| --- |
| license: cc-by-4.0 |
| pretty_name: BidLens Open Data — UK & EU public procurement, award criteria and outcomes |
| language: |
| - en |
| - multilingual |
| size_categories: |
| - 10M<n<100M |
| task_categories: |
| - tabular-classification |
| - text-classification |
| tags: |
| - public-procurement |
| - tenders |
| - government-contracts |
| - ted |
| - ocds |
| - find-a-tender |
| - contracts-finder |
| - award-criteria |
| - open-data |
| configs: |
| - config_name: uk_criteria |
| default: true |
| data_files: data/criteria/criteria-uk-*.parquet |
| - config_name: uk_notices |
| data_files: data/notices/notices-uk-*.parquet |
| - config_name: uk_outcomes |
| data_files: data/outcomes/outcomes-uk-*.parquet |
| - config_name: criteria |
| data_files: data/criteria/*.parquet |
| - config_name: notices |
| data_files: data/notices/*.parquet |
| - config_name: outcomes |
| data_files: data/outcomes/*.parquet |
| - config_name: buyers |
| data_files: data/buyers/*.parquet |
| - config_name: suppliers |
| data_files: data/suppliers/*.parquet |
| - config_name: criterion_roles |
| data_files: data/criterion_roles/*.parquet |
| - config_name: frameworks |
| data_files: data/frameworks/*.parquet |
| - config_name: buyer_routes |
| data_files: data/buyer_routes/*.parquet |
| - config_name: documents |
| data_files: data/documents/*.parquet |
| - config_name: tender_documents |
| data_files: data/tender_documents/*.parquet |
| --- |
| |
| # BidLens Open Data |
|
|
| **How do public buyers in the UK and EU score bids, and who wins them?** This dataset |
| harmonises six official feeds from three public procurement services into ten linked |
| Parquet tables. It covers EU-wide TED notices from 2005 and the UK's Find a Tender and |
| Contracts Finder services. Each |
| **published award criterion** carries its weight, normalised to a share of its lot. |
| Criteria join to the **award outcome** of the same lot (winner, number of bids, price |
| range) and to **resolved buyer and supplier identities**. UK suppliers carry Companies House |
| numbers. |
|
|
| Built by [NodeNova](https://github.com/nodenova) as the open layer of BidLens. |
| Snapshot **v2026.10**, CC BY 4.0. |
|
|
| - Hugging Face: <https://huggingface.co/datasets/NodeNovaOrg/bidlens-open-data> |
| - GitHub (card, schema, examples): <https://github.com/nodenova/bidlens-open-data> |
|
|
| ## Why another procurement dataset |
|
|
| Raw procurement feeds are already open, and several good aggregations exist (the |
| [OCP Data Registry](https://data.open-contracting.org/), [OpenTender](https://opentender.eu/), |
| the [GTI global dataset](https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/fwzpywbhgw/3)). None of them |
| links these three things: |
|
|
| 1. **Weighted award criteria per lot.** A 60/40, a 600/400 and a 60-points scheme all become |
| one `weight_pct` scale, and `criterion_roles` corrects the many UK TED notices that list |
| "Price" as a *quality* criterion. |
| 2. **The outcome of that lot**: winner, `n_bids`, lowest and highest bid, award value |
| against estimate. |
| 3. **Who the buyer and winner really are.** `buyers` and `suppliers` resolve thousands of |
| spellings to one identity. UK winners carry the Companies House number, so you can join |
| incorporation date and status from the |
| [register](https://download.companieshouse.gov.uk/en_output.html). |
|
|
| ## Quick start |
|
|
| ```python |
| import duckdb |
| |
| con = duckdb.connect() |
| # Mean weight of price criteria, per UK authority (UK-native feeds only, see caveats) |
| con.sql(""" |
| SELECT b.canonical_name, |
| round(avg(c.weight_pct) FILTER (WHERE r.role = 'price'), 1) AS mean_price_weight_pct, |
| count(DISTINCT c.notice_id) AS notices |
| FROM 'hf://datasets/NodeNovaOrg/bidlens-open-data/data/criteria/*.parquet' c |
| JOIN 'hf://datasets/NodeNovaOrg/bidlens-open-data/data/buyers/*.parquet' b |
| ON b.buyer_name = c.buyer_name AND b.buyer_id IS NOT NULL |
| LEFT JOIN 'hf://datasets/NodeNovaOrg/bidlens-open-data/data/criterion_roles/*.parquet' r |
| ON r.name = c.name |
| WHERE c.source IN ('fts_bulk_xml', 'fts_api') AND c.weight_pct IS NOT NULL |
| GROUP BY b.buyer_id, b.canonical_name HAVING notices >= 10 ORDER BY notices DESC LIMIT 20 |
| """).show() |
| ``` |
|
|
| ```python |
| from datasets import load_dataset |
| |
| uk_criteria = load_dataset( |
| "NodeNovaOrg/bidlens-open-data", "uk_criteria", split="train", streaming=True |
| ) |
| ``` |
|
|
| The default view is **UK**: `uk_criteria`, `uk_notices` and `uk_outcomes` hold the rows from |
| the three UK-native feeds plus the GB rows of TED. `criteria`, `notices` and `outcomes` hold |
| everything, UK and EU. On disk the split is in the file names (`criteria-uk-*.parquet`, |
| `criteria-other-*.parquet`), so a glob picks either half or both. |
|
|
| More in [`examples/`](examples/). For serious work, download once |
| (`hf download NodeNovaOrg/bidlens-open-data --repo-type dataset --local-dir bidlens-open-data`) |
| and query the local files. |
|
|
| ## Tables |
|
|
| <!-- stats:tables:start --> |
| | Table | Grain | Rows | of which UK | Size | |
| |---|---|---:|---:|---:| |
| | `notices` | one notice; one notice per lot on `ted_bulk` | 25,452,313 | 1,800,414 | 740 MB | |
| | `criteria` | one published award criterion (per lot) | 34,828,647 | 2,484,224 | 580 MB | |
| | `criterion_roles` | one raw criterion name → what it is (`price`, `quality`, `social_value`, …) | 157,014 | UK only | 2 MB | |
| | `outcomes` | one award result per winner; a lot with bid statistics but no award has a NULL winner | 34,374,398 | 1,629,001 | 354 MB | |
| | `buyers` | one raw `buyer_name` spelling → resolved `buyer_id` | 48,062 | UK only | 2 MB | |
| | `suppliers` | one raw `winner_name` spelling → resolved `supplier_id` and company number | 277,993 | UK only | 8 MB | |
| | `frameworks` | one multi-supplier award notice, ceiling read once | 37,506 | UK only | 2 MB | |
| | `buyer_routes` | one (authority, CPV division): competed / direct / framework award counts | 53,727 | UK only | 1 MB | |
| | `documents` | one tender-document link cited by a notice | 491,621 | UK only | 19 MB | |
| | `tender_documents` | one document actually opened, with its extracted marking-scheme facts | 7,767 | UK only | 1 MB | |
|
|
| Snapshot `v2026.10`, exported 2026-10-02, **1.71 GB** of zstd Parquet. |
|
|
| <!-- stats:tables:end --> |
|
|
| Column-by-column documentation is in [`SCHEMA.md`](SCHEMA.md). `manifest.json` lists every |
| file with its row count and SHA-256. |
|
|
| ## Coverage by source |
|
|
| <!-- stats:coverage:start --> |
| | `source` | Notice rows | Criteria | Outcomes | First published | Last published | |
| |---|---:|---:|---:|---|---| |
| | `contracts_finder` | 633,109 | — | 575,305 | 2016-11-18 | 2026-09-30 | |
| | `fts_api` | 5,706 | 13,557 | 7,132 | 2021-01-01 | 2021-07-27 | |
| | `fts_bulk_xml` | 319,799 | 716,258 | 483,918 | 2021-01-01 | 2026-09-07 | |
| | `ted_api` | 2,045,235 | 10,271,001 | 21,362,084 | 2023-11-02 | 2026-09-08 | |
| | `ted_bulk` | 22,419,541 | 23,707,142 | 11,819,941 | 2005-08-06 | 2023-12-27 | |
| | `ted_xml` | 28,923 | 120,689 | 126,018 | 2024-01-02 | 2024-06-28 | |
| <!-- stats:coverage:end --> |
|
|
| What each `source` is: |
|
|
| | `source` | Feed | Licence | |
| |---|---|---| |
| | `ted_bulk` | TED bulk CSV exports (contract and award notices, pre-eForms) | EU open data, Decision 2011/833/EU | |
| | `ted_api` | TED eForms search API | EU open data, Decision 2011/833/EU | |
| | `ted_xml` | TED monthly XML packages: notices still published on the pre-eForms forms, Jan–Jun 2024. The API carries these as headers only, so they replace the `ted_api` row | EU open data, Decision 2011/833/EU | |
| | `fts_bulk_xml` | Find a Tender daily bulk (OCDS and legacy XML) | OGL v3.0 | |
| | `fts_api` | Find a Tender OCDS API (2021 only; mostly a duplicate of `fts_bulk_xml`) | OGL v3.0 | |
| | `contracts_finder` | Contracts Finder OCDS. Notices, outcomes and document links; **no award criteria** | OGL v3.0 | |
|
|
| TED reaches the dataset by three routes, one per era. `ted_bulk` runs to the end of 2023; |
| `ted_api` takes over in Nov 2023, when eForms became mandatory; `ted_xml` covers the notices |
| still published on the old forms in the first half of 2024. Each TED notice appears once: |
| where two routes carried the same notice, the copy with its criteria and outcomes was kept. |
|
|
| ## Read this before analysing |
|
|
| Each of these produces a plausible wrong number with no error. All of them were found the |
| hard way while building the corpus. |
|
|
| - **Jurisdiction is a property of `source`, not `country`.** `country` is the buyer's |
| address and is NULL on every Contracts Finder and `fts_api` row. For a UK slice, use |
| `source IN ('fts_bulk_xml','fts_api','contracts_finder') OR country = 'GB'`. |
| - **`criterion_type` records which TED column a criterion came from, not what it is.** |
| For the real role, join `criterion_roles` on the **raw** name and fall back to |
| `criterion_type` where the role is `unknown`: |
| `CASE WHEN r.role IS NOT NULL AND r.role <> 'unknown' THEN r.role WHEN c.criterion_type IN ('price','quality') THEN c.criterion_type ELSE 'unknown' END`. |
| For UK weighting benchmarks, use the UK-native feeds. On `ted_bulk`, roughly half of UK |
| groups list price only inside the quality column. |
| - **Not every criterion is scored.** The roles `template_slot`, `not_competed`, |
| `undisclosed` and `unsplit` are not marks. Leave them out of any price/quality split. |
| Drop the whole lot when `not_competed` carries weight, because nobody competed for it. |
| - **`weight_pct` is normalised per lot group, so it always sums to ~100.** Test whether a |
| scheme is complete on `weight_value` instead. On `ted_api`, `weight_pct` is NULL where the |
| feed carries no lot identity; that NULL does not mean no weights were published. |
| - **Joining criteria to outcomes:** `ON o.notice_id = c.notice_id AND o.lot_id = c.lot_id`, |
| with **both** `lot_id IS NOT NULL`. Never `IFNULL(lot_id,'')`: it joins every criterion to |
| every award in the notice. |
| - **Money has no currency on most of the EU estate.** `currency` and `value_currency` are |
| empty on every `ted_api` and `ted_xml` row and on most `fts_bulk_xml` legacy rows, and |
| those values are in the notice's own currency: euro, złoty, lei, forint, all in one |
| column. Only `ted_bulk` (converted to EUR) and `contracts_finder` (GBP) are safe to sum or |
| average as they stand. Elsewhere, compare within one country, or filter |
| `currency IS NOT NULL`. |
| - **Never `SUM(award_value)` over multi-winner notices.** A framework publishes one ceiling |
| and repeats it on every winner's row. Use `frameworks` (`ceiling`, read once), filter |
| `shape = 'framework'`, and divide by `n_suppliers`, not `n_award_rows`. |
| - **`ted_bulk` rows are notice × lot.** Count `DISTINCT notice_id` when you mean notices. |
| `ted_api` and `ted_xml` hold one row per notice, so a `COUNT(*)` of TED notices by year |
| falls about threefold at the 2023/2024 switch while the real volume does not. |
| - **A TED series across 2023–2024 needs all three TED sources.** Filter |
| `source IN ('ted_bulk','ted_api','ted_xml')`. Leaving out `ted_xml` drops about half of |
| January 2024's award notices, which were published on the old forms. |
| - **Group on `buyer_id` / `supplier_id`, never on the raw names.** Join the lookup tables |
| on the exact raw string (`b.buyer_name = c.buyer_name`), without case-folding, and filter |
| `… IS NOT NULL`. A `---` in `buyer_name` is a list of co-buyers. `method` is the |
| resolution tier: on the supplier side, `registry` means a real company number. |
| `suppliers` covers the UK-native feeds only. |
| - **The same UK procurement can appear twice.** Above-threshold contracts go to both Find a |
| Tender and Contracts Finder under different `ocid` namespaces, roughly 12% of FTS award |
| notices. |
| - **Text columns are not corpus-wide.** `title` covers about a third of `ted_bulk` and none |
| of it before 2009. `notices.description` is empty on `ted_api`, but |
| `criteria.description` is 98.7% filled there. Treat any text-search count as a floor. |
| - **`published` has two shapes** (`2024-05-20…` and `20240520`). Use |
| `try_strptime(replace(left(published,10),'-',''),'%Y%m%d')`. |
| - **Open tenders need `stage = 'tender'`, not a date filter.** Planning notices carry |
| dates that look like deadlines. `deadline` is populated on the OCDS feeds and about half |
| of `ted_api`, and is NULL on `ted_bulk` and `ted_xml`. |
| - **`documents` are links; `tender_documents` are documents that were actually read.** One |
| is not the other's denominator. |
| |
| ## What was changed or left out, and why |
| |
| - **Email addresses are replaced with `[email]`** in every text column except `url`. The |
| feeds embed officials' contact addresses in free text, and bulk republication is a |
| separate act under UK GDPR. Per-column counts are in `manifest.json` |
| (`emails_redacted`). The `url` column links back to the original notice. Addresses |
| written out to dodge spam filters (`jane.smith at council dot gov dot uk`) are not |
| recognised and can remain: a few hundred, in notice descriptions. |
| - **Tender document text is not included.** `tender_documents` keeps only the facts |
| extracted from each pack (band count, scales, band keywords, rubric score). The OGL |
| covers what an authority authored, and an ITT pack often contains third-party |
| material. |
| - **Not included:** FOI-released evaluation material (no redistribution licence, and it |
| contains personal data), and the Companies House register itself (join it from source on |
| `suppliers.company_number`). |
| - **Sole traders** can appear as `winner_name`, exactly as the publishing authority |
| released them. To ask for a correction or removal of your own details, email |
| <info@nodenova.co.uk>; for anything else, |
| [open an issue](https://github.com/nodenova/bidlens-open-data/issues/new/choose). |
| Accepted requests are applied at the next snapshot. |
|
|
| ## Licence and attribution |
|
|
| This dataset is released under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| The code in `examples/` and `tools/` is MIT ([`LICENSE`](LICENSE)). |
| If you use it, please credit **"BidLens Open Data, NodeNova"**, and keep these source |
| attributions: |
|
|
| - Contains public sector information licensed under the |
| [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) |
| (Find a Tender, Contracts Finder). |
| - Source: Tenders Electronic Daily, © European Union, <https://ted.europa.eu>, reused under |
| [Commission Decision 2011/833/EU](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec/2011/833/oj). |
|
|
| NodeNova is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Cabinet Office, the Government Commercial |
| Agency or the Publications Office of the EU. |
|
|
| ## Citation |
|
|
| ```bibtex |
| @dataset{nodenova_bidlens_open_data_2026, |
| title = {BidLens Open Data: UK and EU public procurement award criteria and outcomes}, |
| author = {{NodeNova}}, |
| year = {2026}, |
| version = {2026.10}, |
| publisher = {Hugging Face}, |
| url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/NodeNovaOrg/bidlens-open-data}, |
| license = {CC-BY-4.0} |
| } |
| ``` |
|
|
