Guide · Updated July 2026
How to find government tenders in Australia: every portal, one guide
There is no single official source. Here's the complete directory — and how to stop checking it manually.
The most common surprise for new government suppliers: there is no single place where Australian tenders are published. Nine jurisdictions run nine separate portals, and beneath them sit more than 500 councils with their own procurement pages. Here's the full map.
The nine official portals
| Jurisdiction | Portal | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Federal | AusTender (tenders.gov.au) | All Commonwealth tenders and contract awards — the largest single source. Our AusTender page covers it in depth. |
| NSW | buy.nsw | Replaced legacy eTendering for most agencies. NSW tender coverage. |
| VIC | Buying for Victoria | Successor to Tenders VIC. See Victorian tenders. |
| QLD | QTenders | State agencies; many councils publish separately. See Queensland tenders. |
| WA | Tenders WA | State portal; WALGA and councils add local work. See WA tenders live. |
| SA | SA Tenders & Contracts | Includes awarded contract records. South Australian tenders. |
| TAS | Tasmanian Tenders | Plus GBEs like TasWater. Tasmanian coverage. |
| NT | NT Quotations & Tenders Online | Tenders and smaller quotations. Territory tenders. |
| ACT | Tenders ACT | Canberra suppliers should watch AusTender too. ACT opportunities. |
Each portal is free to register on, and each has its own account, search interface and alert settings. Register on every portal relevant to where you can deliver.
The council gap
Australia's 500+ local councils buy constantly — mowing, maintenance, civil works, events — but many publish only on their own websites or through third-party platforms. This is where the most under-contested opportunities live, and where manual checking genuinely breaks down. Aggregation services (including AskTender's merged feed) exist largely because of this gap.
Keeping up: three approaches
Manual checking
Free, but it's a part-time job: nine portals plus council sites, each with different search interfaces. Realistic only if you bid in one jurisdiction and one category.
Email alerts and digests
Every portal offers saved-search email alerts, and commercial aggregators send matched digests. The catch is latency: digests are batched, typically arriving the next morning — up to 24 hours after publication. Fine for long-close tenders; costly on short ones.
A live feed in your AI
The newest approach: real-time tender alerts delivered into ChatGPT or Claude within about 15 minutes of publication, searchable in plain English across all 8 jurisdictions we cover at once. Setup takes minutes — see the ChatGPT setup guide or the Claude version — and the first 25 requests are free.
Frequently asked questions
Is there one official website for all Australian tenders?
No. AusTender covers federal only; each state and territory runs its own portal, and councils publish separately again. Complete coverage requires either checking many sources or using an aggregation service.
Are government tender portals free?
Yes — all nine official portals are free to search and register on. Paid services add convenience (aggregation, alerts, speed), not access.
How early do I need to see a tender?
Ideally day one. Site briefings and clarification windows come early in the tender period, and a full response window materially improves quality — which is why delivery speed matters more than most suppliers assume.