German public buyers reported 199,334 contract awards worth €135 billion in 2024. This guide explains where German tenders are published, the 2026–2027 EU thresholds, the July 2026 procurement reform and what suppliers need to bid.
By TenderRadar Team
From oeffentlichevergabe.de and TED. Counts refresh hourly; overlapping sources are not double-counted.
See the ones that fit youGermany's federal procurement statistics recorded 199,334 contract awards worth €135.2 billion in 2024, counting only contracts from €25,000; the OECD's broader national-accounts measure puts government procurement at about 18% of GDP. Buying is decentralized: more than 11,500 offices report to the statistics, municipalities place over half of all contracts and 88% of awards fall below the EU thresholds. Demand is rising: a 2025 Basic Law change freed defense spending above 1% of GDP from the debt brake and cleared the way for a €500 billion infrastructure fund, and the Procurement Acceleration Act (1 July 2026) simplified many rules. In TenderRadar's live feed (October 2026), construction makes up 34% of open German notices and medical and pharmaceutical supplies 20%, driven by statutory health insurers' drug-rebate tenders.
€135B+ (2024, reported awards)
Annual procurement value
8,437
Open tenders on oeffentlichevergabe.de
TenderRadar count, 6 October 2026; EU-wide plus national notices sent to the Bekanntmachungsservice
4,259
German notices open on TED
TenderRadar count, 6 October 2026; largely the same tenders as above, so don't add the two
2,102
New German contract notices on TED, September 2026
TenderRadar data
54,250
Notices on oeffentlichevergabe.de, last 12 months
TenderRadar data to 6 October 2026
~€750,000
Median stated contract value
Open German notices that state an estimated value (n=532), TenderRadar data, October 2026
Source: Tender Radar analysis of TED and national portal data, October 6, 2026.
The Gesetz zur Beschleunigung der Vergabe öffentlicher Aufträge took effect on 1 July 2026. Federal buyers can award up to €50,000 net without a procedure, bidders mostly submit self-declarations with proof requested only from front-runners, payment is normally due within 30 days, and, where time pressure requires it, lots may be bundled on projects worth at least twice the EU threshold that are funded by the €500 billion infrastructure fund or sit on federal transport networks. An appeal after a lost Vergabekammer case no longer blocks the award, so challenges must be won at first instance.
Official sourceFrom 1 January 2026 the EU thresholds fell slightly to €140,000 (central government), €216,000 (other buyers) and €5,404,000 (works). On the same date VOB/A Section 1 raised national limits for works: direct award up to €50,000, freihändige Vergabe up to €100,000 and restricted tender without a call for competition up to €150,000, so more small works go to invited firms only.
Official sourceGerman procurement law (Vergaberecht) is split at the EU thresholds. Above them, Part 4 of the Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB) and its ordinances implement the EU directives: the VgV for supplies, services and design contests, VOB/A Section 2 for works, the SektVO for utilities, the VSVgV for defense and security and the KonzVgV for concessions. Bidders can challenge awards before the Vergabekammern and appeal to the higher regional courts. Below the thresholds, budget law applies instead: federal bodies and almost every Land use the UVgO for supplies and services (Saxony still applies the older VOL/A), and VOB/A Section 1 governs works, with each Land adding its own procurement law, value limits and often pay-compliance (Tariftreue) rules. The Procurement Acceleration Act, in force since 1 July 2026, amended eight laws and seven ordinances to simplify and speed up procedures. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) leads procurement policy; the national notice service is run by the Beschaffungsamt des BMI.
Germany's official national notice service, part of the Datenservice Öffentlicher Einkauf run by the Beschaffungsamt des BMI. Since 25 October 2023 every buyer covered by the VgV, SektVO, VSVgV or KonzVgV must send its EU-wide notices to TED through this service, which republishes them free of charge. Many buyers also send below-threshold notices, directly or via service.bund.de, but that is not mandatory everywhere. Searching needs no account; an ELSTER company account (available to foreign firms) adds saved searches and alerts. Documents and bidding stay on the buyer's own e-procurement platform. TenderRadar ingests this service's open-data feed, so notices published here flow into TenderRadar.
Visit portalThe online supplement to the EU's Official Journal. Every German procedure above the EU thresholds appears here (German buyers submit them via the Bekanntmachungsservice). Free to search, no registration needed. TenderRadar monitors TED for Germany; expect heavy overlap with oeffentlichevergabe.de.
Visit portalThe federal government's tender search. Federal, Land and municipal buyers enter notices directly, and it imports notices from around 70 cooperating e-procurement platforms. Where the UVgO applies, national supply and service notices must be findable through the bund.de search, so it is an important source for below-threshold tenders. Free, no registration; RSS and newsletter options. TenderRadar does not read service.bund.de directly; notices it passes on to the Bekanntmachungsservice reach TenderRadar that way.
| Category | Threshold (EUR) |
|---|---|
| Supplies | €140,000 (Federal Chancellery and federal ministries) / €216,000 (all other contracting authorities) |
| Services | €140,000 (Federal Chancellery and federal ministries) / €216,000 (all other contracting authorities) |
| Works | €5,404,000 |
EU thresholds for 2026–2027, in force since 1 January 2026 (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152; BMWE notice BAnz AT 18.12.2025 B4), all net of VAT. Since 1 July 2026 the lower central-government value applies only to the Federal Chancellery and the federal ministries (§ 106 GWB); other federal agencies, the Länder and municipalities use €216,000. Utilities (SektVO) and defense/security contracts (VSVgV): €432,000 for supplies and services, €5,404,000 for works. Concessions: €5,404,000. Social and other specific services: €750,000. Below the thresholds national rules apply. Federal buyers may award directly up to €50,000 (§ 55 BHO), as may social insurers such as the statutory health insurers (§ 22 SVHV), both since 1 July 2026; federal buyers may also use a negotiated award without a call for competition for supplies and services up to €100,000 (BAnz AT 18.06.2026 B3). For works, VOB/A Section 1 (since 1 January 2026) allows direct award up to €50,000, freihändige Vergabe up to €100,000 and restricted tender without a call for competition up to €150,000. The UVgO text still sets €1,000 for direct awards; a full rewrite (BMWE draft, June 2026) is pending. Länder and municipalities set their own value limits, so check the rules of the state concerned.
The largest category: 34% of open German notices in TenderRadar's feed (October 2026) and €47.7 billion of reported awards in 2024. Demand spans schools, hospitals, roads, rail and water infrastructure. The July 2026 lots exception lets buyers bundle lots on large projects funded by the infrastructure fund or on federal transport networks, so watch for general-contractor awards alongside trade lots. Big buyers include state building agencies such as Saxony's Staatsbetrieb Sächsisches Immobilien- und Baumanagement (183 open notices) and DB InfraGO.
CPV: 45
20% of open German notices on TenderRadar (October 2026), driven by statutory health insurers: DAK-Gesundheit (335 open), KKH (288), AOK Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland (257), AOK Bayern (191) and Techniker Krankenkasse (163) publish drug rebate agreements under § 130a(8) SGB V, usually one notice per active ingredient and normally for two-year terms, including open-house agreements any manufacturer can join. Hospitals and university clinics add equipment and consumables tenders.
CPV: 33
9% of open German notices on TenderRadar (October 2026). Planning services for buildings and infrastructure are tendered under the VgV's special rules for architects and engineers. Since July 2026 planning work awarded as a lot of a works contract also follows the VgV, and buyers must take account of small practices and newcomers when setting suitability criteria.
CPV: 71
Defense spending above 1% of GDP has been exempt from the debt brake since March 2025, and the February 2026 Bundeswehr procurement act speeds up awards by BAAINBw, the Bundeswehr service centers and other defense buyers. Many contracts run under the VSVgV (€432,000 threshold for supplies and services) or fall under security exemptions, and buyers may restrict participation to EU/EEA-based firms.
CPV: 35
The national Bekanntmachungsservice carries every EU-wide German notice and many national ones, and searching it is free. Each notice links to the platform holding the documents (DTVP, the federal e-Vergabe, a state platform); for EU procedures those documents must be free and directly accessible (§ 41 VgV). Register on the platforms where you actually bid (DTVP's Basic edition is free), because questions, clarifications and bids run there. For below-threshold work in a particular Land, also watch its state portal, since those notices are not always passed on.
Since 1 July 2026 federal buyers and social insurers can award up to €50,000 without any procedure, federal buyers can negotiate supply and service contracts up to €100,000 without a call for competition, and under VOB/A works up to €150,000 can go to restricted tenders among invited firms. Buyers run no open call for these awards, so you only win them if the buyer knows you. Federal rules tell buyers to rotate the firms they award directly, so introduce yourself to relevant purchasing offices, answer market consultations and register in bidder directories.
Under the July 2026 rules, buyers should accept self-declarations, such as the European Single Procurement Document, for suitability and exclusion grounds and request certificates only from bidders in contention, normally ones listed in the EU's e-Certis database. In open procedures they now assess bids before suitability. Keep tax, social-security, insurance and reference evidence ready to send at short notice: missing the deadline for requested documents can still get you excluded.
An entry in PQ-VOB (construction, pq-verein.de) or the chambers of commerce's AVPQ list (supplies and services, amtliches-verzeichnis.ihk.de) proves suitability once instead of with a folder of certificates for every bid, and the 2026 GWB reform confirms that prequalification can replace proof wholly or partly. Buyers also check the federal competition register (Wettbewerbsregister) at the Bundeskartellamt before awards from €50,000, up from €30,000 before July 2026.
See how Tender Radar covers Germany:
EU-wide tenders go to TED through the national Bekanntmachungsservice at oeffentlichevergabe.de, which every German buyer must use for notices above the EU thresholds. Below the thresholds there is no single mandatory portal: where the UVgO applies, supply and service notices must be findable through the bund.de search (service.bund.de); buyers also publish on their e-procurement platform (DTVP, the federal e-Vergabe, state platforms) or website; some Länder prescribe a state portal, such as Hessen's HAD; and many buyers also forward national notices to oeffentlichevergabe.de. TenderRadar covers TED and oeffentlichevergabe.de, so a below-threshold tender that appears only on a platform, state portal or buyer website is not in TenderRadar.
On 6 October 2026 TenderRadar counted 8,437 open tenders on oeffentlichevergabe.de and 4,259 open German notices on TED; the two overlap heavily, so don't add them. In the 12 months to October 2026, 54,250 notices were published on oeffentlichevergabe.de, and in September 2026 alone TenderRadar recorded 2,102 new German contract notices on TED. For scale, the federal procurement statistics recorded 199,334 awards of €25,000 or more in 2024, 88% of them below the EU thresholds. Below the thresholds buyers can also use restricted or negotiated procedures in which only invited firms bid, so not every award is preceded by a public notice.
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The Gesetz zur beschleunigten Planung und Beschaffung für die Bundeswehr replaced the 2022 act on 14 February 2026 and runs to the end of 2035. It widens security exemptions, lets buyers start procedures before funding is secured, speeds up reviews and allows defense buyers to limit tenders to companies based in the EU or EEA (or in GPA countries where the GPA applies). Non-EU defense suppliers may increasingly be shut out.
A Basic Law amendment of 22 March 2025 exempted defense and security spending above 1% of GDP from the debt brake and allowed a €500 billion special fund. The SVIK law of 30 September 2025 finances extra investment in transport, hospitals, energy, education, digitalization, housing and civil protection, with €100 billion for the Länder and €100 billion for climate projects, approved until end-2036. Expect a multi-year pipeline of construction, engineering and equipment tenders.
Official sourceKey authority: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWE), Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
The federal administration's own platform for tender documents, bidder questions and electronic bids, run by the Beschaffungsamt des BMI and used by many federal agencies. Companies register to communicate with buyers and submit bids. TenderRadar does not log in here; its EU-wide notices, and any national notices passed on, reach TenderRadar through the Bekanntmachungsservice.
Visit portalA large commercial e-procurement platform run by DTVP Deutsches Vergabeportal GmbH with Bundesanzeiger Verlag and cosinex, used by many public buyers from cities and universities to utilities. Searching, notices and full tender documents are free without login; a free Basic account covers bidder questions and bid submission; paid editions add e-mail alerts and multiple search profiles. TenderRadar does not log in to DTVP; DTVP tenders reach TenderRadar when they are published through the Bekanntmachungsservice, which is mandatory for EU-wide procedures.
Visit portalMost Länder run their own platform or notice database, and some require their buyers to use it. Examples: Vergabemarktplatz NRW (evergabe.nrw.de), vergabe.bayern (vergabe.bayern.de, run by Bavaria's construction ministry), Berlin's Vergabeplattform (berlin.de/vergabeplattform), Vergabemarktplatz Brandenburg (vergabemarktplatz.brandenburg.de) and Hessen's HAD (had.de), where Hessian law requires all national and EU-wide notices to be published. TenderRadar does not log in to state platforms; their below-threshold notices are covered only if the buyer also sends them to the Bekanntmachungsservice.
Visit portalDigitalization projects at all levels of government plus agencies' and insurers' own IT: software licenses, apps, hosting and IT services. Since July 2026 the VgV lists digital sovereignty as a permitted award criterion, and contracts on cybersecurity or digital sovereignty that need a very high level of confidentiality or data integrity can be exempted from procurement law on security grounds (§ 107 GWB). Expect sovereignty requirements in cloud and security tenders.
CPV: 72
5% of open German notices on TenderRadar (October 2026): building cleaning, waste collection and disposal, sewage and landscaping services, mostly bought by municipalities, state agencies and public companies.
CPV: 90
3% of open German notices on TenderRadar (October 2026): buses, rail and municipal vehicles, fire engines and fleet leasing. Purchases and leases of road vehicles count toward the clean-vehicle quotas of the SaubFahrzeugBeschG, Germany's implementation of the EU Clean Vehicles Directive.
CPV: 34
Statutory health insurers publish drug rebate agreements under § 130a(8) SGB V by active ingredient, normally for two-year terms. Many are open-house agreements that manufacturers can join on the published terms while the admission window is open; exclusive generic tenders are split into many lots, and DAK-Gesundheit and KKH, for example, tender jointly. Set alerts by active ingredient or ATC code rather than by buyer. For medical aids, watch for insurers' EU-wide announcements of contract negotiations under § 127 SGB V, where every provider must be offered negotiations.
Above the thresholds, raise a complaint (Rüge) with the buyer within 10 calendar days of spotting a breach, and anything visible in the notice or documents before the application or bid deadline. If the buyer rejects it you have 15 calendar days to go to the Vergabekammer. The standstill after the award notice is only 10 days when sent electronically, and since July 2026 an appeal against a lost chamber case no longer stops the contract being signed, so act fast and build a strong first-instance case.
Expect documents, questions and bids in German unless the notice says otherwise. Federal buyers require electronic invoices (XRechnung or another EN 16931 format such as ZUGFeRD) through the federal invoice portal OZG-RE. Federal contracts from €50,000 fall under the Bundestariftreuegesetz (in force 1 May 2026), which obliges contractors to apply collectively agreed pay and conditions as set in sector regulations by the Labor Ministry, and many Länder have their own Tariftreue and minimum-pay laws.
Since 1 January 2026: €140,000 for supplies and services bought by the Federal Chancellery and the federal ministries, €216,000 for supplies and services bought by all other contracting authorities (including other federal agencies, the Länder and municipalities), and €5,404,000 for works and concessions. Utilities and defense or security contracts use €432,000 for supplies and services. All values exclude VAT and apply until 31 December 2027. Below them national rules apply; federal buyers, for example, can award directly up to €50,000 since July 2026.
Germany's statutory health insurers (Krankenkassen) must follow procurement law for their contracts (§ 69(3) SGB V). Most of their notices are drug rebate agreements with manufacturers under § 130a(8) SGB V: exclusive generic tenders split into one lot per active ingredient, and non-exclusive open-house agreements that any manufacturer can join on published terms, often with admission windows running into 2028 or 2029. They must also announce EU-wide their intention to negotiate contracts for medical aids (Hilfsmittel, § 127 SGB V), and they tender everyday services such as IT, printing, post and fleet leasing. On 6 October 2026 TenderRadar counted 335 open notices from DAK-Gesundheit, 288 from KKH, 257 from AOK Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland, 191 from AOK Bayern and 163 from Techniker Krankenkasse.
Yes. Companies from the EU and EEA have the same rights as German firms, and companies from countries in the WTO Government Procurement Agreement can rely on it for covered contracts. Since July 2026 the GWB explicitly allows unequal treatment where EU law or a federal statute requires or permits it, and the Bundeswehr procurement act lets defense buyers limit tenders to firms based in the EU or EEA. In practice you need German: documents, questions and bids are normally in German, and the notice states which languages are accepted. To use alerts on oeffentlichevergabe.de, a foreign firm can open an ELSTER company account, provisionally by e-mail until a German tax number is issued.
Präqualifizierung is optional pre-registration of your suitability evidence. Construction firms use the PQ-VOB list of the Verein für die Präqualifikation von Bauunternehmen (pq-verein.de); suppliers and service providers use the official AVPQ list run by the chambers of commerce (amtliches-verzeichnis.ihk.de), which gives a presumption of suitability that public buyers must recognize. It is not mandatory, but it saves resubmitting certificates for every bid. Since 1 July 2026 buyers should in any case accept self-declarations first and ask only promising bidders for proof (§ 122(3) GWB), so prequalification pays off mainly if you bid often.
In EU-wide open procedures the minimum is 35 days from dispatch of the notice, cut to 30 days when electronic submission is accepted (the norm in Germany), and to 15 days after a qualifying prior information notice or in justified urgency. Restricted and negotiated procedures with a call for competition allow at least 30 days to apply and then 30 days to bid (25 with electronic submission); buyers other than the supreme federal authorities may agree a shorter bid period with the shortlisted firms, and without agreement it is at least 10 days. After the award decision, unsuccessful bidders get a standstill of 10 calendar days if informed electronically (15 otherwise); since July 2026 there is none for call-offs under framework agreements or dynamic purchasing systems. Below the thresholds the buyer sets reasonable deadlines.
Above the EU thresholds, first complain to the buyer (Rüge) within 10 calendar days of spotting the breach; errors visible in the notice or documents must be raised before the application or bid deadline. If the buyer refuses to act, you have 15 calendar days to apply to the competent Vergabekammer (the federal chambers sit at the Bundeskartellamt; each Land has its own). Once the chamber notifies the buyer, the contract cannot be awarded. The chamber must decide within five weeks, extendable by about two weeks. Since 1 July 2026 an appeal to the higher regional court no longer stops the award if the chamber rejected your application. Below the thresholds there is no Vergabekammer review; remedies are the civil courts and, in some Länder, a state review procedure.
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