How it works
The morning email, the verdict and what you need.
Bidlark reads every new notice on Find a Tender, Contracts Finder and Public Contracts Scotland overnight, keeps the ones in your field that a firm your size could take on, and tells you whether you could bid with what you hold.
Overnight, every weekday
- Every hourFind a Tender and Contracts Finder are read
- 04:00Public Contracts Scotland is read
- 05:05Your morning email goes
- 06:05Tried again, if anything failed
The morning email
On weekdays, before 7am, you get the new notices that fit your profile: up to eight cards a profile, best first. It only comes when there's something worth your time. Every Monday the week ahead lists awards in your field, near misses and your deadlines, so you never go a week without hearing from us.
Each card has a two-line reading of the notice, the official title, the buyer, the value and the exact deadline ("Thursday 5 November at 12 noon"), the verdict and its reasons, the flags, and a link to the official notice. The value, deadline and buyer always come from the notice's own fields.
The verdict
Every card is read against your insurance levels, certificates, written policies, turnover, staff numbers and where you're based:
- Worth a bid: in your field, the value fits, and the notice asks for nothing you lack.
- A stretch: one or two things you could fix, such as "Asks for £5m professional indemnity. You hold £1m."
- Not this one: something you can't fix in time, such as an area reservation, SC clearance or an ISO certificate with weeks to go. These never reach your inbox; they wait in your account with the reason.
A notice often says less than its tender pack. "No gaps found in the notice" means just that: the buyer's documents may ask for more, and they decide.
What you need
Open any card in your account for the checklist: each requirement, what the notice says in its own words, and whether your profile has it (Have, Missing, or Not in your profile).
Flags
- Reserved for small firms and charities, reserved for UK suppliers or for suppliers in a named area, read against where you're based.
- No pre-qualification stage: only where the Procurement Act 2023 says so (section 85), never for frameworks, works, concessions, utilities contracts, schools, or buyers in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
- Below threshold, Framework, In N lots, Value not stated and Closes in N days.
Tracking
"Track this" puts a notice on your board (Reading, Writing, Submitted, Won, Lost, Not bidding), sends reminders 7, 3 and 1 days before it closes, emails you if the buyer changes it, and adds it to a private calendar feed for Google, Apple or Outlook.
First drafts (Pro)
Upload the buyer's questions or paste them, and Pro drafts each answer from your profile, past jobs and saved answers. Gaps stay in brackets, anything that looks like a fact we can't find in your profile is highlighted, and you tick that you've checked before you download the Word file. How drafting works
What Bidlark never does
- Promise you'll win, or write, review or submit bids for you
- Pretend to be official: it's independent, and links to the official notice every time
- Store buyer staff names, emails or phone numbers
- Sell you a long contract: monthly or yearly, cancel in your account