How to register on the Central Digital Platform as a small supplier
By Contract Scanner. Published .
The Central Digital Platform is the government's free register of suppliers, and it is part of Find a Tender. To register, one person in your business creates a GOV.UK One Login, registers the organisation as a supplier, fills in its supplier information and then creates a share code to give buyers. Along the way your organisation gets a unique identifier, called a PPON. You need the full registration to bid for contracts run under the Procurement Act 2023, and since 1 April 2026 a business that wins even a fairly small public contract (from £12,000 or £30,000 including VAT, depending on the buyer) needs at least the first, five-minute part of it.
This guide is drawn from the official guidance linked in each section, not from a walk-through of the screens. It is general information, not legal advice.
What the Central Digital Platform is
Since 24 February 2025, notices for new UK procurements, above and below threshold, are published on Find a Tender, except below-threshold notices in Scotland. The same service now holds suppliers' records, which is why the government's guides call it the Central Digital Platform, the enhanced Find a Tender service. The two names mean the same place.
The idea is that you enter your core business details once and reuse them for every bid. The government's guide to registering and finding your unique identifier says it is free for everyone to use.
Do you need to register?
To bid for a contract under the Act: yes
A buyer running a procurement under the Act must get confirmation that each supplier taking part has registered and submitted its core supplier information, and its conditions of participation should say by when (guidance on the Central Digital Platform and publication of information, paragraphs 9, 60 and 61). In a competitive tender the latest point is the end of the tendering period, and the buyer can set an earlier one (paragraphs 60 and 66).
The government's short guide for suppliers says you only need to register when you want to bid. True, but the week of your first tender deadline is a bad time to find out you need last year's accounts or details of a parent company. Do it before you need it.
To win a small contract: yes, since 1 April 2026
Since 1 April 2026, before a buyer publishes the contract details notice for a notifiable below-threshold contract, it must get two things from the supplier: confirmation that the supplier has registered on the platform, and the supplier's unique identifier. The rule is regulation 36A of the Procurement Regulations 2024, added by the Procurement (Amendment) Regulations 2026.
A notifiable below-threshold contract has an estimated value of at least £12,000 including VAT when the buyer is a central government body (which now includes NHS trusts), or £30,000 including VAT for other public bodies such as councils (guidance on below-threshold contracts, paragraph 10). Our guide to below-threshold contracts covers this kind of work.
Here you need only the basic registration, not the full supplier information described below. The regulation asks for your name, a contact postal address and email address, and whether you are a small or medium-sized enterprise or a voluntary, community or social enterprise. The government's summary of new legal requirements under the Act calls it a free, five-minute registration that you do once (paragraphs 50 and 54). Two more details:
- It applies even when a buyer awards the contract to you without a competition, because a contract details notice is still required (below-threshold guidance, paragraph 21).
- It covers every below-threshold contract details notice published after 1 April 2026, even for a contract awarded earlier, so you may be asked to register after you have won (summary, paragraph 53).
Wales
Sell2Wales asks suppliers to register on the Central Digital Platform and then add their unique identifier to their Sell2Wales company profile so they can keep tendering (Sell2Wales guidance on the Procurement Act). The UK rule for small contracts above does not apply to procurement regulated by the Welsh Ministers; the summary notes that the Welsh Government already requires this under its own 2024 regulations (paragraph 6).
Scotland
Scottish public bodies working under Scottish procurement law, such as Scottish councils, are not covered by the 2023 Act and continue with Scotland's existing rules (Scottish Procurement Policy Note SPPN 5/2026). The exception is a call-off from a framework or dynamic market set up under the Act, where the Act's procedures generally apply. If you also sell to UK government departments, or to buyers in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you need to register: what decides it is who is buying, not where you are based.
Northern Ireland
The same Scottish note records that the 2023 Act covers Northern Irish public bodies, so bidding for their contracts under it needs the registration. But Part 6 of the Act, where the small-contract rules sit, does not apply to procurement by most Northern Ireland public bodies (section 84), so the April 2026 rule does not reach their small contracts. eTendersNI published FAQs on PPONs and share codes in its news section in March 2026: read them before you tender there.
Before you start
- One person to be the administrator. The first person to register becomes the administrator, who enters and changes the organisation's details and approves other users (three-step registration guide).
- A GOV.UK One Login for that person, using their own work email. Security codes come by text message or an authenticator app, so have a phone to hand.
- A shared organisation email address, such as a tenders mailbox, so the account does not depend on one inbox.
- Your registration number and registered address: a Companies House number or an equivalent, such as a Charity Commission number. If you have none, as most sole traders will not, the platform assigns you an identifier anyway.
- For the full supplier information: any VAT number, your legal form, details of anyone who controls or influences the business, and your most recent accounts.
The three stages
1. Register your organisation
The administrator signs in with One Login, chooses to register an organisation as a supplier rather than a buyer, and enters the registration number (a Companies House number fills in the registered name). You also give the shared email address, the registered address, which can be outside the UK, and your SME status where it applies. Once saved, the organisation has its unique identifier, which the guidance says is shown on the organisation's details page.
If all you need is the basic registration for a small contract, you can stop here and give the buyer that identifier.
2. Complete your supplier information
This is the part buyers rely on when you bid. The detailed walkthrough for administrators describes six sections:
- Basic information: whether you are an organisation or an individual, your VAT number and website if you have them, your type of organisation and its legal form.
- Connected persons: people or organisations that control or influence yours, such as a parent company: names and addresses, and for individuals possibly date of birth and nationality. If there are none, you say so.
- Qualifications and trade assurances: optional, each with who awarded it and when.
- Exclusions: an entry for any event that is a mandatory or discretionary ground for exclusion under the Act, for your organisation or a connected person, with what happened and how it is being dealt with. The government's exclusions guidance explains the grounds.
- Financial information: your accounts as files, each with its year-end date, and whether they were audited.
Take connected persons and exclusions slowly: they cover who controls your business and anything in its history that could count against it, and you are declaring the answers accurate. If you are unsure whether something counts, get advice rather than guess.
3. Declare and share
You read and agree to a declaration, add your name, job title, work email and the organisation's postal address, and the platform gives you a share code. The guide calls this step "Confirm and get share code". You can also download your supplier information as a file.
PPON or share code: what to give a buyer
The two are easy to mix up, and they do different jobs.
| Question | PPON (unique identifier) | Share code |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Your organisation's identifier on the platform | A code that lets a buyer see the supplier information you declared |
| When you get it | When you register the organisation | After you complete your supplier information and the declaration |
| Does it change? | No: you reuse it for later contracts | Yes: make a new one whenever your information changes |
| When a buyer asks for it | For example, before it publishes the details of a small contract you have won | When you bid, usually entered in the buyer's tender portal |
PPON stands for public procurement organisation number. The government's overview of the platform for buyers says it appears in notices, so it is not confidential. If a buyer wants your supplier information as a file instead of a share code, the walkthrough says you can email the downloaded file or attach it to your bid.
One point in your favour: if information the regulations say comes through the platform is missing, the buyer should ask you to add it there rather than ask for it separately (Central Digital Platform guidance, paragraph 63).
Keeping it current
- When something changes, such as new accounts, a new address or a change in who controls the business, update the platform and create a new share code before you share it again.
- If you update your information after you bid but before the award decision, the buyer must get fresh confirmation that you have shared the update (Central Digital Platform guidance, paragraph 65).
- Add colleagues so the account does not rest on one person. The walkthrough describes three roles: admin, editor (who can change details, make declarations and create share codes) and viewer.
Once you are registered, the remaining problem is seeing the right notices in time. Contract Scanner reads Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland and Sell2Wales and sends you the notices that match your keywords, by email or Telegram. For what to do once you have found one, see our checklist for applying for a public tender.
Where to get help
- The government's three-step registration guide and detailed walkthrough, both updated on 21 October 2026. The registration guide also links to video guidance.
- For a problem with the service, the Find a Tender contact form.
- For Welsh tenders, Sell2Wales supplier help. For Northern Ireland, eTendersNI.
- For whether something counts as a connected person or an exclusion ground in your case, a solicitor or other qualified adviser.
We checked this guide against the official pages on 23 October 2026. The platform and its guidance change often, so check the linked guidance before you rely on a detail.
