Contract Notice

A contract notice (CN) is the primary procurement publication that formally invites economic operators to participate in a public procurement procedure — either by submitting a tender (in open procedures) or a request to participate (in restricted procedures and other multi-stage procedures). Required by Article 49 of Directive 2014/24/EU for all above-threshold procurements, the contract notice is the official call for competition and triggers the legally mandated time periods for supplier response.

How It Works

The contract notice is the most important document in the procurement lifecycle for suppliers. It signals the start of a competition and contains all the essential information needed to decide whether to pursue an opportunity and how to prepare a response.

Publication Process

When a contracting authority decides to launch a procurement, it prepares a contract notice containing the required information and submits it to TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) for publication. Under the eForms standard, the notice is an XML document conforming to the eForms SDK schema, with the notice type identified by specific subtypes:

cn-standard — Standard contract notice for goods, services, or works
cn-social — Contract notice for social and other specific services (covered by the lighter regime of Annex XIV to Directive 2014/24/EU)
cn-desg — Design contest notice

TED publishes the notice within 5 days of receipt (or 48 hours for notices submitted electronically). The contracting authority may not publish the notice nationally before TED publication, ensuring EU-wide access to the opportunity.

Mandatory Content

A contract notice must include, at minimum:

Contracting authority details — Name, address, national ID, contact information, and buyer type (e.g., central government, regional authority, body governed by public law)
Subject matter — Title, description, CPV codes classifying the goods, services, or works
Procedure type — Open, restricted, competitive dialogue, or other applicable procedure (encoded in BT-105)
Estimated value — The estimated contract value (optional but commonly included), enabling suppliers to assess the scale of the opportunity
Lot information — If the contract is divided into lots, each lot's title, description, CPV codes, and estimated value
Selection criteria — The qualifications, capacity, and experience requirements that operators must meet
Award criteria — The criteria and weightings used to evaluate tenders
Time limits — Submission deadline for tenders or requests to participate, and any other relevant dates
Document access — How to obtain the full procurement documents (typically a URL to the contracting authority's e-procurement platform)

Time Limits Triggered by Publication

The publication date of the contract notice starts the clock on legally mandated minimum periods:

Open procedure: Minimum 35 days from CN publication to tender submission deadline
Restricted procedure: Minimum 30 days from CN publication to request-to-participate deadline
Competitive dialogue / competitive procedure with negotiation: Minimum 30 days for requests to participate

These periods can be shortened under certain conditions, such as when a prior information notice was published in advance, when electronic submission is accepted, or in cases of duly justified urgency.

Relationship to Other Notice Types

A contract notice may be preceded by a prior information notice (PIN), which gives advance warning of planned procurements and can reduce subsequent time limits. After the procedure concludes, a contract award notice (CAN) must be published disclosing the results. Corrections to a published contract notice are issued as corrigenda, which may modify deadlines, requirements, or other key information.

Legal Framework

Article 49 of Directive 2014/24/EU establishes the contract notice as the mandatory means of calling for competition in above-threshold public procurement. The article requires that contract notices be drawn up in conformity with the standard forms (now eForms) and transmitted by electronic means to the Publications Office of the EU.

Article 52 specifies that the contracting authority must offer unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, to the procurement documents from the date of publication of the contract notice. If electronic access to the full documents is not possible, the authority must indicate in the notice how the documents can be obtained.

Article 47 sets out the general time limits, cross-referencing Articles 27-31 for the specific minimum periods applicable to each procedure type. The directive emphasizes that time limits must be proportionate to the complexity of the contract, meaning authorities should allow longer periods for complex procurements even when the legal minimum is shorter.

National platforms complement TED publication. In Germany, contract notices appear on the Bundesanzeiger (for federal procurements) and various Landesportale for state-level procurements, in addition to TED. In France, the BOAMP (Bulletin Officiel des Annonces de Marchés Publics) publishes contract notices alongside TED for above-threshold procurements. These national publications often appear simultaneously with or shortly after TED publication.

Practical Examples

Example 1: Standard Open Procedure CN. A Dutch water authority publishes a contract notice for the procurement of water quality monitoring equipment. The CN specifies CPV code 38434000 (Analysers), an estimated value of EUR 400,000, an open procedure, award criteria of 60% quality and 40% price, and a submission deadline 42 days from publication. The procurement documents are accessible via the authority's TenderNed account. Any EU-based supplier of analytical equipment can download the documents and submit a tender.

Example 2: Multi-Lot Restricted Procedure CN. A national defense ministry publishes a contract notice for military vehicle maintenance, divided into four lots by vehicle type. The CN specifies a restricted procedure with a request-to-participate deadline 35 days from publication. Selection criteria emphasize military vehicle maintenance certifications and security clearances. Each lot has its own CPV code and estimated value. Interested companies submit their qualifications for the lots they wish to compete for.

Example 3: CN with Prior Information Notice. A university published a prior information notice six months ago indicating plans to procure a campus-wide energy management system. When the contract notice is published, the time limit for tender submission is reduced from 35 to 15 days because the PIN provided sufficient advance information for the market to prepare. The CN references the earlier PIN and provides the full procurement documents electronically.

Key Considerations for Suppliers

Set up automated monitoring for contract notices. The contract notice is the starting gun for every competitive procurement. Missing a CN means missing the opportunity entirely. Use procurement intelligence platforms like Duke to monitor TED and national platforms for contract notices matching your CPV codes, geographic scope, and value range. Set up daily or real-time alerts to ensure you never miss a relevant opportunity.

Act immediately upon receipt. Time limits in public procurement are strict and non-negotiable. The moment you identify a relevant contract notice, begin your bid/no-bid evaluation. Download the full procurement documents, review the selection criteria, assess the award criteria weightings, and determine whether you can competitively respond within the deadline. Every day of delay reduces your preparation time.

Read the full procurement documents, not just the CN. The contract notice is a summary. The detailed requirements, evaluation methodology, contract terms, and submission instructions are in the procurement documents accessible via the link in the CN. Decisions made based solely on the contract notice without reviewing the full documents frequently lead to bid failures.

Watch for corrigenda. Contracting authorities may modify published contract notices through corrigenda. These can change submission deadlines, add or remove lots, modify CPV codes, alter evaluation criteria, or correct errors. Subscribe to updates on any CN you are tracking to ensure you are working with the most current information.

Use the CN as intelligence even when not bidding. Contract notices reveal what contracting authorities are buying, their preferred procedure types, typical lot structures, and evaluation criteria weightings. Systematically analyzing CNs in your sector builds market intelligence that informs your long-term strategy, even for procurements you choose not to pursue.

Contract Award Notice — The notice published after the procedure concludes, disclosing the winner and contract value.
Procedure — The overall procurement process that the contract notice initiates.
Lot — Subdivisions of the procurement described in the contract notice, each with its own description and requirements.
eForms — The standardized XML format in which contract notices are published, enabling structured data extraction and automated matching.
Open Procedure — The most common procedure type announced via contract notices, where any operator may submit a tender.
Award Criteria — Published in the contract notice, informing suppliers of how their tenders will be evaluated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is publishing a contract notice always mandatory?

For above-threshold procurements, publishing a contract notice on TED is mandatory for all competitive procedures (open, restricted, competitive dialogue, competitive procedure with negotiation, innovation partnership). The only exception is the negotiated procedure without prior publication (Article 32), which can be used in specific circumstances such as extreme urgency, sole-source situations, or when no suitable tenders were received in a prior open or restricted procedure.

How quickly does a contract notice appear on TED after submission?

TED must publish notices within 5 calendar days of receipt. For notices transmitted electronically (which is now the standard), publication typically occurs within 48 hours. The contracting authority may not publish the notice nationally before it appears on TED, ensuring that EU-wide access is not disadvantaged relative to domestic access.

Can the submission deadline in a contract notice be extended?

Yes, contracting authorities can extend the submission deadline, typically by publishing a corrigendum. Common reasons for extension include a high volume of clarification questions from potential tenderers, modifications to the procurement documents, or when the authority realizes the original timeline was insufficient for the complexity of the procurement. Any extension must be published and communicated to all operators who have accessed the procurement documents. For a practical walkthrough, see our article on how to read a contract notice.

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