Country GuidesApril 11, 2026Updated October 6, 202614 min read
How to Find Government Tenders in Sweden
Swedish public buyers advertise about 18,000 procurements a year, worth close to SEK 1 trillion. This guide explains where they are published (TED plus five registered national databases), the 2026–2027 SEK thresholds, LOU rules and deadlines, and what TenderRadar covers.
Purchasing covered by Sweden's procurement laws was worth an estimated SEK 1,008 billion in 2024, about 17.5% of GDP, according to Upphandlingsmyndigheten. Some 3,955 organizations are covered, most of them publicly owned companies, alongside state agencies, 290 municipalities and 21 regions (which run healthcare). In 2025 buyers advertised 18,015 procurements worth an estimated SEK 982 billion; 60% were above EU thresholds and so also went to TED, where TenderRadar recorded 441 new Swedish contract notices in September 2026. There is no state-run portal: every advertised tender must appear in one of five databases registered with Konkurrensverket, led by Mercell. Trafikverket and Adda were the biggest buyers by value. Defense spending is climbing steeply, and supplier vetting is tightening.
SEK 1,008B (2024)
Annual procurement value
~17.5% (2024)
Share of GDP
533
Open Swedish tenders on TED
TenderRadar count on 6 October 2026. TED only: below-threshold notices published solely in Swedish national databases are not included.
441
New Swedish contract notices on TED (September 2026)
Contract notices from Swedish buyers that TenderRadar recorded on TED during September 2026.
Medical equipment & pharma (12%)
Largest category of open tenders
Share of open Swedish TED tenders by CPV division on 6 October 2026, ahead of IT services (9%) and construction (9%).
Västra Götalandsregionen (24 open tenders)
Most active buyer
Followed by Region Skåne (9), then Region Jönköpings län, Statens inköpscentral vid Kammarkollegiet, Sjöfartsverket and Varuförsörjningen (8 each). TenderRadar TED data, 6 October 2026.
Source: Tender Radar analysis of TED and national portal data, October 6, 2026.
What's Changed Recently
January 1, 2026
New EU thresholds for 2026–2027 in kronor
Since 1 January 2026 the EU thresholds are lower in euros (for example €216,000, down from €221,000, for supplies and services bought by municipalities and regions) but higher in kronor because of the exchange rate: SEK 2,451,816 for sub-central buyers, SEK 1,589,140 for state agencies and SEK 61,340,804 for works. The SEK 700,000 direct award limit is written into LOU and did not change.
Amendments adopted by the Riksdag on 27 May 2026 and in force since 1 July 2026 set up a coordinated register check (samordnad registerkontroll): Bolagsverket will check, in a single request from the buyer, exclusion grounds such as certain crimes, unpaid taxes and social insurance contributions, and bankruptcy. Buyers may not ask you for certificates they can obtain free through the service; Bolagsverket is building the system in 2025–2027 and it is due to go fully live in 2028.
Sweden implements the EU procurement directives through LOU (public sector), LUF (utilities), LUK (concessions) and LUFS (defense and security). Below the EU thresholds, chapter 19 of LOU sets a lighter national regime: since a February 2022 reform, buyers can design their own procedure and negotiate, but must advertise in a registered database, set reasonable time limits and notify award decisions, which triggers a standstill period. Contracts under SEK 700,000 can be directly awarded (chapter 19a). LOV governs systems of choice for certain health, social care and employment services, and every advertised procurement must be published in an advertising database registered with Konkurrensverket under the Act on Procurement Statistics (2019:668). Reviews go to the administrative courts; Konkurrensverket supervises compliance and can impose procurement fines of up to SEK 20 million for unlawful direct awards, while Upphandlingsmyndigheten provides guidance and the official statistics. A coordinated register check of suppliers, run by Bolagsverket, has a legal basis from 1 July 2026. Still at proposal stage: rules letting buyers exclude suppliers from countries without an EU procurement agreement (Ds 2025:29, proposed from 1 January 2027) and the EU Public Procurement Act (COM(2026) 590, proposed by the Commission on 9 September 2026), a regulation that would repeal the directives behind LOU, LUF and LUK and apply directly.
LOU: Lag (2016:1145) om offentlig upphandling (Public Procurement Act)
LUF: Lag (2016:1146) om upphandling inom försörjningssektorerna (Utilities Procurement Act: water, energy, transport and postal services)
LUFS: Lag (2011:1029) om upphandling på försvars- och säkerhetsområdet (Defence and Security Procurement Act)
LUK: Lag (2016:1147) om upphandling av koncessioner (Concessions Procurement Act)
LOV: Lag (2008:962) om valfrihetssystem (Act on Systems of Choice, used for certain health, social care and employment services)
LUS: Lag (2019:668) om upphandlingsstatistik (Act on Procurement Statistics: governs registration of the advertising databases where all notices must be published)
Lag (2018:1277) om elektroniska fakturor till följd av offentlig upphandling (e-invoicing for all public contracts)
Official Procurement Portals
TED (Tenders Electronic Daily)
Primary
The EU's official tender journal. Swedish procurements above the EU thresholds (60.4% of the 18,015 advertised in 2025) must be published here as well as in a Swedish registered database, which forwards them to TED. Free to search by country and CPV code without registering; bids are submitted in the buyer's own e-tendering tool. TenderRadar monitors Swedish TED notices (533 open on 6 October 2026).
Sweden's largest registered advertising database, carrying 55.8% (10,048) of procurements advertised in 2025. Many buyers run their tenders in Mercell TendSign (tendsign.com), which Mercell bought from Visma together with the Opic monitoring service in 2020. A supplier account for downloading documents and bidding in TendSign is free; Mercell sells optional alert and bid-support subscriptions. Not integrated by TenderRadar, which only sees the notices that also go to TED.
Registered advertising database and e-tendering tool run by Antirio AB, with 23.2% (4,182) of Swedish procurements in 2025. Finding notices, bidding and Q&A with buyers is free for suppliers; Antirio's paid Pabliq service offers alerts across all databases. Not integrated by TenderRadar.
SEK 1,589,140 (central government) / SEK 2,451,816 (sub-central); social and other specific services SEK 8,513,250
Works
SEK 61,340,804 (all contracting authorities)
Valid 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027, excluding VAT. These are the official SEK equivalents (Commission Communication C/2025/5732) of the euro thresholds in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152: €140,000 for central government (state agencies), €216,000 for sub-central buyers (municipalities, regions, publicly owned companies and other contracting authorities) and €5,404,000 for works. Utilities (LUF) and defense and security (LUFS) supplies and services: SEK 4,903,632 (€432,000); LUF social services SEK 11,351,000; concessions (LUK) SEK 61,340,804. Below the thresholds LOU chapter 19 applies: the procurement must be advertised in a registered database, time limits must be reasonable, and the buyer may negotiate. Direct award without advertising is allowed below SEK 700,000 under LOU and SEK 1,200,000 under LUF and LUFS (fixed amounts in law, unchanged in 2026); for social and other specific services the limit equals the threshold (SEK 8,513,250), and under LUK it is SEK 3,067,040. Buyers must document direct awards above SEK 100,000.
Key Sectors & Opportunities
Healthcare & Medical Supplies
Sweden's 21 regions run healthcare and buy medical devices, pharmaceuticals and consumables. Medical equipment and pharma is the largest category among open Swedish TED tenders in TenderRadar's data (12% on 6 October 2026), and the most active buyers include Västra Götalandsregionen, Region Skåne, Region Jönköpings län and Varuförsörjningen, which buys care consumables for the regions of Dalarna, Sörmland, Uppsala, Västmanland and Örebro. Since June 2025 an EU measure has barred Chinese companies from medical-device tenders above €5 million.
CPV: 33
Construction & Civil Engineering
Construction work (CPV 45) made up just over a quarter of all procurements advertised in Sweden in 2025. Trafikverket, the Swedish Transport Administration, was the largest buyer by estimated value that year (SEK 103.3 billion), while municipalities, regions and their property and housing companies supply a steady flow of building and maintenance contracts. Construction is 9% of open Swedish TED tenders in TenderRadar's data.
CPV: 45
IT Services & Software
IT services are 9% of open Swedish TED tenders in TenderRadar's data. State agencies buy much of their IT through Statens inköpscentral framework agreements, which in IT and telecoms can also be used by municipalities and regions, so framework re-tenders are the key moments to watch.
CPV: 72
Architecture, Engineering & Inspection
Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services accounted for about 8.7% of Swedish procurements in 2024, and the two companies with the most contracted bids across all Swedish procurement that year were the engineering consultancies Sweco (261) and WSP Sverige (209), according to Upphandlingsmyndigheten. The category is 6% of open Swedish TED tenders in TenderRadar's data.
CPV: 71
Defense & Security
Sweden joined NATO in March 2024 and military appropriations reach SEK 175 billion in 2026. FMV, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, ordered SEK 90.1 billion from industry in 2025 and aims to widen its supplier base. FMV and the Armed Forces may exempt war-materiel purchases worth up to SEK 200 million from LUFS on security grounds, so part of defense buying is never advertised; follow FMV's published procurement plan.
Tips for Suppliers
1
Cover TED and the national databases
TED publication is only required for Swedish procurements above the EU thresholds. The rest, about 40% of the 18,015 advertised in 2025, appear only in the five registered national databases, led by Mercell (56% of notices), then e-Avrop, KommersAnnons.se and Clira. TenderRadar matches Swedish TED notices to your profile; for below-threshold municipal work you also need accounts on the national databases or a monitoring service.
2
Open free supplier accounts in the buyers' tools
Documents and bids run through each buyer's e-tendering tool, most often Mercell TendSign, e-Avrop, Kommers or Clira. LOU requires free, direct and complete access to procurement documents, and supplier accounts on the main tools are free; you only pay for optional alert or bid-support services. Ask questions through the tool's Q&A function in good time: answers are shared with all bidders.
3
Plan around framework agreements
Many purchases are call-offs from framework agreements run by Adda (for municipalities, regions and their companies) and Statens inköpscentral (part of Upphandlingsmyndigheten from 1 January 2027). Agencies under the government must use Statens inköpscentral's frameworks unless they report an exception, and frameworks normally run for up to four years, so check both bodies' planned-procurement pages and bid when a framework is re-tendered.
4
Show sustainability and labor compliance
Upphandlingsmyndigheten found environmental requirements in 24% of procurements advertised in 2025 and social requirements in about 10%, most often fair working conditions. Its free criteria service publishes ready-made sustainability criteria by product and service group, so check the criteria for your category before you bid.
5
Use the standstill period, and act fast
See how Tender Radar covers Sweden:
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are Swedish government tenders published?
Since 1 January 2021 every advertised Swedish procurement must be published in an advertising database registered with Konkurrensverket under the Act on Procurement Statistics (2019:668). Five are registered: Mercell Annonsdatabas (about 56% of 2025 notices), e-Avrop (23%), KommersAnnons.se (17%), Clira (4%) and Konstpool, a niche database for art commissions. Procurements above the EU thresholds (60% in 2025) must also be published on TED. Systems of choice under LOV are advertised on Upphandlingsmyndigheten's Hitta LOV-uppdrag, and direct awards below SEK 700,000 need not be advertised at all. TenderRadar currently monitors TED for Sweden, not the national databases.
How many public tenders are published in Sweden?
Upphandlingsmyndigheten counted 18,015 advertised procurements in 2025, with a combined estimated value of about SEK 982 billion and an average of SEK 54.5 million each; activity peaks in March to May and October and dips in July and August. In TenderRadar's own data, 441 new Swedish contract notices were published on TED in September 2026, and 533 Swedish TED tenders were open on 6 October 2026. Those TED figures leave out below-threshold notices that appear only in the national databases.
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Statens inköpscentral moves to Upphandlingsmyndigheten
The government has decided that the state's central purchasing body, which runs framework agreements for state agencies (and, in IT and telecoms, for municipalities and regions too), moves from Kammarkollegiet to Upphandlingsmyndigheten on 1 January 2027. Existing framework agreements stay valid for their full term, and framework suppliers get a new supplier seal from 2027.
Military appropriations reach SEK 175 billion in 2026, putting Sweden's defense spending at about 2.8% of GDP by NATO's measure, and the government aims for 3.5% by 2030. The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) placed SEK 90.1 billion of new orders with industry in 2025, up 33% on 2024 and more than SEK 210 billion over three years, and has published a procurement plan and opened a contact point to make it easier for companies to reach it.
Registered advertising database run by Antirio System AB that lists public notices from buyers using the Kommers procurement system, with 17.2% (3,092) of Swedish procurements in 2025. Free to use; it links to each buyer's own Kommers supplier portal for documents and bids. Not integrated by TenderRadar.
The newest registered advertising database, run by Clira AB alongside its procurement software for buyers. Small but growing: 689 Swedish procurements (3.8%) in 2025, up from 124 in 2024. Not integrated by TenderRadar.
The national website where contracting authorities must advertise systems of choice under LOV, such as home care, in which every provider meeting the requirements is approved and users choose. Sweden had 427 systems of choice in 2026. Free to search. Not covered by TenderRadar.
Business services such as consulting, legal, communications, recruitment, printing and security services are 7% of open Swedish TED tenders in TenderRadar's data. Services overall were the most common procurement type in 2025, close to half of all advertised procurements by both number and value.
CPV: 79
Cleaning, Waste & Environmental Services
Cleaning, waste and environmental services are 6% of open Swedish TED tenders in TenderRadar's data. Environmental requirements appeared in 24% of all Swedish procurements in 2025 (over 40% by value), so be ready to document environmental performance.
CPV: 90
After an award decision you normally have 10 days (avtalsspärr) to apply for review at the administrative court (förvaltningsrätt); the application must arrive before the period ends, and new grounds raised more than three weeks after filing may be disregarded. Once the award decision is made, tenders held by public bodies can generally be requested as public documents, though business secrets may be redacted.
6
Get known for direct awards
Contracts below SEK 700,000 (SEK 1.2 million for utilities and defense) can be awarded without advertising. Buyers must have direct-award guidelines and document purchases above SEK 100,000, and some still publish voluntary notices (1,084 direct awards and negotiated procedures without prior notice were advertised in 2025). Introduce yourself to the procurement units of your target buyers.
7
Set up e-invoicing before you win
Every supplier to the Swedish public sector, including non-EU companies and direct awards, must send e-invoices to the European standard for procurements started after 1 April 2019. Upphandlingsmyndigheten recommends Peppol BIS Billing 3 through a Peppol access point, so arrange this before your first contract starts.
What are the EU procurement thresholds in Sweden for 2026–2027?
From 1 January 2026, excluding VAT: supplies and services SEK 1,589,140 for state agencies and SEK 2,451,816 for other contracting authorities such as municipalities and regions; works SEK 61,340,804; social and other specific services SEK 8,513,250. Utilities (LUF) and defense (LUFS) supplies and services: SEK 4,903,632. Below the thresholds the national rules in LOU chapter 19 apply, and contracts under SEK 700,000 (SEK 1.2 million under LUF and LUFS) can be directly awarded.
Can foreign companies bid on Swedish government tenders?
Yes. Companies from the EU and EEA, and from countries covered by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement or an EU trade agreement with procurement commitments (such as the UK, US, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea), have guaranteed access to the procurements those agreements cover. After the EU Court of Justice's Kolin ruling (C-652/22, October 2024), suppliers from countries without such an agreement cannot claim equal treatment, and a Swedish proposal (Ds 2025:29) would let buyers exclude them or adjust the evaluation of their bids, without access to review, from 1 January 2027. Expect most documents in Swedish and mandatory e-invoicing.
Do I need to submit bids in Swedish?
Usually, unless the notice says otherwise. The contract notice and procurement documents state which languages are accepted, and most Swedish buyers write their documents in Swedish. Some accept tenders, or supporting material such as product sheets and certificates, in English; this varies by buyer and contract. If the language rules are unclear, ask through the platform's Q&A function before the deadline.
What do Adda and Statens inköpscentral do?
They are Sweden's two main national central purchasing bodies. Adda Inköpscentral, owned by SKR (Sweden's association of municipalities and regions) and called SKL Kommentus until April 2021, sets up framework agreements that municipalities, regions and their companies can call off from; it was the second-largest buyer by estimated value in 2025 (SEK 69 billion) after Trafikverket. Statens inköpscentral at Kammarkollegiet procures frameworks that agencies under the government are obliged to use, and in IT and telecoms municipalities and regions can use them too. From 1 January 2027 it becomes part of Upphandlingsmyndigheten; existing frameworks remain valid for their full term.
How long do I have to respond, and how does the standstill period work?
Above the thresholds, an open procedure must allow at least 35 days from dispatch of the notice, cut to 30 days when tenders can be submitted electronically (the norm) and to as little as 15 days after a prior information notice or in urgent cases. Below the thresholds LOU only requires a reasonable time. After the award decision a standstill period (avtalsspärr) applies: 10 days if the decision was sent electronically, 15 days otherwise. A review application must reach the administrative court before the standstill ends. Once a contract is signed, what remains is a claim that it is invalid, possible only in limited cases such as an unlawful direct award (generally within six months, or 30 days after an award notice or written notification), or a damages claim in the general courts (within one year).
Does TenderRadar cover all Swedish tenders?
No. For Sweden, TenderRadar currently monitors TED, which carries the procurements above the EU thresholds (60% of advertised Swedish procurements in 2025, by Upphandlingsmyndigheten's count). We do not yet integrate the national databases (Mercell and TendSign, e-Avrop, KommersAnnons.se, Clira, Konstpool), so below-threshold tenders published only there are not in our feed. If smaller municipal contracts matter to you, pair TenderRadar with a national database account or monitoring service.
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