TED Tenders Explained: How to Navigate EU Contract Notices

Tenders Electronic Daily is the definitive source for public procurement opportunities in Europe. With over 700,000 notices published per year, TED contains more opportunities than any single supplier could ever review manually. The challenge is not access. It is navigation.

This guide explains how TED is structured, how to search it effectively, and how to set up a system that surfaces relevant tenders without drowning you in noise.

How TED is structured

TED is the online version of the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ S). Every working day, a new edition is published containing thousands of procurement notices from across the EU and associated countries.

TED publishes several types of notices, each serving a different purpose:

Contract notices are active tenders seeking bids. This is where most suppliers focus their attention.

Prior information notices (PINs) announce planned procurement before the formal tender is published. PINs give you advance warning, sometimes months ahead, allowing you to prepare before the deadline starts running.

Contract award notices announce who won a contract and at what value. These are not opportunities to bid, but they are invaluable for competitive intelligence. Knowing who wins what, and at what price, informs your strategy for future bids.

Corrigenda are amendments to previously published notices. These can change deadlines, modify requirements, or correct errors. Missing a corrigendum can mean your bid is based on outdated information.

Voluntary ex ante transparency notices announce the intention to award a contract without competition, typically under specific legal exceptions.

The new TED: eForms

In 2023, TED transitioned to eForms, a new standardised format for procurement notices. eForms replaced the previous format with a more structured data model that improves searchability and consistency across member states.

Key changes under eForms:

The practical impact for suppliers is that search results are more reliable and tender information is more consistently formatted.

Searching TED effectively

TED's search interface offers multiple parameters. Using the right combination is critical for manageable results.

CPV codes are the most powerful filter. The Common Procurement Vocabulary assigns numeric codes to every type of goods, services, and works. CPV 72000000 covers IT services. CPV 45000000 covers construction. Using the right CPV codes at the right level of specificity is the single most effective search strategy.

A practical approach: start with your two-digit CPV division (e.g., 72 for IT services), review the results, then narrow to three-digit groups and four-digit classes until the volume is manageable.

Country filters limit results to specific member states. If you only operate in five countries, filtering by country dramatically reduces noise.

Buyer type distinguishes between central government, regional/local authorities, utilities, and other entities. Different buyer types have different procurement thresholds and procedural requirements.

Contract type separates supplies, services, and works. Most companies should filter by one or two contract types.

Procedure type indicates whether the tender is open, restricted, competitive dialogue, or another procedure. Open procedures are the most accessible for new entrants.

Estimated value is not always published but when available, allows you to filter by contract size.

Setting up TED notifications

TED allows you to create saved searches and receive email notifications when new matching notices are published. This is the minimum viable monitoring system for any company targeting EU procurement.

To set up effective notifications:

1. Create a TED account (free) 2. Build a search using your priority CPV codes, countries, and contract types 3. Run the search and review results to verify relevance 4. Save the search as an alert 5. Set notification frequency (daily recommended)

Create multiple alerts for different combinations. For example, one alert for your primary service across all target countries, and separate alerts for secondary services in your highest-priority markets.

Understanding EU procurement thresholds

TED only publishes tenders above the EU threshold values. Contracts below these thresholds are published on national portals only. Current thresholds (reviewed every two years):

These thresholds are net of VAT. For many SMEs, the most accessible contracts fall just above these thresholds, where competition from major multinationals is less intense.

Reading a TED notice: What matters most

When you find a potentially relevant tender, focus on these elements in order:

1. Deadline. If you have less than two weeks, consider whether you can realistically prepare a competitive bid.

2. Eligibility requirements. Are there geographic, certification, or experience requirements that exclude you?

3. Evaluation criteria and weighting. If price is 80% of the score, the cheapest compliant bid will win. If quality is 70%, invest in your technical response.

4. Lot structure. Many EU tenders are divided into lots. You may be competitive for some lots but not others. Bid selectively.

5. Contract duration. A four-year framework agreement is worth more investment than a one-off purchase.

6. Estimated value. Does this match your capacity and ambition?

Beyond TED: Complementary sources

TED covers above-threshold procurement. For complete EU coverage, you also need:

How Trinta enhances TED monitoring

TED's native search and alerting works, but it has limitations. Keyword matching misses semantically relevant tenders. The volume of notifications can overwhelm. And TED does not cover national below-threshold portals.

Trinta integrates with the TED API to process every published notice using AI-powered matching. Instead of keyword alerts that return hundreds of results, Trinta scores each tender against your company profile across multiple dimensions and delivers a ranked daily digest of the opportunities most likely to be worth your time.

The combination of full TED coverage with AI scoring means you review fewer tenders but find more relevant ones.

Building your TED strategy

Start by identifying your five most relevant CPV codes. Set up TED email alerts for these codes across your target countries. Spend one week reviewing results to calibrate your filters. Then establish a daily routine: review new alerts, quickly triage each notice, and move promising opportunities into your bid/no-bid process.

The companies that win consistently on TED are not the ones that find the most tenders. They are the ones that find the right tenders and invest their bid-writing effort where their probability of winning is highest.

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