Supply2Gov sent you 47 alerts this month. Three were vaguely relevant. One was already closed. You hit unsubscribe, got the polite "we're sorry to see you go" email, and noticed three days later they'd already taken next month's £49 anyway.
You're not the only one. Public Trustpilot reviews of Supply2Gov cluster around the same handful of complaints, and the most damning one is the simplest: most of what they sell is free elsewhere. Every UK public-sector cleaning notice has to be published on the official portals by law.
- Supply2Gov republishes data that is legally required to appear on the free UK portals: Contracts Finder, Find a Tender, Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales, eTendersNI.
- The free tier is restricted to one local authority area. Trustpilot users describe it as "pointless" because alerts often don't surface even in that single area without upgrading.
- Buying "1 month's access" auto-enrols you in a recurring monthly subscription. The auto-renewal terms are documented as buried in lengthy conditions on a separate page, with no renewal notification before each payment.
- Real complaints from Trustpilot reviewers: software firms getting roofing tenders, closed tenders showing as open, geography and sector filtering described as poor.
- For most UK cleaning SMEs the answer isn't a different aggregator. It's the free portals plus a tool that scores fit and drafts the bid for you. CleanTender replaces both lines for £99/mo.
What's in this guide¶
- What Supply2Gov is, plainly
- Where Supply2Gov gets its data
- The five complaints contractors keep raising
- What Supply2Gov can't do
- The actual alternative for UK cleaning SMEs
- The full bid stack
- What to do at your next renewal
What Supply2Gov is, plainly¶
Supply2Gov is a tender aggregation platform. It pulls public-sector contract notices from the free official UK portals and resells access via paid subscription. The model is: you pay them so you don't have to log in to five different government sites.
Free tier: one local authority area. Multiple Trustpilot reviewers describe this as effectively useless. Alerts may not surface in even the chosen free area unless you upgrade.
Paid tiers: regional or national access. Pricing scales by geographic scope. One reviewer calls it "affordable" compared with platforms costing thousands. Another calls it "expensive to add in other areas" for smaller companies. The same product, two reviews, different conclusions, depending on which areas you need.
Where Supply2Gov gets its data¶
Every UK public-sector cleaning contract over £12,000 (central government) or £25,000 (English local authorities) is required by law to be published on Contracts Finder. Anything over £139,688 including VAT has to appear on Find a Tender Service. Devolved nations run their own free portals: Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales, eTendersNI.
Supply2Gov's contribution is aggregation. Five logins reduced to one alert feed. That's a real time saving for a contractor who chases work across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
What Supply2Gov is not: a primary source. Every notice it shows you was published for free on a government portal first. The platform's value is the convenience of the consolidation, nothing more, and the convenience is reduced sharply by the alert quality issues described in the next section.
The five complaints contractors keep raising¶
Public Trustpilot reviews of Supply2Gov show five repeating failure patterns. Same patterns over years.
1. Irrelevant alerts
Reviewers report alerts that have nothing to do with their sector. A software company receiving roofing and decorating notices. A small supplier reporting "zero opportunities in each email". The signal-to-noise ratio is poor enough that long-time users describe giving up checking the inbox entirely.
2. The free-tier bait
The free tier is restricted to one local authority area. Reviewers say even within that single area the alerts are often missing or thin, with the platform pushing the user toward upgrading to see anything useful. The free tier exists to convert, not to serve.
3. The subscription trap
Buying "1 month's access" automatically enrols the user in a recurring monthly subscription. The auto-renewal terms are documented as buried in lengthy conditions on a separate page, with no renewal notification before each payment is taken. One advocate for SMEs noted Supply2Gov maintains a "bullish and obtuse" attitude when challenged on these practices, though some reviewers have managed partial refunds with persistence.
4. Outdated and unclear data
Reviewers report tenders that have already closed still appearing as open opportunities, alert text that doesn't make clear what the buyer actually wants, and filtering controls that don't allow useful narrowing. Time wasted reading 10-line summaries of contracts that closed last week is time you don't get back.
5. The "this data is free elsewhere" critique
The most damaging complaint, because it cuts directly at the value proposition. Once a contractor realises Supply2Gov is reselling notices that are legally required to be free on Contracts Finder and Find a Tender, the platform becomes hard to justify. Supply2Gov's own response notes that their research team "go the extra mile" to source low-value tenders, but reviewers do not find this differentiation credible.
What Supply2Gov can't do¶
Even at the paid national tier, Supply2Gov is a notice feed. It surfaces contracts. It doesn't tell you which ones you can actually win.
What no aggregator does for you:
- Score your fit against an individual contract before you commit a weekend to writing the bid.
- Tell you which compliance items in the SQ will get you rejected at the pre-qualification gate.
- Generate a draft Standard Selection Questionnaire response written for the contract you're actually bidding on.
- Track your own compliance pack against expiry so the next renewal isn't a surprise.
That's a separate workflow. Most small UK cleaning firms either pay a bid writer (£500 to £2,000 per submission) or spend weekends doing it themselves from scratch. CleanTender replaces that part of the stack at £99/mo. See how the qualification check works, and for the bid mechanics once you've found one worth bidding, see our step-by-step guide to bidding for cleaning contracts.
The actual alternatives for UK cleaning SMEs¶
The honest answer isn't "swap Supply2Gov for a different aggregator". It's stop paying for tender alerts at all and use the free portals plus a tool that does what an aggregator can't. Here's the side-by-side of every option a cleaning SME should weigh.
| Alternative | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free official portals | £0 | Cheapest possible: every legally-required UK notice |
| Tenders Direct | Mid-market subscription | Advance re-tender alerts on frameworks + DPS |
| TenderLedger | SaaS subscription | FM-vertical with buyer + award intelligence |
| Tracker Intelligence | Enterprise SaaS | Spend analytics + central-gov pipeline (large bid teams) |
| myTenders (supplier side) | Free supplier registration | Supplemental coverage from 4,300+ public buyers |
| CleanTender | £99/mo or £990/yr | Cleaning + FM feed + qualification scoring + drafts |
Pricing varies by tier and headcount on paid platforms; check direct.
Free official portals — best for cost
Contracts Finder, Find a Tender Service, Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales, eTendersNI. Cost: £0. Coverage: every legally-required UK public-sector cleaning notice. Set up CPV-coded saved searches with email alerts and you've replaced the entire alert layer of Supply2Gov for nothing.
Where it wins: every UK cleaning SME at any volume. The free portals are the legal source of truth for public-sector procurement under the Procurement Act 2023.
Tenders Direct — best for advance re-tender alerts
Long-running UK alerts service covering UK, Republic of Ireland, and FTS notices. Sells live alerts plus "Advance Tender Alerts" that flag re-tenders months before publication, particularly for frameworks and Dynamic Purchasing Systems. Same group as myTenders. Mid-market subscription pricing.
Where it wins: cleaning SMEs chasing framework call-offs who want lead time on renewals. The early-warning angle is the headline reason to pay over the free portals.
TenderLedger — best for FM-vertical positioning
Newer UK platform with an FM focus. The live FM tenders feed pulls from Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, with buyer and award intelligence on top of alerts. "Who wins what" data lets cleaning suppliers track competitor wins and price re-tenders accurately. SaaS subscription tier.
Where it wins: cleaning + FM specialists who want sector-pure filtering plus the award-data layer to support pricing decisions. Closest direct competitor to CleanTender on positioning, but doesn't include qualification scoring or drafting.
Tracker Intelligence — best for spend + award data at enterprise tier
Higher-end public-sector procurement intelligence platform. Combines live tenders, frameworks, award data, spend analytics, and buyer insights in one tool. Markets itself on publishing more central-government opportunities and award data than any other UK service. Enterprise SaaS pricing.
Where it wins: large bid teams running pipelines of 50+ active opportunities. Overkill for a typical cleaning SME with 4 to 12 bids a year — the features earn their fee at higher volumes than most cleaning firms operate at.
myTenders — best for free supplemental coverage
eProcurement platform primarily for public buyers to publish notices directly to Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. Suppliers can access notices published via myTenders by 4,300+ UK public-sector bodies. Same group as Tenders Direct. Free supplier registration; the platform earns its money from the buyer side.
Where it wins: register alongside the official portals for the supplemental coverage. Some council and NHS opportunities show up here that aren't always on Contracts Finder. Costs nothing on the supplier side.
CleanTender — best for cleaning + FM with qualification scoring
Pulls UK cleaning + FM tenders from the official OCDS feed (CPV codes 90910 through 90924 plus 79993 for soft FM). Cleaning sector live today; security, grounds, and waste planned. Where it goes beyond the alert-only category: every contract is read against a stored 30+ field company profile, set up once.
- Company basics: trading name, annual turnover (most public buyers want at least 2× contract value), years trading, operative count.
- Insurance cover: actual public liability and employer's liability £ figures. £5m PL is the typical floor.
- Quality standards: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, BICSc, plus all four SSIP schemes (CHAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline, SMAS) and COSHH compliance.
- Vetting and policies: DBS, TUPE experience, Modern Slavery Act, Equal Opportunities, Social Value with National TOMs alignment, environmental / green cleaning, KPI framework, business continuity.
- Sector experience: schools, NHS, councils, housing associations, food and BRC, universities, leisure, offices, public conveniences. Plus the 12 UK regions you cover.
- Free-text company description for the bits the structured fields don't capture.
Why this depth matters: every qualification scan reads the contract pack against the full profile. The evaluator stops flagging insurance you've already entered, doesn't claim you lack ISO 9001 when you've ticked it, doesn't flag region mismatch when you cover the area. Bid drafts read from the same profile, so the SQ output reflects your real position. £99/mo on Pro. First scan free.
What to do, step by step¶
- Set up free saved-search email alerts on Contracts Finder for the CPV codes and value ranges you cover. Mirror the search on Find a Tender Service for higher-value notices.
- Add the devolved portals if you cover those nations. Public Contracts Scotland for Scottish councils and NHS Scotland. Sell2Wales for Welsh public bodies. eTendersNI for Northern Ireland departments and trusts. Each takes about 10 minutes to register.
- Register on myTenders (free) for supplemental coverage from the 4,300+ public buyers using that platform.
- When a notice catches your eye, run it through CleanTender. The qualification scan reads the contract pack and scores your profile against it in 30 seconds. If you score under 60, walk. If you score 80, write the bid.
- For the contracts you decide to bid on, generate a draft Standard Selection Questionnaire response in CleanTender. Edit, refine, submit.
If you're new to public-sector tendering, start with our primer on what a tender actually is. For the SSIP accreditation question that comes up alongside Supply2Gov for most cleaning firms, see our take on Constructionline alternatives.
The full bid stack¶
A tender alert subscription is one line of the bill. Most small cleaning firms pay separately for SSIP accreditation and bid writing. Stack the totals.
| What it does | Typical annual cost |
|---|---|
| Tender alert service (Supply2Gov national tier) | Recurring monthly subscription with documented auto-renewal trap |
| SSIP accreditation (CHAS Standard) | From £429+VAT |
| Bid writer | £500 to £2,000 per submission |
| Free official portals (Contracts Finder, Find a Tender, devolved sites) | £0 |
| CleanTender (replaces tender alerts + bid writer) | £99/mo or £990/year |
Approximate UK pricing. Bid-writer figure is per submission, not per year. Most small firms write 4 to 8 bids a year.
Drop Supply2Gov. Keep your SSIP cert. Use the free portals. Use CleanTender for the rest. The combined cost is lower than most contractors' current alert + bid writing spend on its own.
What to do at your next renewal¶
Three paths, depending on your timing.
- Renewal still some weeks away. Cancel before the next billing cycle. Document the cancellation in writing through both email and the platform's interface. Take a screenshot of the confirmation. Watch your bank statement for a final payment that shouldn't be there.
- Already auto-billed for next month. Check the T&Cs for refund eligibility. Persistent reviewers have managed partial refunds. Cite the lack of renewal notification and the buried auto-enrolment terms when you write to them.
- About to sign up. Don't. Free portals plus CleanTender is the cheaper, cleaner route, and you keep flexibility on every front.
Sources
- Trustpilot reviews of Supply2Gov · Public review corpus referenced throughout this guide
- Contracts Finder · Free portal for English public-sector tenders over £12,000
- Find a Tender Service · Free high-value portal for tenders over £139,688 incl. VAT
- Public Contracts Scotland · Scottish public bodies + NHS Scotland
- Sell2Wales · Welsh public-sector procurement portal
- eTendersNI · Northern Ireland public-sector procurement portal
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
- There's a free tier, but it's restricted to one local authority area and Trustpilot reviewers describe it as effectively useless. Alerts often don't surface even within the single chosen area without upgrading. The free tier exists to convert users to paid plans, not to deliver standalone value.
- Contracts Finder is the free official UK portal for English public-sector contracts over £12,000 (and over £25,000 for local authorities). It's run by gov.uk and required by law to carry every in-scope notice. Supply2Gov is a paid third-party platform that aggregates Contracts Finder, Find a Tender, and the devolved portals into one feed. The data is mostly the same. Supply2Gov adds aggregation and charges a subscription.
- Cancellation in theory yes. Refunds in practice often no. Trustpilot reviewers report subscribing to a one-month plan, attempting to cancel within days, and being charged for a second month under terms documented as buried on a separate page. Document the cancellation in writing, keep screenshots, and check your bank statement for unexpected payments. Persistent reviewers have managed partial refunds.
- It tries to. Coverage is the union of Contracts Finder, Find a Tender, and the devolved portals (Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales, eTendersNI), which are the legally required UK sources. Reviewers report missed notices and notices that have already closed still showing as open, so the data isn't always current. The free portals will show you the same notices, faster, and you'll know which one to trust because there's only one source.
- Reviewers regularly say no. A software company reporting roofing alerts. Cleaning firms reporting catering and decorating notices. The relevance filtering is the central complaint about the platform across years of reviews. Even at paid tiers, the noise-to-signal ratio is high enough that long-term users describe giving up on the alert inbox.
- Free saved-search email alerts on Contracts Finder, Find a Tender Service, and the devolved portals (Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales, eTendersNI) cost nothing and carry every legally required notice. The cost only enters the picture when you want to qualify the contracts and draft bids, where a tool like CleanTender at £99/mo replaces both a paid aggregator subscription and per-bid bid-writer spend.