Complete Guide to EU Government Tenders

EU public procurement accounts for roughly 14% of the bloc's GDP. Twenty-seven member states plus EEA countries (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein) and Switzerland publish tenders under harmonised rules set by EU Directives 2014/24/EU (classical), 2014/25/EU (utilities), and 2014/23/EU (concessions). Above-threshold contracts must be advertised EU-wide on TED (Tenders Electronic Daily), ensuring cross-border access. Below-threshold contracts follow national rules and appear on country-specific portals — meaning the full EU market spans hundreds of procurement platforms across dozens of languages.

TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) is the official publication platform for EU public procurement. It publishes over 700,000 notices per year representing contracts worth more than €670 billion. All EU above-threshold tenders must appear on TED, making it the single most important procurement source for cross-border bidders. TED notices include contract notices (live opportunities), prior information notices (upcoming opportunities), and contract award notices (results). The platform is free to access at ted.europa.eu, though its advanced search interface requires familiarity with CPV codes and NUTS regions to use effectively.

CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) codes classify what is being purchased. Every TED notice is tagged with CPV codes — for example, 72000000 for IT services or 45000000 for construction. Knowing your relevant CPV codes is essential for finding opportunities. NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) codes define where the contract will be performed, using a hierarchical system from country level (NUTS 0) down to small regions (NUTS 3). Together, CPV and NUTS codes let you filter the 700,000+ annual TED notices down to the opportunities that actually match your business.

EU procurement directives only apply above specific contract-value thresholds, which are revised every two years. The 2026-2027 thresholds are: €140,000 for central government supply and service contracts, €216,000 for sub-central authority supply and service contracts, and €5,404,000 for works contracts. Contracts below these thresholds follow national rules and are published on national portals — not TED. This means a comprehensive EU tender search must cover both TED and the 27+ national procurement platforms where below-threshold opportunities appear.

Some of the most accessible opportunities never appear on TED. National portals like DTVP (Germany), BOAMP (France), TenderNed (Netherlands), and Find a Tender (UK, post-Brexit) publish contracts below EU thresholds. These below-threshold tenders often have simpler procurement processes, shorter timelines, and less competition. For companies new to EU procurement, below-threshold national contracts are an excellent starting point — they build experience and past performance without the complexity of full EU-directive procurement.

Manually monitoring TED plus 27 national portals in 24 languages is not feasible for any team. Jorpex monitors TED and 50+ procurement sources simultaneously — including national portals across Europe, the UK, the US, and beyond. Configure your CPV codes, geographic regions, contract-value ranges, and keyword filters once. Matching tenders are delivered to Slack or email in your language, regardless of the source language. Realtime alerts, daily digests, or weekly summaries — your choice. At $49/month with no per-user fees, it replaces dozens of hours of manual portal checking and ensures no relevant opportunity slips through.