Anyone who wants to win public contracts must first find them. And anyone who wants to be found by contracting authorities must understand how the publication system works. TED and CPV codes form the backbone of the European procurement market — but they are underused by many companies.
TED: Tenders Electronic Daily
What is TED?
Tenders Electronic Daily is the EU’s official publication platform for public procurement. All contracts above the European threshold — in all 27 Member States plus the EEA countries — are published here.
TED publishes approximately 800,000 notices annually, representing over €815 billion in contract value. The notices appear in all 24 official EU languages and are freely accessible.
What notices appear on TED?
- Contract notice. The actual publication of a public contract.
- Prior information notice. A non-binding notification that an authority plans a contract — no obligation to tender, but a signal to prepare.
- Contract award notice. After the award, the authority publishes who won the contract, at what price and under which procedure. This is valuable market intelligence.
- Corrigendum. Amendments to a previously published notice.
- Notices for concessions, DPS, qualification systems.
TED as market intelligence
TED is not just a place to find contracts — it is also a source of market information. By analysing awarded contracts you can:
- See which competitors are active in your sector.
- Estimate price levels based on awarded amounts.
- Identify trends in procurement volumes per sector or region.
- Identify potential clients that publish regularly.
CPV codes: the language of procurement
What are CPV codes?
The Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) is a standardised classification system that categorises every public contract. Each code consists of 8 digits and describes a product, service or work.
The structure:
- Division (first 2 digits): main category. For example 45 = Construction work.
- Group (3rd digit): subcategory. 453 = Installation work.
- Class (4th digit): further refinement. 4531 = Electrical installation.
- Category (5th digit): more specific. 45310 = Wiring work.
- Digits 6-8: additional refinement. Check digit as 9th.
Why are CPV codes important?
CPV codes are the primary search filter on TED and most national platforms. If the authority uses the wrong CPV code, you may not find the contract. If you search on the wrong codes, you miss relevant opportunities.
Commonly used CPV divisions
| Code | Description |
|---|---|
| 09 | Petroleum products, fuel, electricity |
| 15 | Food, beverages, tobacco |
| 30 | Office and computing machinery |
| 33 | Medical equipment |
| 34 | Transport equipment |
| 39 | Furniture, household goods |
| 45 | Construction work |
| 48 | Software and information systems |
| 50 | Repair and maintenance services |
| 71 | Architecture, construction, engineering, inspection |
| 72 | IT services: consulting, software, internet |
| 79 | Business services: legal, marketing, consultancy |
| 80 | Education and training |
| 90 | Sewage, refuse, cleaning, environmental services |
Smart searching for contracts
Combine sources
Use TED as radar for European contracts and combine this with national platforms:
- Belgium: e-Procurement (publications below and above the threshold).
- Netherlands: TenderNed.
- Luxembourg: Portail des marchés publics.
Set up CPV profiles
Register on the platforms and set up alerts for the CPV codes relevant to your activity. Think broadly: an IT company searches not only code 72 (IT services) but also 48 (software), 50 (maintenance) and 30 (hardware).
Use the open data
TED makes its data available as open data. Advanced users can download and analyse this data — for trend analysis, competitive analysis or building a prospect database of contracting authorities.
Monitor prior information notices
Prior information notices give you a head start. If an authority announces that it will publish a contract in three months, you have time to organise your references, form a consortium or contact the authority through a market consultation.
Common mistakes
Too narrow CPV selection. Those who only search their core code miss contracts that are classified slightly differently.
Only looking at Belgium. Especially for supplies and services, contracts in neighbouring countries are often feasible — with the same effort.
Ignoring contract award notices. Award notices are a goldmine of information that most tenderers overlook.
Not responding to prior information notices. A prior information notice is not a call for tenders, but it is a signal to start preparation.