The public procurement market: 500 billion euros, spread across thousands of platforms
Public contracts in Germany form a market with an estimated annual volume of 500 billion euros. Roughly 58% of that is awarded at the municipal level. For companies wanting to play here, a very practical question arises: Where do I find the right tenders – and how do I make sure I miss none?
This guide provides a complete overview of the key sources, search strategies and tools for tender research in 2026.
Where are tenders published?
EU-wide tenders: TED (Tenders Electronic Daily)
Contracts above the EU thresholds (as of 2026: €140,000 or €216,000 for supply and service contracts, €5,404,000 for construction) must be published Europe-wide on TED. The platform is freely accessible and offers filters by country, sector and CPV codes.
Practice tip: TED suits broad market monitoring, but for daily research it is too cluttered – search filters are technical and result lists contain a lot of noise.
Federal level: service.bund.de and evergabe-online.de
For federal tenders service.bund.de is the central entry point. It is complemented by evergabe-online.de, which serves as a procurement platform for electronic bid submission.
State level: procurement portals of the federal states
Each federal state runs its own procurement platforms. The most important:
| State | Portal |
|---|
| Bavaria | Vergabe.bayern.de |
| NRW | Vergabe.NRW.de |
| Baden-Württemberg | service-bw.de |
| Lower Saxony | Vergabe.Niedersachsen.de |
| Hesse | HAD (Hessische Ausschreibungsdatenbank) |
| Berlin | Vergabeplattform.berlin.de |
These portals are not connected to each other. Anyone active in multiple states has to search each platform separately.
Municipal level: Where it gets messy
At municipal level there are hundreds of procurement bodies with varying publication practices. Many municipalities use commercial platforms like DTVP, subreport, AI Vergabemanager or the respective state portals. Some publish tenders exclusively on their own website.
This is where the biggest risk of missing relevant contracts lies: There is no central place where all municipal tenders are aggregated.
Sector-specific portals
Additionally there are specialized portals for specific sectors:
- Bauportal.de for construction services
- dtad.de for public-sector contracts and tenders
- SIMAP for international tenders
The most common mistakes in tender research
1. Too narrow keyword search
Public contracting authorities do not always use the terms companies expect. An IT consultancy searches for "software development", but the tender is titled "creation and maintenance of a web-based specialist application". Anyone searching only for fixed keywords misses such matches.
2. Irregular research
Tenders have short bid deadlines – often only 20 to 30 days. Those who search only once a week lose valuable preparation time. Daily research is mandatory but costs time.
3. No relevance assessment
Not every tender that fits thematically is also economically viable. Volume, requirement profile, regional location and competitive density play a decisive role. Without systematic evaluation companies invest bid effort in the wrong procedures.
4. Missing competitive analysis
Those who bid against the same competitors without knowing it cannot differentiate their offers. Historical award data shows which companies regularly win contracts in specific areas.
5. Fragmented sources, no overview
Anyone searching three state portals, TED and two sector platforms in parallel loses the overview. Without a central system relevant tenders end up in email inboxes, browser tabs or Excel lists – and slip through the cracks.
From searching to finding: Strategies for efficient research
Use CPV codes
The Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) is the EU-wide uniform classification system for public contracts. Each CPV code describes a type of service. Those who know the CPV codes relevant to their own company can make the search more precise.
Example: CPV 72000000 covers IT services, 45000000 construction, 79000000 business consulting.
Set up search profiles
Most procurement platforms offer the option to set up saved searches with email notifications. That reduces the manual effort significantly – provided the search profiles are cleanly configured.
Problem: Search profiles on individual platforms only cover that one platform. For complete coverage you need profiles on every relevant platform.
Tender databases and aggregators
Services that aggregate tenders from various sources solve the fragmentation problem. What matters:
- Coverage: How many sources are captured?
- Freshness: How fast do new tenders appear?
- Filter quality: Can you filter by region, sector, volume and procedure type?
Why classic keyword filters are no longer enough
Classic tender search is based on keywords. That works as long as the searcher uses exactly the terms the contracting authority chose. In practice it fails for several reasons:
- Synonyms: "Building cleaning" vs. "maintenance cleaning" vs. "cleaning services"
- Technical vs. everyday language: "Implementation of an enterprise resource planning solution" vs. "introduce ERP system"
- Vague wording: "Consulting services in the area of digitalization" – relevant for IT consultants, process consultants, change management consultants and many more
AI-based matching systems analyze the entire tender text semantically and detect relevance even when not a single keyword matches. That reduces both false positives (irrelevant results) and false negatives (missed tenders).
Evaluating tenders: What is really worthwhile?
Not every fitting tender deserves a bid. Before deciding you should systematically check:
| Criterion | Questions |
|---|
| Relevance | Does the service description fit our core business? |
| Capacity | Do we have the resources for execution and bid preparation? |
| Economics | Is the estimated contract volume attractive? |
| Requirements | Do we meet all qualification criteria (references, certificates, revenue)? |
| Competition | How many competitors are expected? How strong are they? |
| Deadlines | Is the remaining time enough for a good bid? |
A systematic scoring – whether manual or AI-driven – helps concentrate bid effort on the most promising procedures.
Checklist: Tender research in 5 steps
- Define sources: Identify all relevant procurement portals for your sector and region
- Determine CPV codes: List the CPV codes that fit your service portfolio
- Set up search profiles: Create saved searches on every platform – or use an aggregator
- Establish a daily routine: Plan fixed time slots for reviewing new tenders
- Set up an evaluation system: Define criteria by which you prioritize tenders
The effort pays off – with the right approach
The public procurement market offers plannable, cycle-independent revenue. The barrier is not the market itself but the research effort. Companies that systematize their search – whether with search profiles, aggregators or AI-driven tools – have a clear advantage over those searching manually and sporadically.
If you want to automate your tender research and only see the most relevant matches, you can test auftrag.ai free for 30 days. Our AI analyzes over 150,000 tenders daily and delivers only those that fit your company – with relevance score, competitive analysis and deadline overview.
This article serves as general information and does not replace individual advice. All information on thresholds and regulations refers to the status of March 2026.