A limited tender means the agency approached one supplier, or a few, instead of opening the opportunity to the market. The contract notice on AusTender is where that method is recorded. Open the notice and read the procurement method before you treat a row in Contract Horizon as the full story. Verify it on AusTender.
When the notice includes a limited-tender reason, it is the agency's published explanation for using that method. Contract Horizon shows two things from that notice, on Pro and Team. The short line is our plain-English reading of the reason code. The longer sentence, when it is there, is the text published on the notice. A code without a reading here is shown on its own.
The readings we use are:
- TR: no competition for technical reasons
- AD: additional deliveries or continuation by the original supplier
- ER: exclusive rights or proprietary information
- EU: extreme urgency or events unforeseen
- CT: valued below the construction threshold
- EV: estimated value was under the procurement threshold
Plenty of limited notices carry no reason code, often because the value sat under a reporting threshold. Read a blank reason as the notice having none, and check the notice itself.
The Commonwealth Procurement Rules set out when a limited tender is available. The notice is the record of what the agency reported. Contract Horizon is an independent reading of that public record.