Getting started with Nutcracker

Nutcracker collects public tenders from TED and about 20 national portals every day and puts them in one search. This guide gets you from a first search to a working setup: saved searches that alert you, an organisation for your team and a pipeline for the bids you work on.

What can you do with Nutcracker?#

The typical path looks like this:

1. Search tenders by meaning, in any language.

2. Save the search and get alerts when new matching tenders are published.

3. See Recommended for you: open tenders that fit your company description.

4. Track bids with your team in the pipeline.

5. Prepare the bid with the bidding assistant (Spain, Italy, France and Germany).

6. Keep certificates in Company documents, so they're valid when a bid asks for them.

You don't need all of it on day one. Start with search and alerts, then add the rest when you have a tender worth bidding for.

Step 1: try a search (no account needed)#

Open Search in the header (/tenders) and describe what you sell in plain words, for example "school renovation in Finland" or "cleaning of office buildings". Nutcracker searches by meaning, so it also finds tenders written in other languages.

Step 2: create an account#

Click Sign in in the header. You can sign in with Google or with e-mail and a password ("No account yet? Create one"). A free account lets you:

• save searches and bookmark tenders (☆);

• fill in your profile, language and appearance;

• join your company's organisation.

Step 3: set up your organisation#

Paid features are subscribed per organisation, your company's shared space. The pipeline, labels, bids, company documents and team conversations belong to it.

1. 1

   Open Organisation (/team) and choose Found an organisation. Give it your company name, e.g. "Example Construction Ltd". You become its Owner.

2. 2

   Under Invite people, enter a colleague's e-mail address and click Send invitation. The link works for 30 days.

3. 3

   Go to Plan and billing (/team/billing) and click Start 14-day free trial. No card needed.

If a colleague has already founded the organisation, ask them to invite you instead. You can belong to several organisations and switch between them on /team.

Step 4: save a search and turn on alerts#

Run a search that describes your business, add filters (country, sector, CPV codes) and click Save search & get alerts. Give it a name and click Save & alert me.

New matching tenders then arrive every hour in the Alerts inbox (/alerts) and, depending on your settings on /profile, by e-mail and push. Alerts need Pro, so start the trial first.

Step 5: describe your company for "For you"#

Open For you (/recommended) and fill in What does your company do? in a few sentences. Or let Nutcracker draft it: enter your website under Fill in from your website and click Draft description. Review the text, choose Countries you deliver to if you like, and click Save profile.

The list refreshes daily. The same description also feeds the AI fit suggestion in the pipeline.

Step 6: track your first tender#

When a tender looks promising, click Add to pipeline on the card or notice page. It lands in Watching by default. From there your team moves it through Qualifying, Go / no-go, Bidding and Submitted, and Nutcracker watches the tender for corrections, deadline changes and the award.

What to set up next#

Company documents

upload tax and social security certificates, insurance and ISO certificates once, at /team/documents.

Coming up

see contracts that end soon and when they're likely to be tendered again, at /coming-up.

Mobile app

install it and sign in to get push notifications.

Language

the site is in English, Finnish, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Dutch.

New to public tenders in general? Start with the basics.