How to bid abroad · Europe
Bidding in the Netherlands as a foreign company
Yes, on the same terms as a local firm.
Whether a company established in the EU may bid in the Netherlands is decided by one instrument, and this page names it rather than describing it.
Yes. A company established anywhere in the EU bids in the Netherlands on the same terms as a company established there, and a buyer that treats it differently is breaking the rule it is bound by. Above the EU thresholds the procurement directives apply directly. Below them the Treaty principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination still bind the buyer for any contract a firm in another member state would plausibly want.
Instrument: EU membership, procurement directives 2014/24 and 2014/25.
Where you would register
The national channels in the Netherlands. Registration rules are set by each one and change without notice, so treat these as the addresses to check, not as a list of what they will ask you for.
Registering and bidding on TenderNed, step by step
TenderNed's own steps, each with the page it is read on. The application is only available in Dutch, and so are most tender documents: 98% of the tenders TenderNed published in 2025 were in Dutch.
Search the announcement platform
Every public Dutch notice is there, above the EU thresholds and below them. Filter by CPV code, notice type, buyer, place of performance or date; set the closing date from today to see only what is still open. An interest profile saves the search, with or without an account. A notice that points to another platform is answered there, not in TenderNed.
Source: Aanbestedingen vinden op TenderNed als ondernemer; TenderNed is the Dutch government's online tendering system
Register as a foreign business
A business that cannot register with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce is a foreign business: it registers with a username and password, without eHerkenning, which TenderNed requires of Dutch businesses only (levels EH2+, EH3 or EH4). After approval the activation code arrives within one business day and must be used within 30 days.
Source: Registering a foreign business on TenderNed; eHerkenning gebruiken voor TenderNed
Read the documents and ask questions
Each tender has a dashboard with its documents. Questions go to the contracting authority in Dutch and are visible to the other businesses involved; the asker's name and organisation are not published.
Source: In 6 stappen inschrijven op een aanbesteding via TenderNed; Submitting a tender in an open procedure
Fill in the ESPD (UEA)
The European Single Procurement Document is mandatory above the EU thresholds, and below them where the buyer sets exclusion grounds or suitability requirements. The buyer attaches it to the documents; each member of a consortium submits its own.
Source: Uniform Europees Aanbestedingsdocument (UEA); Ondernemers en het UEA; Aanbestedingswet 2012, articles 2.84 and 2.85
Submit with the SMS transaction code
Answer the requirements and criteria in the dashboard, attach the evidence, then submit with the code TenderNed sends to your mobile phone. The tender goes into the digital vault and can be withdrawn and changed until the vault closes. Closing times are Central European Time.
Source: In 6 stappen inschrijven op een aanbesteding via TenderNed; Submitting a tender in an open procedure
| Contract | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Works (and concessions) | EUR 5,404,000 |
| Supplies and services, central government | EUR 140,000 |
| Supplies and services, other authorities | EUR 216,000 |
| Social and other specific services | EUR 750,000 |
| Utilities, supplies and services | EUR 432,000 |
EU thresholds applied in the Netherlands, 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027, excluding VAT (PIANOo)
Sources, read 12 October 2026: Aanbestedingen vinden op TenderNed als ondernemer; TenderNed is the Dutch government's online tendering system; Registering a foreign business on TenderNed; eHerkenning gebruiken voor TenderNed; In 6 stappen inschrijven op een aanbesteding via TenderNed; Submitting a tender in an open procedure; Uniform Europees Aanbestedingsdocument (UEA); Ondernemers en het UEA; Aanbestedingswet 2012, articles 2.84 and 2.85; Drempelbedragen Europees Aanbesteden; Jaarstatistieken 2025.
A right to bid is not a notice
The instrument above settles whether you may bid. It says nothing about whether you will ever see the tender. 2 sources publish public procurement in the Netherlands, and 1 of them are read here every day, which leaves 1 mapped and not yet read. A company that registers on the national portal and stops there is watching one address out of 2.
Where the competition is thinnest in the Netherlands
Across all procurement in the Netherlands above the EU thresholds, 26.1% of 5,020 lots drew exactly one tender, against 35.9% for the EU as a whole. These are the five CPV divisions where that share is highest, which is where an entrant meets the least installed supply. It is not a ranking of how easy they are.
Tell us the markets, we send the map
Name the countries you are weighing up. You get back where public tenders are published in each one, how much of that we read every day, and what an EU company needs before it may bid there. An email, not a call.
Frequently asked questions
01Can a foreign company bid for public contracts in the Netherlands?
Yes. A company established anywhere in the EU bids in the Netherlands on the same terms as a company established there, and a buyer that treats it differently is breaking the rule it is bound by. Above the EU thresholds the procurement directives apply directly. Below them the Treaty principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination still bind the buyer for any contract a firm in another member state would plausibly want.
02Where would a company register to bid in the Netherlands?
TenderNed (https://www.tenderned.nl/), the national procurement platform, where Dutch law requires every public notice to be published; Aanbestedingskalender.nl (https://www.aanbestedingskalender.nl/), a publication platform carrying Dutch contracting authorities' notices and forward calendars. Those are the national channels. Beyond them, 2 sources in total publish public tenders in the Netherlands, of which 1 are read by a dedicated connector on this site, so registering on the national portal alone leaves 1 publishing places unwatched.
03Does a foreign company need eHerkenning to bid on TenderNed?
No. eHerkenning is mandatory on TenderNed for Dutch businesses only; a business that cannot register with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce registers with a TenderNed username and password. The application itself is only available in Dutch.
04Does being a WTO member let an EU company bid in the Netherlands?
Not needed: the Netherlands applies the EU procurement directives, so an EU company bids on the same terms as a local one. The WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, to which the EU is a party for all its member states, matters for suppliers from outside the EEA, and only for what the annexes list.
What this does and does not say
It names the instrument that governs access and where the notices are published. It is not legal advice and it is not the tender documents, which are the only thing that binds a particular procedure: a buyer can require local registration, a local agent, a share of local content or a certificate no agreement overrides. Trade agreements also work through annexes, so the right they grant reaches the buyers and the thresholds those annexes list and stops there. Where this page says no instrument exists, that is not the same as saying a foreign firm cannot bid; it means nothing obliges the country to let it, and the tender documents decide. The source counts come from this site's platform registry, which maps 1,470 sources across 126 countries.