Guide
How to set up tender alerts.
Checking portals by hand means you find tenders late or not at all. An alert turns discovery into one email a day: define what you want once, and we tell you how many new tenders match it. The trick is filtering tight enough to trust the results.
Set up a tender alert in four steps.
1
Define your sectors
Start from what you sell, mapped to procurement sectors — IT, construction, professional services, medical, and so on. Scoping by sector cuts the bulk of irrelevant notices before any other filter.
2
Name your target buyers
Add the specific agencies and buyer types you want to serve. A contract from an agency you can't realistically deliver to is noise; excluding them keeps the results something you actually read.
3
Tune the filter until you trust it
Too broad and you ignore the results; too narrow and you miss real opportunities. Run the filter against existing tenders first, check the matches are right, then save it. A trustworthy saved search is one you act on every time you open it.
4
Turn on the alert
Save the tender search and tick the “Alert me” box. Once a day, we email you the number of new open and awarded tenders that match it, per country, with a link to the search. Choose a weekly digest if a daily email is too much. You can also run the same query over the API or MCP server for a workflow.
The reason most suppliers miss winnable tenders isn't access — it's timing. Notices have short response windows, and a tender found three days late is often a tender you can't bid on. An alert shortens that gap: one email a day with the number of new matching tenders, and the publication date on every record.
Search quality is a filtering problem. A search that matches everything gets ignored within a week; a search scoped to your sectors and buyers stays useful. Sell to State alerts run over the same 73-market dataset as the UI, so you can also pull the same results through the API or MCP server into an existing pipeline.
Frequently asked questions
What are tender alerts?
Tender alerts tell you about new government contracts that match your criteria — your sectors, countries, and keywords. In Sell to State you save a tender search and turn on its alert. Once a day, we email you the number of new open and awarded tenders that match it. Supplier and buyer searches have no alert.
How do I keep up with new government contracts?
Save a tender search scoped to your sectors and keywords and turn on its alert: Sell to State emails you once a day with the number of new matching tenders. You can also pull the same results over the API or MCP server. Many official portals also offer their own email alerts.
How do I keep a saved search from being noisy?
Scope it. Filter by sector first, then by the specific buyers you can serve, and test the filter against existing tenders before saving it. A tight search you act on every time beats a broad one you learn to ignore.
Can an AI agent monitor tenders for me?
Yes. Sell to State exposes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, so an AI assistant or your own app can run saved queries, pull award history, and check for new opportunities through the same data the UI uses.
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Grok Set up Sell to State for me: government tenders and contract awards from official sources in 73 countries, as MCP tools. Agent docs: https://docs.selltostate.com/llms.txt
1. Sign me in yourself. Try this first: you need me only for one approval click.
- If you can send HTTP requests: POST https://app.selltostate.com/api/v1/agent/signup with JSON {"client_name": "<your app name>"}. Show me verification_uri_complete from the reply as a link. I open it, sign up free with Google or email, and approve the code. Every "interval" seconds, POST token_endpoint with {"device_code": "<device_code>"} until the reply has access_token. Send access_token in the x-api-key header to the MCP server https://app.selltostate.com/api/mcp.
- If you cannot send HTTP requests: tell me to add the MCP server https://app.selltostate.com/api/mcp in this app. Its sign-in page also creates the free account. Claude: Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector. ChatGPT: chatgpt.com/plugins > + > Add custom MCP server, choose OAuth. Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http selltostate https://app.selltostate.com/api/mcp, then /mcp > Authenticate.
2. The tools are free to connect. A free account gets plan_search 3 times a day and search for 2 different searches a day: titles, buyers, status and dates. Amounts, winners and notice links need a plan. Call whoami to see my plan.
3. Ask me what my company sells and in which countries. Call plan_search with my answer, then search with its scope, q and filters. Show me the 10 best open tenders with the title, the buyer and the dates. Then give me app_url: it shows every row, and I can save the search there for email alerts. Sign up free
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