What Is an Open Tender?
An open tender (also called an open procedure) is a procurement method where any interested and qualified supplier can submit a bid. It is the most common and most transparent form of public procurement.
Definition
In an open tender, the contracting authority publishes a notice inviting all interested economic operators to submit tenders. There is no pre-qualification or shortlisting stage—any company that meets the stated requirements can bid.
Open vs restricted procedures
In a restricted procedure, the authority first selects a shortlist of candidates before inviting bids. Open tenders skip this step, making them faster and more accessible but potentially resulting in more submissions for the authority to evaluate.
When open tenders are used
EU procurement directives require open procedures for most contracts above threshold values. They are preferred when the authority wants maximum competition and when the goods or services are well-defined. Open tenders are the default procedure in most jurisdictions.
Finding open tenders with Jorpex
Most tenders Jorpex delivers are open procedures, as these represent the majority of published procurement notices. You can include “open procedure” or “open tender” as keywords to specifically target this procedure type.