How to find EU contracts on TED: a practical guide for consultancies

What TED is and what it publishes

TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) is the online version of the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ S). It is maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union and is freely accessible at ted.europa.eu. TED is not a commercial aggregator or third-party database: it is the authoritative, primary publication point for EU public procurement.

Publication on TED is mandatory under EU procurement directives when a contract's estimated value exceeds the applicable threshold. Directive 2014/24/EU covers the standard public sector. Directive 2014/25/EU covers utilities (water, energy, transport, and postal services). Directive 2014/23/EU covers concession contracts. Above the relevant threshold, the contracting authority has no discretion on publication: the contract notice must go to TED before the procedure opens to bidders.

The thresholds for the 2026 to 2027 period, updated by the European Commission delegated regulations adopted in late 2025, are:

• Services and supplies, central government authorities: EUR 140,000
• Services and supplies, sub-central authorities (regions, municipalities): EUR 216,000
• Utilities sector (services and supplies): EUR 432,000
• Works contracts (all categories): EUR 5,404,000
• Concession contracts: EUR 5,404,000

Thresholds are set net of VAT and are revised every two years in line with the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). TED publishes approximately 700,000 procurement notices per year across all EU member states and EU institutions. The volume makes unfiltered browsing impractical; effective sourcing depends on using the database's search and alert functions correctly.

CPV codes: the classification system for EU procurement

Every TED notice must include at least one CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) code describing the subject of the contract. CPV codes are the primary filter for targeted searching. Understanding how the CPV system is structured is essential for building a reliable monitoring setup.

CPV codes are 8-digit numbers with a one-digit check digit. The system covers over 9,000 categories of goods, services, and works, organised hierarchically:

• Division: the first two digits (e.g., 79 for Business Services)
• Group: the first three digits (e.g., 792 for Accounting, Auditing, and Bookkeeping Services)
• Class: the first four digits
• Category: the first five digits
• Subcategory: all eight digits plus check digit

Searching at the division level (first two digits) returns all notices under a broad category. Searching at the subcategory level returns only the most specific matches. For practical monitoring, the most useful approach is to search at group or class level within the divisions relevant to your work, then refine from there.

CPV codes relevant to consultancy and advisory work

The CPV divisions most relevant to consultancy, technical assistance, and advisory services are:

• 73000000: Research and Development and Related Consultancy Services
• 79000000: Business Services (includes management consulting, project management, advisory)
• 75000000: Administration, Defence, and Social Security Services (relevant for public administration reform)
• 85000000: Health and Social Work Services
• 80000000: Education and Training Services
• 90000000: Sewage, Refuse, Cleaning, and Environmental Services (relevant for environmental advisory)

Contracting authorities do not always assign CPV codes with precision. A management consulting contract might be filed under 79400000 (Business and Management Consultancy Services) or under a sector-specific code if the buyer considers the sector the primary description. Building a monitoring set that covers 3 to 5 CPV codes across the relevant divisions is more reliable than relying on a single code.

Notice types on TED

TED publishes several distinct notice types. Understanding what each signals is useful for pipeline management, not just for finding live tenders to respond to.

Contract Award Notices deserve more attention than they typically receive in bid prospecting. They name the winning contractor, the contract value, and the number of offers received. Over time, monitoring CANs in your sector reveals which organisations are winning, what the competitive field looks like, and whether the contracts being awarded are at values consistent with your cost structure.

Searching and filtering TED effectively

TED's search interface at ted.europa.eu supports filtering by CPV code, contracting authority, NUTS location code (EU regional classification), contract type (works, services, supplies), procedure type (open, restricted, negotiated), and publication date range. Combining filters produces a manageable results set even from a database publishing several thousand notices per day.

A practical search setup for a consultancy monitoring EU contract opportunities might include:

1. CPV filter: 2 to 4 codes covering your core service areas (e.g., 79410000 for Business and Management Consultancy, 73200000 for Research and Development Consultancy).
2. Contract type filter: Services.
3. Notice type filter: Contract Notices only, to see live tenders rather than awards or corrigenda.
4. Country filter: if you are focused on specific member states or EU institutions, filter accordingly. EU institution contracts are filed under "European Union" rather than a member state.
5. Value range filter: if you want to exclude micro-contracts below a practical threshold, set a minimum value. Above EUR 1 million in services filters out the smallest assignments.

Since October 2023, eForms have been the mandatory format for all procurement notices published via TED, replacing the older F-form templates. eForms contain richer structured data fields, including sustainability criteria, SME access provisions, and strategic procurement indicators. The structured format also makes the TED data more reliably machine-readable, which is relevant if you are using a third-party monitoring tool that ingests the TED open data feed.

Setting up TED alerts

TED provides free saved search and alert functionality. After running a search with your preferred filter combination, you can save it and subscribe to receive email notifications when new notices matching the criteria are published. Alerts can be set to daily or weekly frequency.

A well-structured alert setup replaces ad-hoc browsing with a systematic daily pipeline review. The practical recommendation is to create 3 to 5 separate saved searches rather than one broad alert:

• One search per core CPV cluster (e.g., one for management consultancy codes, one for evaluation and monitoring codes if relevant).
• One search for a specific contracting authority you prioritise (e.g., the European Commission institutions, a specific member state ministry).
• One search for Contract Award Notices in your sector to monitor competitive intelligence.

Broad, single-term alerts that generate 50 or more results per day create fatigue and get ignored. Narrow, targeted alerts that return 3 to 10 notices per day are actionable.

Third-party monitoring platforms such as Tendermetric, TenderRadar, and similar services aggregate TED data with additional filtering, AI-based relevance scoring, and enriched award data. These can reduce the time cost of daily monitoring but they are secondary sources: TED is the canonical record, and publication on TED is what triggers legal deadlines. If there is any discrepancy between a third-party tool and the TED original notice, the TED notice governs.

Restricted procedures, pre-qualification, and SESAM

Not all EU contracts are open procedures. A significant share of high-value, complex contracts use the restricted procedure: the contracting authority publishes a call for expressions of interest or a pre-qualification questionnaire, shortlists a limited number of candidates, and then issues the full tender dossier only to the shortlist.

For restricted procedures above threshold, the call for competition (or PIN used as a call for competition) is published on TED in the same way as an open procedure. The first stage requires submission of a Selection Questionnaire or equivalent, demonstrating that the organisation meets the legal, financial, and technical capacity selection criteria. Typically 3 to 6 candidates are shortlisted to receive the full tender invitation.

The European Single Procurement Document (eSPD) is the standardised self-declaration used across EU procurement for restricted and open procedures above threshold. It replaces the need to submit original certificates at the selection stage; successful tenderers provide the actual certificates at award. eSPD submission is managed through national e-procurement portals or through TED's own eSPD service at espd.eu.europa.eu.

SESAM: pre-registration for INTPA and NEAR framework contracts

SESAM (System for European Suppliers' Assessment and Management) is the European Commission's pre-qualification database used specifically by INTPA (and previously DEVCO) and other Commission services for framework contract lots. It is distinct from the eSPD and from general TED registration.

Framework contracts in EU External Action procurement are multi-year, multi-lot instruments that pre-qualify a roster of suppliers for specific service categories. When a specific contract is needed under a framework, the contracting authority draws down from the pre-qualified roster rather than running a full open competition. Being registered in SESAM for the relevant lots is the prerequisite for being invited to these specific contract competitions. Without SESAM registration for the applicable lot, an organisation cannot be shortlisted regardless of its qualifications.

SESAM registration requires submission of the organisation's legal, financial standing, and technical capacity documentation, categorised by service domain. Registration is free and is maintained in SESAM's online portal. The main INTPA framework contracts in the technical assistance and evaluation space are organised by geographic and thematic lots, and the pre-qualification criteria differ by lot. Organisations planning to compete for INTPA technical assistance contracts should assess which framework lots are relevant and ensure SESAM registration is current before the next framework call opens.

EU External Action procurement: TED versus the F&T Portal

A structural distinction that creates confusion for organisations entering this market is the difference between TED (which covers procurement under the EU procurement directives) and the EU Funding and Tenders Portal, which covers procurement implemented directly by the European Commission using EU external financing instruments.

The EU Funding and Tenders Portal (accessible at ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities) is the primary sourcing point for contracts funded under:

• The Global Gateway and related development cooperation instruments managed by INTPA
• The European Neighbourhood Instrument and IPA (Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance) managed by DG NEAR
• Other thematic programmes in areas such as human rights, democracy, and civil society

Contracts under these instruments follow the PRAG rather than Directive 2014/24/EU, and the F&T Portal is where the notices are published first. Above-threshold contracts are also cross-published to TED, which is why a TED search will surface INTPA and NEAR contracts. But TED is not the primary monitoring channel for this segment: organisations focused specifically on development cooperation and neighbourhood contracts should monitor the F&T Portal directly, including the DG-specific contract opportunities pages.

Understanding which portal governs the contracts in your target segment determines both where you source opportunities and which procedural rules apply to the tender you are responding to. A bid submitted under the wrong procedural assumptions, with financial offer formatting designed for PRAG but the actual tender following Directive 2014/24/EU rules, will create compliance issues. See our guide to EU tender evaluation for detail on how PRAG procedures structure the scoring of technical and financial offers.

Frequently asked questions