How to Search TED (Tenders Electronic Daily)

What Is TED?

Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) is the official online journal for European public procurement. Operated by the Publications Office of the European Union, TED is where all above-threshold procurement notices from EU and EEA member states are published. With approximately 700,000 notices per year representing hundreds of billions of euros in contract value, TED is the single most important starting point for any business seeking government contracts in Europe.

Access TED at ted.europa.eu. The platform is free to use, requires no registration for basic searches, and is available in all 24 official EU languages.

The TED Interface: Getting Started

TED underwent a major redesign with the migration to eForms. The current interface at ted.europa.eu features a clean search bar on the homepage with quick-access filters. Here is how to navigate it effectively:

1. Simple search: Type keywords directly into the search bar. TED searches notice titles, descriptions, and buyer names. This works for quick lookups but often returns too many or too few results.
2. Expert search: Click "Expert search" to access the full query builder. This is where you can combine multiple criteria with boolean operators for precise results.
3. Browse by category: Use the left sidebar to browse notices by sector, country, or publication date.

Key Search Filters

TED provides several powerful filters that let you narrow results to exactly the opportunities you need:

CPV Codes (What)

The Common Procurement Vocabulary code is the most important filter. Every notice is tagged with one or more CPV codes describing the contract subject. You can search by:

• Division level (2 digits) — broad categories like 72 for IT services
• Group/class level (4-6 digits) — more specific, like 7220 for software consultancy
• Full code (8 digits + check) — very specific items like 72212000-4 for programming services

Tip: search at the group level (4 digits) for the best balance of coverage and relevance. Too broad and you get noise; too narrow and you miss opportunities coded slightly differently.

NUTS Codes (Where)

NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) codes identify the geographic location of contract performance. They range from country level (e.g., DE for Germany) through regions (DE3 for Berlin) to specific areas (DE300 for Berlin city). Use NUTS filters to focus on areas where you can deliver.

Buyer Type

Filter by the type of contracting authority — central government, regional/local authority, body governed by public law, utility, EU institution, or international organisation. This helps if you specialise in working with specific types of public bodies.

Contract Type

Choose between supplies (goods), services, or works (construction). You can combine multiple types. Most IT and consulting firms focus on services; manufacturers focus on supplies.

Procedure Type

Filter by procurement procedure — open, restricted, competitive dialogue, negotiated, etc. Open procedures are the most accessible for new suppliers.

Publication Date

Set date ranges to see recent notices. Deadlines are typically 30-52 days from publication for open procedures, so filtering the last 30 days ensures you see opportunities that are still open.

Advanced Boolean Search

TED's expert search supports boolean operators that allow complex queries:

• AND — both terms must appear: cybersecurity AND consulting
• OR — either term: software OR application
• NOT — exclude terms: IT services NOT hardware
• Parentheses — group logic: (cloud OR SaaS) AND (migration OR deployment)
• Quotes — exact phrase: "managed services"

Combine boolean text search with structured filters (CPV, NUTS, dates) for the most precise results. For example, search for CPV 72000000 in NUTS DE with the text query "cloud computing" OR "infrastructure as a service".

Setting Up Alerts

Manually checking TED every day is impractical. TED offers two alert mechanisms:

Email Alerts

Create a free TED account, run your search with the desired filters, then click "Save search" and enable email notifications. TED will send you daily or weekly emails with new notices matching your criteria. You can save multiple search profiles for different product lines or markets.

RSS Feeds

Each search result page offers an RSS feed URL. Add this to any RSS reader (Feedly, Inoreader, etc.) for real-time updates without email clutter. This is particularly useful for teams that use shared dashboards.

Beyond TED Alerts

TED's built-in alerts are basic — they match on keywords and filters but lack intelligence. TenderRadar goes further by using AI to analyse each notice against your company profile, scoring relevance and surfacing opportunities you might miss with simple keyword matching.

Understanding TED Notice Types

Not every notice on TED is a call for tenders. Understanding the notice types helps you prioritise your time:

Prior Information Notice (PIN)

An early announcement that a contracting authority plans to procure goods, services, or works in the coming months. PINs are not calls for competition — you cannot submit a tender in response. However, they are invaluable for advance planning: identify upcoming opportunities, start preparing your team and partners, and reach out to the buyer during market consultation phases.

Contract Notice (CN)

The formal call for competition. This is the notice you respond to with a tender or request to participate. It contains the full procurement details: scope, specifications, evaluation criteria, deadlines, and submission instructions. This is where the action is.

Contract Award Notice (CAN)

Published after a contract has been awarded. Shows the winning bidder, contract value, and number of tenders received. While you cannot bid on these, CANs are gold for market intelligence — they reveal who is winning in your sector, at what prices, and from which buyers.

Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency Notice (VEAT)

Published when an authority intends to award a contract without a competitive procedure and wants to provide transparency. These often indicate sole-source or emergency procurements.

Modification Notice

Published when an existing contract is significantly modified. Can reveal extensions or scope changes that might indicate future opportunities.

The eForms Migration

Since November 2023, TED has been transitioning from its legacy notice format to eForms — a new EU-wide standard for procurement notices based on structured XML. Key implications for searchers:

• More data fields: eForms capture significantly more structured information than legacy notices, including better lot-level detail, strategic procurement flags (green, social, innovation), and accessibility requirements
• Better search: The additional structured fields mean more precise filtering options on TED
• Transition period: Some member states adopted eForms earlier than others. During the transition, you may see both formats. TED normalises the display, but some fields may be empty in legacy notices

Using the TED API

For programmatic access, TED provides a public API that allows you to search and retrieve notices in structured formats (XML, JSON). The API is useful for:

• Building custom dashboards or internal tender tracking tools
• Integrating TED data into CRM or business development workflows
• Running bulk analyses of procurement data for market intelligence

Access the API documentation at ted.europa.eu under the developer section. Note that the API has rate limits and returns data in eForms XML schema. For most businesses, using a platform like TenderRadar — which already integrates TED data with AI-powered matching — is more practical than building a custom API integration.

Pro Tips for Effective TED Searching

• Search in multiple languages: Notices are published in the buyer's language. While TED provides machine translations, searching in the original language (e.g., German for German tenders) yields more accurate results
• Use CPV wildcards: Search at the group level rather than specific codes to catch notices that might be classified slightly differently
• Monitor award notices: Track who wins contracts in your sector to understand pricing and competition
• Combine with national portals: TED only covers above-threshold contracts. Many valuable contracts below thresholds are published only on national portals — TenderRadar covers both
• Check corrigenda: Amendments can extend deadlines, change scope, or add lots — always check for corrections to notices you are tracking