v0.4.0 · 21 tools

API Reference

Every tool, every parameter. Jump to a section: Search · Details · Buyers · Suppliers · Analytics · Alerts · Export

Search & Discovery · 4 tools

Search & Discovery

search_tenders

Search Australian government tenders by keyword, jurisdiction, status, and date range. Supports full-text search, pagination, and sorting.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	string	No	Full-text search query
jurisdiction	string	No	federal, nsw, vic, qld, wa, sa, tas, nt, act
status	string	No	open, closed, awarded
from_date	string	No	Closing date from (YYYY-MM-DD)
to_date	string	No	Closing date to (YYYY-MM-DD)
category	string	No	Filter by category (partial match)
buyer_name	string	No	Filter by buyer name (partial match)
limit	number	No	Max results (default 20, max 50)
offset	number	No	Offset for pagination (default 0)
sort_by	string	No	closing_date, published_date, value
sort_order	string	No	asc or desc (default: desc)

"Find open NSW IT tenders closing in the next 30 days, sorted by value"

list_awards

Search awarded government contracts by jurisdiction, date range, supplier name, or keyword.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
jurisdiction	string	No	Filter by jurisdiction
from_date	string	No	Awarded from (YYYY-MM-DD)
to_date	string	No	Awarded to (YYYY-MM-DD)
supplier_name	string	No	Search supplier name
query	string	No	Search award titles
limit	number	No	Max results (default 20, max 50)
offset	number	No	Offset for pagination
sort_by	string	No	awarded_date, value, contract_start
sort_order	string	No	asc or desc (default: desc)

"Show me federal contracts awarded to Deloitte in the last 12 months"

get_expiring_tenders

Get tenders closing soon, sorted by urgency (most urgent first). Essential for daily pipeline management.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
days	number	No	Closing within N days (default 7)
jurisdiction	string	No	Filter by jurisdiction
category	string	No	Filter by category (partial match)
buyer_name	string	No	Filter by buyer name (partial match)
limit	number	No	Max results (default 20, max 50)
offset	number	No	Offset for pagination

"What construction tenders are closing in the next 3 days?"

get_related_tenders

Find tenders similar to a given tender, matched by category, buyer, and jurisdiction. Scored by relevance.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
tender_id	number	Yes	Source tender ID to find related tenders for
limit	number	No	Max results (default 10, max 20)

"Find tenders similar to tender #12345 that I should also look at"

Tender & Award Details · 2 tools

Tender & Award Details

get_tender

Get full details of a specific tender by ID, including description, buyer, category, value range, and any related awards.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
id	number	Yes	Tender ID

"Get full details for tender #54321"

get_award

Get full details of a specific contract award by ID, including supplier, buyer, value, and contract dates.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
id	number	Yes	Award ID

"Show me the details of award #9876"

Buyer Intelligence · 3 tools

Buyer Intelligence

search_buyers

Search government buyers and agencies by name or jurisdiction. Returns tender counts and total award values.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	string	No	Search buyer name
jurisdiction	string	No	Filter by jurisdiction
limit	number	No	Max results (default 20, max 50)
offset	number	No	Offset for pagination

"Find all Queensland government health agencies"

get_buyer

Get a detailed buyer profile including tender/award statistics, top categories, yearly spending trends, and recent activity.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
id	number	Yes	Buyer ID

"Give me a full profile of the Department of Defence including spending trends"

get_buyer_awards

Get full paginated award history for a buyer/agency with rich filtering. Essential for understanding spending patterns.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
buyer_id	number	Yes	Buyer ID
from_date	string	No	Awards from date (YYYY-MM-DD)
to_date	string	No	Awards to date (YYYY-MM-DD)
supplier_name	string	No	Filter by supplier name
min_value	number	No	Minimum award value
max_value	number	No	Maximum award value
jurisdiction	string	No	Filter by jurisdiction
limit	number	No	Max results (default 20, max 100)
offset	number	No	Offset for pagination
sort_by	string	No	awarded_date or value
sort_order	string	No	asc or desc (default: desc)

"Show all contracts awarded by the ATO over $1M in the past year"

Supplier Intelligence · 3 tools

Supplier Intelligence

search_suppliers

Search government contract suppliers by name or ABN. Returns award counts and total value.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	string	No	Search supplier name
abn	string	No	Search by ABN (exact or partial)
limit	number	No	Max results (default 20, max 50)
offset	number	No	Offset for pagination

"Look up the supplier with ABN 51 194 660 183"

get_supplier

Get a detailed supplier profile including top buyers, jurisdiction breakdown, category breakdown, yearly trends, and recent awards.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
id	number	Yes	Supplier ID

"Give me a competitive profile for Accenture including their government contract history"

get_supplier_awards

Get full paginated award history for a supplier with rich filtering. Essential for competitive analysis and win-rate tracking.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
supplier_id	number	Yes	Supplier ID
from_date	string	No	Awards from date (YYYY-MM-DD)
to_date	string	No	Awards to date (YYYY-MM-DD)
buyer_name	string	No	Filter by buyer name
min_value	number	No	Minimum award value
max_value	number	No	Maximum award value
jurisdiction	string	No	Filter by jurisdiction
limit	number	No	Max results (default 20, max 100)
offset	number	No	Offset for pagination
sort_by	string	No	awarded_date or value
sort_order	string	No	asc or desc (default: desc)

"Show me all Defence contracts won by this supplier in the last 3 years"

Market Analytics · 3 tools

Market Analytics

get_market_stats

Get aggregate market statistics including total tenders/awards, values, top buyers, top suppliers, and jurisdiction breakdown.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
jurisdiction	string	No	Filter by jurisdiction
category	string	No	Filter by category (partial match)
from_date	string	No	From date (YYYY-MM-DD)
to_date	string	No	To date (YYYY-MM-DD)

"Give me a market overview of Victorian IT procurement in 2025"

list_jurisdictions

List all Australian jurisdictions with tender count and last update time. No parameters required.

"What jurisdictions does AskTender cover and how many tenders are in each?"

list_categories

List all available tender categories with counts. Useful for discovering what category values to use in search filters.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
jurisdiction	string	No	Filter categories by jurisdiction
limit	number	No	Max results (default 50)

"What tender categories are available for federal tenders?"

Alerts & Watches · 4 tools

Alerts & Watches

Save search criteria and receive automated email briefings at 7:00 AM AEST when new tenders or awards match. Requires authentication.

create_watch

Create a saved search alert with custom filters for tenders or awards.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
name	string	Yes	Name for this watch (e.g. "NSW IT Tenders")
description	string	No	Optional description
watch_type	string	No	tender (default) or award
keywords	string	No	Keywords to match
jurisdiction	string	No	Filter by jurisdiction
category	string	No	Filter by category
status	string	No	Filter by tender status
min_value	number	No	Minimum value filter
max_value	number	No	Maximum value filter

"Set up an alert called 'Big NSW Construction' for NSW construction tenders over $5M"

list_watches

List all your saved search alerts with their filters, status, and last run time. No parameters required.

"Show me all my saved alerts"

update_watch

Update an existing watch — change name, filters, or pause/resume it.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
id	number	Yes	Watch ID to update
name	string	No	New name
keywords	string	No	Update keywords
jurisdiction	string	No	Update jurisdiction
category	string	No	Update category
status	string	No	Update status filter
min_value	number	No	Update min value
max_value	number	No	Update max value
active	boolean	No	false to pause, true to resume

"Pause my alert #5 and change the minimum value to $2M"

delete_watch

Delete or deactivate a saved search alert.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
id	number	Yes	Watch ID to delete
deactivate_only	boolean	No	If true, pauses instead of deleting

"Delete my saved alert #3"

Export · 2 tools

Export

export_tenders_csv

Export tender search results as CSV. Same filters as search_tenders but with a higher limit of up to 500 rows.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	string	No	Full-text search query
jurisdiction	string	No	Filter by jurisdiction
status	string	No	Filter by status
from_date	string	No	Closing date from (YYYY-MM-DD)
to_date	string	No	Closing date to (YYYY-MM-DD)
category	string	No	Filter by category
buyer_name	string	No	Filter by buyer name
limit	number	No	Max rows (default 100, max 500)

"Export all Victorian open tenders as a CSV"

export_awards_csv

Export award search results as CSV. Same filters as list_awards but with a higher limit of up to 500 rows.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
jurisdiction	string	No	Filter by jurisdiction
from_date	string	No	Awarded from (YYYY-MM-DD)
to_date	string	No	Awarded to (YYYY-MM-DD)
supplier_name	string	No	Filter by supplier name
query	string	No	Search award titles
limit	number	No	Max rows (default 100, max 500)

"Export all federal awards from the past 6 months as CSV"

Documentation

Docs hub ChatGPT setup Claude setup

Explore tenders

All tenders Federal tenders NSW tenders QLD tenders VIC tenders

Frequently asked questions

How many tools does the AskTender MCP have?+

AskTender v0.4.0 exposes 21 tools across 7 categories: search and discovery, tender and award details, buyer intelligence, supplier intelligence, market analytics, alerts and watches, and CSV export.

Do I need to know the tool names to use AskTender?+

No. Just ask natural language questions like 'find NSW IT tenders over $500K' and your AI (ChatGPT or Claude) automatically selects and calls the right tools. The API reference is here for developers and advanced users.

What parameters are required vs optional?+

Most tools have no required parameters — you can call search_tenders with no filters to browse all open tenders. Tools that operate on a specific record (like get_tender or get_buyer) require an ID. Required parameters are marked in the tables above.

What is the maximum number of results per request?+

Search tools return up to 50 results per request (default 20). CSV export tools support up to 500 rows. All search tools support offset-based pagination to retrieve additional pages.

Do alerts and watches require authentication?+

Yes. The create_watch, list_watches, update_watch, and delete_watch tools require an authenticated API key linked to a user account. Sign up at asktender.com.au to get your free key.

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