A tender and a contract notice are two different documents, published at two different times. A tender, which AusTender calls an approach to market, invites suppliers to make an offer before a contract exists. A contract notice reports a contract after the agency has entered into it. Mixing them up is easy, because both appear on AusTender, and both can mention the same kind of work.

If you are new to the site, what AusTender is is the wider map. Why sell to the Australian Government? is the case for looking at this work at all. This guide is only the difference between the invitation and the record of what was bought.

A tender invites offers

An approach to market is the agency asking for offers. It can be an open tender, which is advertised so suppliers can respond, or a limited tender, where the agency approaches one or more suppliers directly. The notice has a closing time. The documents describe the work, the conditions, and how to respond.

Until someone is awarded the work, there is no contract to read. You are looking at an invitation, not at a record of who holds the work today.

AusTender's own help describes business opportunities, including current and closed approaches to market, separately from the contracts agencies have entered into (business opportunities (opens in a new tab), and Selling to Government (opens in a new tab)).

A contract notice reports a contract

A contract notice is published after the contract exists. It says what was bought, by which agency, for how long, and for how much. For many federal contracts it also names the supplier. Non-corporate Commonwealth entities report contracts valued at $10,000 or more within 42 days of entering into them, and they report certain later amendments too (Commonwealth Procurement Rules, paragraphs 7.18 and 7.19 (opens in a new tab)).

The notice can point back at the tender it came from. Some notices show an ATM ID, which is the approach-to-market identifier. That link is a trail from the contract back to the invitation. It does not turn the contract notice into the invitation.

How to read an AusTender contract notice goes through the fields. Open tenders, limited tenders and panels explains the procurement method you will see on the notice, which is often the method used to set the arrangement up.

Why this site uses contract notices only

Contract Horizon reads contract notices. It does not ingest or show approach-to-market material. There is no tender document, no closing time for a live bid, and no draft statement of requirements here.

That is a deliberate limit. A contract notice is the public record of work that is already under contract, including when it ends. That end date is what you can use months ahead of a possible re-tender. The approach to market, when it comes, is a later document with its own closing time. Watching only for that invitation means you hear about the work when the clock is already short.

The weekly re-tender radar and the contracts list are both built from those contract notices. They are totals and lists of contracts that are ending, not a board of open tenders.

How to use a contract notice to prepare for the next tender

A contract notice will not tell you the questions on the next tender. It will tell you who buys this work, how they bought it last time, what they paid, and when the current contract ends. That is enough to start.

  • Note the agency, the category, the current end date, and the maximum end date.
  • Read the procurement method, and any standing-offer number, so you know whether the last chance to compete was an open tender, a limited tender, or a panel.
  • Read the amendments. A later end date means the contract may run longer than the first notice said. What a contract extension is explains that.
  • Use the months before the end date to get ready. Preparing for a re-tender is a calm way to use that time.

When the approach to market is published, go to AusTender for the invitation and the documents. The contract notice remains the record of the contract you were watching. It is not a substitute for the tender.

Open the contracts list when you want the notices themselves. The notice on AusTender is still the record to check.

Contract Horizon is an independent reading of the public record. It is not part of AusTender or the Australian Government.