Policies

Policies of European public procurement are drawn by the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and SMEs (DG GROW)

The EU directives on public procurement, whose core principles are transparency, open competition, and sound procedural management, cover tenders that are expected to be worth more than a given threshold. They are designed to achieve a procurement market that is competitive, open, and well regulated – essential to put public funds to good use.

Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union

All public tenders above specific contract values must be published in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (S series, Official Journal S or OJ S) and published throughout the EU.

The Official Journal S is available exclusively in electronic format and is accessible on TED website. Access to TED is free of charge.

In addition to current tenders, the TED database allows access to the archives of the S series in all EU languages. A single search interface allows the user to select or to enter multiple search criteria, including geographical data, type of document, nature of contract, keywords and more.

Thresholds

The contract value thresholds above which an invitation to tender must be published throughout the EU are laid down in EU directives.The following table provides a summary of the contract value (thresholds) that applies depending on the nature, sector or type of buyer:

Type of Contract 2024-2025 Threshold 2026-2027 Threshold
Services and supplies for central government authorities 143 000 EUR 140 000 EUR
Services and supplies for sub-central government authorities 221 000 EUR 216 000 EUR
Services and supplies for utilities 443 000 EUR 432 000 EUR
Public works 5 538 000 EUR 5 404 000 EUR

 

More detailed information about thresholds can be found on the page of Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission (DG GROW).

What is published in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union?

Each public procurement procedure involves several stages. Depending on the legal basis and type of procedure one or more announcements (notices) are published in the online version of the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (TED).

The most widely used procedures involve a competition notice, which informs potential tenderers of the procedure and how it will be carried out, and a contract award notice, which announces the outcome of the procedure such as the suppliers who have successfully signed a contract with the public buyer. Other types of notices include planning notices, direct award preannouncements, design contests and contract modifications, as well as changes to each type of notice.

A wide range of public buyers publish their notices on TED, including central, regional, local and international authorities, as well as other bodies, public undertakings and organisations controlled or subsidised by these authorities.

Each year services, supply and public works contracts worth about EUR 815 billion are published by public authorities in the EU and every working day the Supplement to the Official Journal publishes over 3000 invitations to tender, contract awards and other announcements.

Note

Since 1 January 2021, UK contracting authorities and contracting entities can no longer publish procurement notices on TED. This is because EU rules on public procurement have ceased to apply both to and within the United Kingdom.

Procurement notices related to procedures published by 31 December 2020 will still be published on TED as UK contracting authorities and contracting entities must still apply EU law to ongoing procedures (i.e. those published by 31 December 2020). Therefore, they must send their relevant notices (e.g. corrigenda notices, contract award notices, contract modification notices) to TED.