# /austender/tenders/search

`POST /api/austender/tenders/search`

Price: 20 credits

Search AusTender contract notices — awarded Australian Government contracts and their amendments — by keyword, contract notice id, date window, agency, supplier name or ABN, value range, approach to market id, agency reference and UNSPSC segment, with the agency, supplier, value, dates and category of each notice.

## How to use it

Amendments come back as their own rows with an id such as CN4072539-A2 beside the original CN4072539, so group by notice_id when you need contracts rather than notices. Narrow a broad query with a date window before paging deep. Pass the notice_id of a row to austender/tenders for the OCDS record with the supplier ABN, procurement method and contract period; a notice old enough to have no OCDS release answers 412 there — its url is the fallback.

## Parameters

- `access-token` (string, required)

## Request body

- `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
- `count` (integer, required) — Max number of results (min: 1; max: 750)
- `keyword` (string, nullable) — Words to match in the notice (examples: "software licence"; minLength: 1)
- `keyword_mode` (string) — How the keyword words are matched (default: "all"; one of: "all", "any", "exact")
- `tender_id` (string, nullable) — Contract notice id (examples: "CN4277773", "CN4072539-A2"; minLength: 1)
- `date_type` (string) — Which date date_from and date_to apply to, or the current/closed state of the contract (default: "published"; one of: "current", "closed", "published", "start", "end", "executed")
- `date_from` (string, nullable) — Earliest date, inclusive (examples: "2026-09-01")
- `date_to` (string, nullable) — Latest date, inclusive (examples: "2026-09-15")
- `agencies` (array, nullable) — Publishing agencies, by name or agency UUID (examples: ["Department of Defence"], ["0ec98ef9-e020-5da9-dcb1-0135be81bd2b"]; minItems: 1)
- `include_retired_agencies` (boolean) — Whether notices of retired, renamed or restructured agencies are included (default: true)
- `supplier_name` (string, nullable) — Supplier name or part of it (examples: "HUDSON AUST"; minLength: 1)
- `supplier_abn` (string, nullable) — Supplier Australian Business Number (examples: "12701364623")
- `value_min` (number, nullable) — Minimum contract value in AUD (examples: 1000000; min: 0)
- `value_max` (number, nullable) — Maximum contract value in AUD (examples: 2000000; min: 0)
- `atm_id` (string, nullable) — Approach to market id the contract came from (examples: "DTA-ICT-50582"; minLength: 1)
- `agency_reference_id` (string, nullable) — Agency's own reference id of the contract (examples: "5700027538"; minLength: 1)
- `category` (string, nullable) — UNSPSC segment of the contract (one of: "apparel_and_luggage_and_personal_care_products", "building_and_construction_machinery_and_accessories", "building_and_construction_and_maintenance_services", "chemicals_including_bio_chemicals_and_gas_materials", "cleaning_equipment_and_supplies", "commercial_and_military_and_private_vehicles_and_their_accessories_and_components", "defence_and_law_enforcement_and_security_and_safety_equipment_and_supplies", "distribution_and_conditioning_systems_and_equipment_and_components", "domestic_appliances_and_supplies_and_consumer_electronic_products", "drugs_and_pharmaceutical_products", "editorial_and_design_and_graphic_and_fine_art_services", "education_and_training_services", "electrical_systems_and_lighting_and_components_and_accessories_and_supplies", "electronic_components_and_supplies", "engineering_and_research_and_technology_based_services", "environmental_services", "farming_and_fishing_and_forestry_and_wildlife_contracting_services", "farming_and_fishing_and_forestry_and_wildlife_machinery_and_accessories", "financial_and_insurance_services", "food_and_beverage_products", "fuels_and_fuel_additives_and_lubricants_and_anti_corrosive_materials", "furniture_and_furnishings", "healthcare_services", "industrial_cleaning_services", "industrial_manufacturing_and_processing_machinery_and_accessories", "industrial_production_and_manufacturing_services", "information_technology_broadcasting_and_telecommunications", "laboratory_and_measuring_and_observing_and_testing_equipment", "land_and_buildings_and_structures_and_throughfares", "live_plant_and_animal_material_and_accessories_and_supplies", "management_and_business_professionals_and_administrative_services", "manufacturing_components_and_supplies", "material_handling_and_conditioning_and_storage_machinery_and_their_accessories_and_supplies", "medical_equipment_and_accessories_and_supplies", "mineral_and_textile_and_inedible_plant_and_animal_materials", "mining_and_well_drilling_machinery_and_accessories", "mining_and_oil_and_gas_services", "musical_instruments_and_games_and_toys_and_arts_and_crafts_and_educational_equipment", "national_defence_and_public_order_and_security_and_safety_services", "office_equipment_and_accessories_and_supplies", "organisations_and_clubs", "paper_materials_and_products", "personal_and_domestic_services", "politics_and_civic_affairs_services", "power_generation_and_distribution_machinery_and_accessories", "printing_and_photographic_and_audio_and_visual_equipment_and_supplies", "public_utilities_and_public_sector_related_services", "published_products", "resin_and_rosin_and_rubber_and_foam_and_film_and_elastomeric_materials", "service_industry_machinery_and_equipment_and_supplies", "sports_and_recreational_equipment_and_supplies_and_accessories", "structures_and_building_and_construction_and_manufacturing_components_and_supplies", "timepieces_and_jewellery_and_gemstone_products", "tools_and_general_machinery", "transportation_and_storage_and_mail_services", "travel_and_food_and_lodging_and_entertainment_services")
- `consultancy` (boolean, nullable) — Whether the contract is flagged as a consultancy
- `order` (string) — Result order (default: "relevance"; one of: "relevance", "last_updated", "title", "agency", "published", "value", "category")

## Response

### 200 — Successful Response

- `@type` (string) (default: "AustenderTenderSummary")
- `id` (string, required)
- `notice_id` (string, required)
- `guid` (string, required)
- `amends_id` (string, nullable)
- `amends_url` (string, nullable)
- `buyer` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "AustenderPartyRef")
  - `id` (string, nullable)
  - `name` (string, nullable)
- `supplier` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "AustenderPartyRef")
  - `id` (string, nullable)
  - `name` (string, nullable)
- `published_date` (string, nullable)
- `executed_date` (string, nullable)
- `category` (string, nullable)
- `period` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "AustenderDateRange")
  - `start_date` (string, nullable)
  - `end_date` (string, nullable)
- `value` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "AustenderValue")
  - `amount` (number, nullable)
  - `currency` (string, nullable)
- `atm_id` (string, nullable)
- `updated_at` (integer, nullable)
- `country` (string) (default: "AU")
- `url` (string, required)

## Errors

### 422 — Validation Error

An agency name is not in the AusTender agency list, or a date range was given with date_type current or closed

What to do: Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.

- `detail` (array)
  - `loc` (array, required)
  - `msg` (string, required)
  - `type` (string, required)
  - `input` (any)
  - `ctx` (object)

### 408

The request ran past its time limit

What to do: Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner.

### 412

The entity was not found, or a precondition failed

What to do: Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one.

### 429

Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted

What to do: When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit.

### 500

Something broke on our side

What to do: Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers.

### 529

Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded

What to do: Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

## Response envelope

Success: Array of objects (may be empty if no results)

Error: Error may coexist with partial results if it occurs mid-execution. Check X-Error header and status code.

Every response carries these headers:

- `X-Error` — Error message text (present only on error)
- `X-Request-ID` — Unique request identifier
- `X-Execution-Time` — Execution time in seconds
- `X-Result-Count` — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently.
- `X-Total-Available-Results` — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact.
- `X-Warning` — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry.
- `X-Retry-After` — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.