Government contracts represent one of the largest business opportunities in Australia and New Zealand. In 2023-24, the total value of government procurement opportunities across Australia and New Zealand is estimated at over $250 billion annually, spanning goods, services, and infrastructure.

Year on year, these expenditures increase. Accessing these opportunities to work with the government can foster growth and expansion, stabilize revenue, and establish long-term partnerships for businesses. Yet many suppliers struggle with the same challenge: finding the right tender.

This comprehensive guide will help you understand everything you need to know about government tenders in Australia and New Zealand, from where these opportunities are published to setting up systems that ensure you never miss a relevant tender that could grow your business.

Why Government Tenders Matter

Government work is not just for large companies. Australia and New Zealand both commit to treating all their suppliers fairly but supporting all business sizes, even and most especially small to medium enterprise (SMEs).

They actively seek suppliers across different industries, and the sheer scale of government spending creates opportunities across virtually every industry:

• Construction and infrastructure account for the largest share of tender opportunities
• Professional services, including consulting, legal, and financial services
• Information technology and digital transformation projects
• Healthcare and medical supplier for hospitals and health departments
• Facilities management and maintenance services
• Education and training programs and materials

To successful suppliers these projects bring stability, strengthen credibility, and potentially lead to repeat business, regardless of the value of government contracts. Winning one tender and successfully delivering the required outcome lifts your credibility and helps you win the next tender. And as you win more, it could lead to having the opportunity to be a part of a panel, which are groups of preferred suppliers. This gives your business ongoing access to future opportunities with a reduced need for re-tendering or if tendering is required, against a smaller group of competitors.

“The opportunity isn't just in the dollar value. It’s timing. Through our platform, we see patterns that are striking: suppliers who discover tenders early into their publication have significantly more time to build competitive responses, research requirements, and engage with procurement teams. The businesses consistently winning work aren't necessarily bigger or better. They're simply better informed, better prepared, and earlier,” says Stephen Blacketer, Managing Director of Consolidated Tenders.

Opportunities are not just tenders

When people think of government work, they often think only of open tenders. In reality, tenders are just one part of the procurement process. Government agencies use different methods depending on the size, urgency, and nature of the work.

Government opportunity types include:

Suppliers who focus only on open tenders often enter the process late. Those who track the wider procurement pipeline gain earlier visibility, more preparation time, and a stronger competitive position.

Where are Government Opportunities Published?

Here’s where it can still feel complex. Unlike private sector opportunities, which are often informal, relationship-driven, and rarely advertised publicly, government procurement operates under clear rules designed to ensure fairness, transparency, and open access.

In practice, however, government opportunities are spread across many different procurement portals depending on the council, state, and agency. Each jurisdiction typically maintains its own tendering website, official publications, and procurement framework, which suppliers must monitor separately.

Federal/Commonwealth level:

AusTender (Australia): Commonwealth government contracts

GETS (New Zealand): Government Electronic Tenders Service

State and Territory Portals:

South Australia: Tenders SA

Victoria: Buying for Victoria

Queensland: QTenders

New South Wales: Buy NSW

Western Australia: Tenders WA

Northern Territory: NT Tenders

Tasmania: Tasmanian Government Tenders

Local Governments:

500+ individual council websites across Australia

67 territorial authorities in New Zealand

Each with their own procurement processes and tender portals

Suppliers who operate across multiple states would need to monitor dozens of different websites daily to find relevant opportunities for their businesses. For small businesses, the challenge includes lack of awareness and limited resources for tender preparation and response, according to research on local SME participation.

Understanding Tender Thresholds

Despite the amount of government work needed to be done, not every project is open to the public. Thresholds are placed depending on the contract value, and understanding them helps you know which ones are by invitation only and how do you get invited.

Key Thresholds to Know

Government agencies have different requirements usually depending on the contract value, but may also include other factors:

What This Means for Suppliers

Opportunities below these thresholds may not always appear on public tender portals. In many cases, agencies source work through selective tendering or panel arrangements.

While some panel opportunities may be visible as notices, responses are restricted to invited suppliers. This makes early registration, prequalification, and supplier visibility essential. Agencies can only engage businesses they are already set up to work with.

This is why finding and registering with the right procurement platform matters to ensure that you are visible when those opportunities arise.

“The biggest misconception is that you need to chase Commonwealth contracts from day one. The smartest path we see is starting local, with council contracts, state panels, and smaller opportunities where suppliers can compete more effectively and build relationships over time. Build your track record there, refine your processes, and then scale up. It's a marathon, not a sprint,” Blacketer added.

How to Find Government Tenders: A Step-by-Step Approach

Now that you understand the whole procurement landscape, let us walk you through the steps to finding relevant opportunities for your business.

Step 1: Identify your categories

Government opportunities are organized and tagged with category codes, typically using the UNSPSC (United Nations Standard Products and Services Code) coding system. UNSPSC uses a four-level hierarchy. At the highest level, it groups opportunities into around 80 broad categories. These are then broken down into increasingly detailed classifications, with the most granular level covering approximately 80,000 specific categories.

Because UNSPSC is hierarchical, a buyer searching at a higher level (such as Level 2) will also see suppliers who have identified their capabilities at Levels 3 and 4 within that category. Because of this, it’s best to define your capabilities as specifically as possible, ideally at Level 3 or 4, to improve your visibility in searches.

For example, UNSPSC Level 1 categories include:

• Construction trades (e.g., electrical, plumbing, civil works)
• Professional services (e.g., management consulting, legal, accounting)
• IT and telecommunications (e.g., software development, cloud services, cybersecurity)
• Healthcare (e.g., medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, allied health services)
• Facilities and property (e.g., cleaning, maintenance, security)

Start by identifying which categories your products and services fall under.   Most tender platforms allow you to browse through lists of categories that suit your business so you can easily filter opportunities.

Step 2: Determine your geographical scope

Are you targeting:

• Local council contracts in your region?
• State- or territory-wide opportunities?
• Federal government contracts across Australia?
• Trans-Tasman opportunities that span both Australia and New Zealand?

Your geographic scope determines which portals you need to monitor. A business operating in South Australia may need to monitor Tenders SA and the local council portals, while a national supplier needs visibility across all jurisdictions.

Step 3: Choose your search method

There are three ways you can search for these opportunities. Some may take patience, and some can provide efficiency.

Option A: Manual Monitoring (not recommended)

• Visit each government portal individually.
• Search for tenders under your category and location.
• Manually check daily for new opportunities.
• Downside: Time-consuming, inefficient, high risk of missing opportunities

Option B: Email Alerts from Individual Portals

• Register on each portal you want to monitor.
• Set up email notifications based on your category.
• Receive alerts when matching tenders are published.
• Downside: Multiple logins, inconsistent alert quality, fragmented information

Option C: Aggregated Tender Platform (recommended)

• Use a platform that consolidates tenders and other government opportunities in one platform.
• Set up your saved searches based on your category.
• Receive daily alerts that smartly match your saved search across different jurisdictions
• Benefit: Consistent experience, comprehensive coverage

Blacketer suggests that, “the next evolution is moving suppliers from reactive to proactive. Instead of searching daily, imagine a system that learns your business, tracks your win patterns, and alerts you only with opportunities where you have a genuine competitive advantage. We have been building toward a platform that doesn't just aggregate tenders. It actively helps you win them.”

Step 4: Set Up Effective Tender Alerts

Regardless of what method you use in finding tenders, setting up your tender alerts is a crucial part of the process. Here’s how to set them up properly:

Define your keywords carefully:

• Use specific terms related to your service (e.g., “civil engineering” not just “construction”).
• Include variations and synonyms
• Avoid being too broad (you will get overwhelmed) or too narrow (you’ll miss opportunities).

Select multiple categories:

• Your services may span multiple procurement categories.
• Review category descriptions carefully.
• Don’t limit yourself to obvious matches.

Select geographic filters:

• Consider the areas you can deliver your product or service.
• Account for remote work opportunities especially for professional services.
• Think about where you want to expand, not just where you operate today.

Choose notification frequency:

• Daily digests are the most effective
• Real-time alerts for highly competitive categories
• Weekly summaries if you’re monitoring multiple categories
• As a general rule, it’s better to be over-notified than under-notified. The opportunity you miss could be the one that changes your business.

Discovering a tender a day after it was published versus five days after can be significant. These opportunities become open to the public for weeks or months at a time. Seeing them late means less time to prepare a quality response, which can impact your competitiveness.

Beyond Basic Search: Advanced Tender Intelligence

Finding tenders is a good first step to your tendering journey. Here is additional intelligence successful suppliers use to help them get ahead:

Forward Procurement Plans (FPP)

Government agencies publish FPPs to inform suppliers about specific projects they plan to open for tenders. These plans can happen in a couple of months or years. These are not binding, but they provide valuable lead time to:

• Prepare capability statements
• Build relationships with prime contractors
• Research requirements and past contracts
• Form partnerships or joint ventures if needed

Australia publishes their Annual Procurement Plans for major agencies, while New Zealand has their procurement pipelines at GETS.

Contract Award Data

While this is something that you should manually do if you want to do a deep dive on the market, reviewing awarded contracts helps you understand:

• Who’s winning in your category
• Typical contract values
• Which agencies are active buyers
• Competitive landscape and potential partners

AusTender has a feature called Contract Notice where you can view details of Commonwealth contracts, including supplier details, the branch and division of the buyer, the procurement method, and other project descriptions.

Panel Arrangements

Government panels allow pre-qualified suppliers to provide quotations without going through the full tender process again. Getting into these panels is highly beneficial, as it provides a steady workflow and skips certain steps in the bidding process. It is critical that you keep track of which when panels are opening and if you will be eligible to join.

Common Mistakes When Searching for Tenders

Every business, no matter how long they have been in tendering, can still make mistakes.

Mistake 1: Searching too narrowly

Searching narrowly can bring more targeted results. However, sometimes, too narrow might be too much. Procurement descriptions can vary, and the same service might be categorized differently across different agencies.

Solution: Create a wider search initially and refine based on relevance over time.

Mistake 2: Focusing on federal contracts

Federal contracts can sometimes be too broad. By expanding your search filters to states and territories, more opportunities will be visible, most with even less competition or more accessible to smaller suppliers.

Solution: Monitor all levels of the government, not just Commonwealth or Federal contracts.

Mistake 3: Waiting until tenders are published

Many suppliers only start preparing once a tender is released. By then, timelines are already set and there is limited opportunity to clarify requirements or shape your approach.

Solution: Take advantage of forward procurement plans to see the pipeline and prepare your documents early. These signals allow you to get your documentation ready and understand agency priorities.

Mistake 4: Not checking regularly enough

The tender you have been waiting for might just have been part of the alert you decided to skip for the day. Some tenders may also have shorter response times and missing them reduces your time to prepare.

Solution: Set up your daily notifications and go through them as they arrive rather than manually checking.

Mistake 5: Ignoring closed or awarded tenders

Getting insights is one of the best practices to learn about the process and how you can possibly compete better next time. This information provides valuable intelligence about pricing and possibly requirements.

Solution: Review awarded contracts and closed tenders in your category regularly.

Tools and Platforms That Can Help

Having the right tools makes finding and tracking tenders significantly easier:

Government portal registration

At a minimum, create an account in:

• AusTenders (Commonwealth and Federal)
• State and/or territory portals
• GETS for New Zealand

To set up an account for these registrations, you must provide business details. They are free and will provide you with access to all tenders. For multiple scopes, you will need separate accounts for each portal.

Aggregated tender portals

Platforms like Consolidated Tenders aggregate tenders, grants, and forward plans from multiple sources into one dashboard. Benefits include:

• Comprehensive coverage across all jurisdictions
• Centralized search without multiple logins for all portals it powers
• Consistent notification systems
• Smart filtering by category and location

When you are evaluating which platform to subscribe to, consider the following:

• Coverage on jurisdictions and sources
• Update frequency
• Search functionality
• Alert customization
• Additional features that can help you be more equipped

Document Management

As you start finding relevant tenders, you’ll need systems to:

• Store your tender documents and responses
• Track deadlines and submission requirements
• Manage team collaboration on responses
• Archive past submissions for future reference

“The immediate future isn't just about AI writing tender responses. It's about AI making the discovery process vastly more efficient. Think intelligent alerts that understand context, not just keywords. Predictive analytics that show you when agencies typically retender services you provide. For buyers, integration with your CRM makes tender tracking part of your workflow. These aren't just concepts. They're capabilities we've been developing,” says Blacketer.

Consolidated Tender’s ecosystem understands the challenges that suppliers face in navigating through the tender landscape. Built to bring together government opportunities from across Australia and New Zealand into one trusted, intelligent system, the platform offers:

• Comprehensive coverage with opportunities from federal, state, territorial, and local governments across both countries, 100% more than other platforms
• Centralized access with one search and one notification system. One login feature also applies to government portals powered by Consolidated Tenders
• Customizable smart alerts that deliver only opportunities that matter to your business
• Spend minutes, not hours, finding relevant opportunities each day

Whether you are new to government tendering or an experienced supplier looking to expand and win more contracts, these are the things that give you the visibility and tools you need to compete confidently.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often are new government tenders published?

New tenders are published across various government agencies regularly. High-volume tenders often align with financial cycles such as planning (July-September) and budget.

How often will I be notified of tenders relevant to me?

There is no fixed number as it will depend on your industry, how specialised your services are, and where you operate. For many suppliers, government procurement is a long-term pipeline rather than a high-volume activity. The aim is to stay visible for the right opportunities, not every opportunity.

Do I need to pay to access government tenders?

Individual government portals like AusTender and GETS are free to access. However, portals that aggregate opportunities from multiple sources require a subscription fee for the convenience and benefits of enhanced features and coverage.

How much time should I spend searching for tenders?

There is no specific duration that can be used to determine the appropriate time to spend finding tenders. But with the right system in place, you should spend no more than 15-30 minutes per day reviewing new opportunities that match your saved search criteria. Without automation, this could easily expand to several hours of manual checking.

Can small businesses really compete for government contracts?

Absolutely. Many government policies actively encourage SME participation, as outlined in the Commonwealth Procurement Rules. These include procurement thresholds, panel arrangements, and local participation requirements that encourage agencies to engage local suppliers. Many state and territory governments also apply social procurement principles, which favour suppliers that are local, SME-owned, indigenous-owned, or holding recognised environmental or social certifications.

What’s the typical timeline from tender publication to contract award?

Tender timelines differ greatly depending on the complexity, value and political sensitivity of the project. Simple quotes may be less than a month; bigger ones can go for many months. Once the tender closes, significant time is required for response evaluation, compliance checking, competence validation, contract negotiation and other processes as necessary before the agency can awards the contract.

The whole process of tendering can be overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be. With the right approach, tools, and systems, you can efficiently identify opportunities that match your business capabilities while spending minimal time on search and monitoring.

The key is to:

• Understand the procurement landscape across different jurisdictions
• Set up effective, automated notification systems
• Use aggregated platforms to centralize your search
• Go beyond basic searches to leverage procurement intelligence
• Establish consistent routines in reviewing and evaluating opportunities
• Lots of documentation will be required to be successful. Be prepared in advance.

Government contracts represent one of the largest and most stable revenue opportunities available for businesses across Australia and New Zealand. Every investment you make in this process is just a small fraction of a single contract value.

About Consolidated Tenders

Consolidated Tenders is the trusted procurement platform powering government tendering systems across multiple Australian jurisdictions and providing suppliers with centralized access to opportunities throughout Australia and New Zealand. Trusted by governments and built for suppliers, our platform makes government procurement simpler, faster, and more accessible to businesses of all sizes.