How to read an EU public tender notice
Before spending days preparing a bid, check what the buyer needs, how it will choose a supplier and whether your business can deliver. Two real software contracts show what to look for.
A public tender is an invitation to compete for a contract from a public organisation, such as a town or ministry. If your business supplies software, construction, equipment or other services, these contracts can be a source of customers. Preparing an offer takes work, so start by checking whether you can deliver what the buyer wants and meet its requirements.
You can find opportunities on Tenders Electronic Daily, usually called TED, the EU's public procurement website. A tender notice summarises the purchase and links to the buyer's detailed documents. This guide uses two software contracts to show which parts to read before deciding whether to prepare a bid.
1. Check whether the contract fits your business
Start with the description of the work. Then check these details. The notice helps you decide whether to investigate; you still need the full documents before committing to a bid.
| Detail | Question to answer |
|---|---|
| Buyer and location | Who would you work for, and where must you deliver? |
| Scope and requirements | Can you provide the service and demonstrate the required experience? |
| Estimated value and duration | What work does the total cover, and over how many years? |
| Submission deadline | Can you prepare the documents and offer by the stated local time? |
| Selection process | How do you enter, and how will the buyer score your offer? |
You will also see CPV codes. These are category labels for the goods or services being purchased; CPV stands for Common Procurement Vocabulary. They help you search for related contracts. Read the description too: two purchases in the same software category may require very different skills.
Keep the estimate separate from your potential income. Check whether it includes tax, optional work and several years of support. A four-year contract worth €400,000 is a different commitment from a €400,000 installation.
2. Check whether you would support an existing system
A contract to maintain a named product calls for different expertise from a contract to build a new system. Look for product names, maintenance obligations and compatibility requirements. If another supplier already does the work, ask what you would need to take over.
3. Read how the buyer will score your offer
The award criteria are the rules used to score bids. They may focus on price or give weight to technical quality, the proposed team and delivery. Read them early: they tell you what your proposal must demonstrate.
Compare Čadca's support contract with the Czech Ministry of Agriculture's purchase of a new register of water-management infrastructure. The ministry estimates the work at 81,618,000 CZK excluding VAT. Its notice assigns 30 per cent of the score to price, 30 per cent to parts of the proposed solution, 30 per cent to the team's expert knowledge and 10 per cent to faster delivery of selected modules.
A low price alone would therefore leave most of the score unaddressed. Before bidding, a supplier needs to assess whether it can prepare the technical proposal, provide the team and support the delivery commitments. These are different demands from pricing support for an existing system.
4. Look up the previous supplier and bids
A contract award notice reports the result of an earlier competition. It can name the winning supplier, the contract value and the number of offers received. Search the buyer's previous purchases for comparable work, then check how closely the scope matches.
For example, the Levice software award and the Žilina software award both name CORA GEO and each records one offer. You can also follow the Levice award to its signed contract in Slovakia's central contract register.
One offer is a reason to investigate the requirements and switching costs. It does not prove that competition was impossible or predict the next result. Likewise, companies listed as previous winners in a category are possible businesses to research, rather than a confirmed list of competitors for your tender.
5. Check changes before relying on a deadline
A recently published notice may update an older competition. Open the buyer's documents and read any changes or answers to suppliers' questions before planning your bid.
The Czech ministry's original notice was published in September. A later change extended the deadline, and the 30 October notice extended it again. As checked on 8 November 2026, the buyer's portal lists 12 November at 13:00 as the submission deadline. Check it again before submitting.
Ask your assistant to check a contract
Paste this with a link to a notice. Review its sources before acting.
Help me decide whether this public contract is worth investigating for my business. What we sell: [describe your service, location and relevant experience] Notice: [paste link] Read the notice and the buyer's linked documents. Summarise: 1. What the buyer needs, where and for how long. 2. Requirements we must meet, including experience and qualifications. 3. Estimated value, tax treatment and optional work. 4. Current deadline, submission method and any changes. 5. How bids are scored and what preparing an offer would involve. 6. Any named existing product or supplier, and comparable past awards. Link each finding to its source. Explain unfamiliar terms. Separate facts from your interpretation, flag missing documents and list the questions we need answered before deciding to bid.
Try it now: find a relevant contract in Evolc Signals' public tenders, then open the original notice and buyer's documents. Your first decision is whether the work fits your business well enough to justify preparing an offer.
