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Setting up your Central Digital Platform (CDP) account - what you need to know

13 July 2026

CDP account set up

Procurement notices now need to be published on the Central Digital Platform (CDP). It's a big change and one that can affect how quickly we move projects forward. Here we explain what it means for you, and how you can set up your account now to avoid delays down the line. 

What is the CDP 

The CDP is the new government-run platform that sits at the heart of the Procurement Act 2023. It's designed to be a single place where contracting authorities manage and publish procurement notices. It'll also be where supplier and contract information can eventually be viewed and verified. It replaces the previous system of separate portals and individual processes. 

Why is setting up an account important? 

Regardless of whether you use SEC, it's still important to set up an account on the CDP. There's a requirement to publish information on the platform for all contracts under the scope of PA23. So if your organisation runs any procurements independently, or plans to in the future, you'll need an account in place anyway. 

If you're working with us on a project, we'll need to publish notices on your behalf. To do that under the new regulations, we need to be set up as a user on your CDP account. Without this we can't issue notices and it'll delay the project moving forward. 

The fix is straightforward: 

  1. Create your organisation's CDP account. This has to be done by you and isn't something we can do for you.
  2. Add your SEC Procurement Lead as a user on the account, so we can publish notices when the time comes.
  3. You can remove them as a user once the project is complete. It's more important that you have the initial account set up in preparation. 

We'll also remind you of this when beginning our initial conversations about your project. But it's always helpful to have the account set up from the start. 

How to register

The government has published clear step-by-step guidance on registering your organisation and first administrator here: How to register your organisation and first administrator on Find a Tender in three easy steps (HTML) - GOV.UK

Our advice

We'd encourage you to set up an account as early as possible. A few of our customers have already been through this process and getting it sorted early has made a difference. 

If you run into any issues registering, get in touch with your SEC Procurement Lead and we'll help however we can. 

Want to know more about our frameworks? Check out all our procurement routes: Our frameworks | South East Consortium

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