity of the error when determining the appropriate remedy. A minor formatting error is unlikely to result in a contract being set aside, but a failure to publish at all or a significant omission of required information carries far greater risk. Contracting authorities should treat the publication obligation as a compliance deadline, not an administrative afterthought.

Proactive governance is the most effective safeguard. Building a checklist of publication requirements into the procurement process, assigning clear ownership for notice publication, and reviewing draft notices before submission significantly reduce the likelihood of errors reaching the public record.

How does a contract award notice differ from a contract change notice?

A contract award notice marks the conclusion of a procurement process and confirms which supplier has been awarded the contract. A contract change notice, by contrast, is published during the life of an existing contract to notify the market of a significant modification to its terms. The two notices serve distinct legal purposes and are triggered by entirely different events.

Under the Procurement Act 2023, contracting authorities are required to publish a contract change notice before making certain modifications to a contract, particularly where the change would materially alter the scope, value, or duration of the original agreement. This requirement exists to prevent contracting authorities from circumventing competition rules by quietly expanding contracts without a new procurement exercise.

The key distinctions are:

• Timing: A contract award notice is published after the contract is signed; a contract change notice is published before or when a modification takes effect
• Purpose: Award notices confirm a supplier selection; change notices disclose modifications to an existing arrangement
• Trigger: Award notices are mandatory for every regulated contract award; change notices are required only when the modification meets defined materiality thresholds
• Scrutiny period: Contract change notices under the new regime introduce a standstill period before the change can be implemented, giving the market an opportunity to challenge the modification

Understanding the difference between these two notice types is essential for contracting authorities managing long-running contracts, particularly where scope changes, extensions, or price adjustments are common. Treating a material contract modification as an internal matter, without publishing the required notice, carries the same compliance risks as failing to publish an award notice in the first place.

How eXceeding helps with contract award notices and public procurement compliance

Navigating the publication requirements of the Procurement Act 2023 demands both procedural knowledge and practical experience. eXceeding supports contracting authorities across the public, third, and private sectors with the full procurement lifecycle, including ensuring that notices are accurate, compliant, and published on time. Specifically, eXceeding can help by:

• Advising on which contracts trigger a publication obligation and which thresholds apply
• Drafting and reviewing contract award notices to ensure they meet the information requirements of the Procurement Act 2023
• Managing publication on the Find a Tender Service on behalf of contracting authorities
• Building compliant procurement governance frameworks that embed notice publication as a standard process step
• Supporting contract management teams in identifying when a contract change notice is required

Whether your organisation needs hands-on procurement support for a single complex tender or longer-term capability across your procurement function, eXceeding’s independent consultants bring the expertise to keep your procurement compliant and defensible. Get in touch with our team to discuss how we can support your next procurement.

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