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eTenders alerts and Holdfast

eTenders is free, official and good at telling you about new tenders. Keep it. Holdfast works on what its alerts don't cover: the contracts already running, who holds them and when they come back.

What eTenders does well

  • eTenders is the Irish Government's tender portal, run by the Office of Government Procurement. Irish public bodies advertise their tenders there, including smaller ones below the EU thresholds, and can ask registered suppliers for quotes through it.
  • Registering as a supplier costs nothing, and the tender documents are free to download.
  • Its alerts: choose the CPV codes (categories) for what you supply, and eTenders emails you when a matching tender is published. You can also follow particular buyers.

What Holdfast adds

New tenders by email

eTenders alerts: yes, free, by category or by buyer.

Holdfast: yes, one email at 7am Irish time when something new matches your trades and area; a tender closing within 10 days is emailed straight after the scan that finds it. Only from the notices Holdfast reads (see below).

Who holds a contract now

eTenders alerts: they tell you about new tenders. Who won earlier contracts is in the award notices, one notice at a time.

Holdfast: every award it has in your trade and area with its current holder, value and term, on Find, Win, Win + Hold and Pro (and the free trial). Holders' names are for members: our public pages never show them.

When it ends

eTenders alerts: not part of the alerts.

Holdfast: an end date from the award date and the term the buyer published, and the re-tender window about 6 months before it. Where no term was published, the usual term for the trade, marked as an estimate. How dates are worked out.

Renewal warnings for your own contracts

eTenders alerts: not part of the alerts.

Holdfast: on Win + Hold and Pro (and the free trial), a reminder 12, 9, 6 and 3 months before each of your contracts ends, saying what to do at that stage, and an alert when that buyer publishes a tender in the same trade.

Plain-English tender summaries

eTenders alerts: not part of the alerts.

Holdfast: upload a tender and get one page: what's asked, the pass/fail rules, how it's scored and the deadline. A month: Find 5 · Win 10 · Win + Hold 10 · Pro 30; 3 in the free trial.

Bid drafts

eTenders alerts: not part of the alerts.

Holdfast: an AI-written first answer to each question, from the facts on your Evidence page and profile; where a fact is missing, the gap is marked instead of made up. A month: Win 3 · Win + Hold 3 · Pro 20, and 1 in the free trial; Find has none. It is a draft: a person at your firm checks it, changes it, signs it and submits it. Holdfast never submits anything for you.

Price check

eTenders alerts: not part of the alerts.

Holdfast: on Find, Win, Win + Hold and Pro (and the free trial): is your price inside what buyers have awarded for similar work, and does it cover the hours and the legal pay rates it promises?

Cost

eTenders: free.

Holdfast: from €99 a month before VAT, with a 30-day free trial and no card needed to start. Every plan.

What Holdfast doesn't do

  • Holdfast does not read eTenders. Its notices come from TED, the EU's tender database, for Ireland and Malta. Contracts above the EU thresholds must be published on TED, which is where Holdfast finds them; a smaller tender published only on eTenders is not in Holdfast yet. Keep your eTenders alerts for those.
  • Holdfast never registers, logs in, bids or submits anything for you, on eTenders or anywhere else. You submit your own bid, where the buyer asks.
  • Dates Holdfast works out are estimates: contract extensions and frameworks can change them. Values are the ceilings buyers published, not amounts paid.

Sources

Facts about eTenders checked 9 October 2026. Its own pages have the latest.