Understanding TED Tenders: EU-Wide Public Contracts for German Businesses

What is TED and why are German bidders almost invisible?

TED, Tenders Electronic Daily, is the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union. All public contracts above EU thresholds must be published here. That means: millions of tenders annually from 27 member states.

Yet a curious phenomenon: German companies are underrepresented on TED. While French or Italian bidders systematically search for EU-wide opportunities, many German firms limit themselves to national and regional portals. The consequence: many German contracting authorities advertise EU-wide but see only foreign bidders, and German companies miss international opportunities.

Why? Because TED seems complicated, because the search interface feels confusing, and because many don't realize the new eForm structure since October 2023 makes data machine-readable.

The brief history of TED

TED was founded in 1998 to implement the then-current VgV (Vergabe-Verordnung, Public Procurement Ordinance): contracts must be accessible Europe-wide. For decades TED was a pure PDF text archive, searching for a contract meant reading lots of text or getting lucky.

This changed in 2023. The new eForm Regulation made the shift from classical, unstructured text entries to standardized XML structure mandatory, for all 27 member states, starting October 2023. This means:

• Structured, machine-readable data
• Uniform fields for contracting bodies, service descriptions, deadlines, CPV codes
• Real API support
• Better filtering and searchability

This was a huge step, but wasn't broadly communicated. Many contracting authorities struggled with it initially.

TED Today: API, eForms and Access

Classic Web Access

Anyone visiting ted.europa.eu sees the old interface. It works, but is technically outdated:

• Simple keyword search
• Filters by date, country, procedure type
• PDF downloads of tenders
• No advanced filters by CPV code, region or other criteria

Problem: The interface is not optimized for user experience. Search is granular but not semantic.

TED API v3 (Since 2024)

More significant for professionals is the TED API v3, freely usable without authentication (with quotas). It provides:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "noticeNumber": "2026/S 103-123456",
      "title": "Construction of an office building",
      "contracting_body": { "name": "City of Munich", "country": "DE" },
      "cpv_codes": ["45000000"],
      "estimated_value": 5000000,
      "publication_date": "2026-05-20",
      "deadline": "2026-06-30"
    }
  ]
}

This is the real solution for monitoring. With the API you can pull all new tenders daily, filter them, and integrate them into your system. This is what professional procurement platforms do.

Important: The API has quotas (e.g. 1000 requests/day in the free plan). Continuous monitoring previously required specialized crawlers; now you can access data systematically.

eForms: The New Backbone of TED

eForms are the standardized XML structure for EU tenders. Since October 2023 all tenders must be submitted in this format. This matters because:

1. Uniform Data Fields

Whether the tender comes from Germany, Spain or Lithuania, the structure is identical. This means:

• Contracting bodies, contact details: standardized
• Service description: categorized
• CPV codes: structured
• Deadlines and dates: machine-readable
• Contact for queries: always in the same position

2. Semantic Searchability

With standardized fields a search engine can filter far more intelligently. Example:

• Old variant: "Building extension Brandenburg" → only those searching that keyword find it
• eForm variant: Tender is categorized with CPV 45000000 (construction) + region BRA (Brandenburg) → semantic filters work

3. Automated Processing by AI

The structured data enables AI systems to analyze the entire tender text, not just the fields, but also the service description in free text, and determine relevance. This dramatically reduces false positives and false negatives.

CPV Codes: The Language of Procurement

Every TED tender has one or more CPV codes (Common Procurement Vocabulary). This is an EU-wide classification of service types.

Examples:

• 72000000 = IT services
  • 72200000 = Software development
  • 72300000 = Hardware repair
• 45000000 = Construction
  • 45200000 = General construction
  • 45300000 = Civil engineering
• 79000000 = Business consulting

If you know your relevant CPV codes, you can refine TED search dramatically. This is one of the most powerful strategies for bidders:

1. Identify your top 5 CPV codes for your services
2. Create search profiles for these codes
3. Filter by region (e.g. "DE" for Germany, or specific states)
4. Monitor daily or weekly

Most German bidders don't do this, and thereby miss opportunities explicitly categorized as such.

Why German Companies Systematically Underestimate TED

1. Information Gap

Most mid-market firms don't know that:

• TED is free
• The new API is simpler than the web interface
• CPV codes enable systematic search

2. Language Barrier

Many TED tenders are in English, sometimes French or Spanish. German mid-market firms often lack experience writing international bids.

3. Administrative Overhead

Processing a TED tender is more formal than a national one. Longer deadlines (minimum 35 days), eForm documentation, more extensive qualification evidence, it deters.

4. Lack of Systematicity

Without a tool or service you must crawl TED yourself. That is manually time-consuming. Many companies don't start.

Comparison: TED vs. National Portals

Aspect	TED	National Portals
Reach	27 countries, €500B+ annually	Usually one country, €50-200B annually
Access	Free, API available	Free to fee-based
Language	Often English, varies by country	National, usually local language
Format	eForms (structured since 2023)	Variable per country
Deadlines	Minimum 35-40 days	Often 10-30 days
Competition	Higher (EU-wide)	Regionally lower
Volume	500K+ tenders annually	50K-100K annually per country
Freshness	Very current (daily updates)	Regionally variable

Strategy for German Bidders:

• Small projects (under €250K): Focus on national portals (Vergabe Bayern, Vergabe NRW, service.bund.de)
• Medium to large projects (over €250K): Combine TED + national portals
• Internationally active firms: TED is a genuine opportunity

Practical Access: How to Use TED

Option 1: Web Search (Easy, but Limited)

Go to ted.europa.eu → Advanced Search:

1. Select countries (e.g. "Germany")
2. Set date filter (e.g. "last 7 days")
3. Enter keyword (e.g. "Software Development")
4. Optional: filter by procedure type

Downside: Keyword-based, no semantic filters.

Option 2: TED API v3 (Professional)

Documentation: https://ted.europa.eu/api/v3

Example: All German IT services tenders (CPV 72000000) from the last 7 days:

curl "https://ted.europa.eu/api/v3/notice-search" \
  -d '{
    "country": ["DE"],
    "cpv_codes": ["72000000"],
    "published": { "from": "2026-05-16", "to": "2026-05-23" }
  }'

This returns structured JSON data you can feed into your database or notification system.

Option 3: Specialized Services (Easy + Complete)

Services like Auftrag One, dtad.de, or Patterno crawl TED daily and combine it with national portals. This saves time and gives you:

• Aggregated search across multiple sources
• Semantic filters (not just keywords)
• AI matching to your profile
• Daily notifications
• German interface

It costs, but the time savings and certainty you won't miss anything is worth it for many bidders.

Checklist: Using TED Correctly

• Identify your top 5 CPV codes for your services
• Create saved searches on ted.europa.eu or via API
• Filter by countries (Germany + neighbors, if relevant)
• Check at least weekly, TED updates daily
• Note minimum deadlines (35+ days for bids, longer prep time)
• Verify your qualification criteria (certificates, references) before bid submission
• Leverage eForm structure: search for keywords in volume fields, service descriptions, contracting body country
• Document every opportunity you pursue, even failures are learning sources

Outlook: TED's Future

The eForm migration will stabilize through 2026. Next steps:

• Better web interface: ted.europa.eu becoming more user-friendly (already planned)
• Enhanced API features: Semantic filters via NLP APIs
• Integration with national portals: Some countries will link TED search to their local portals

For bidders this means: now is the moment to build TED competence. The platform will become increasingly user-friendly and powerful.

Conclusion

TED is not just a mandatory platform for contracting authorities, it is a genuine opportunity platform for German bidders. The problem isn't the market, it's the lack of systematicity. With the right CPV codes, regular searches, and understanding of eForm structures, you as a German bidder can compete EU-wide.

If you want to pursue TED opportunities systematically without crawling daily yourself, you can test Auftrag One free for 30 days. We aggregate TED daily, extract CPV codes and semantic relevance, and deliver only the tenders that match your profile.

---

This article serves as general information. All details on TED, eForms and APIs refer to May 2026.