How to use TED to find EU tenders for industrial suppliers

Public buyers publish notices in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the EU on the TED website, using the eForms standard, which became mandatory in October 2023.[1] EU rules apply in full to tenders above set values that are presumed to be of cross-border interest; for lower-value tenders national rules apply.[2]

So TED will not show you:

• Below-threshold contracts, which are advertised nationally, for example on Ireland's eTenders.
• UK procurement. Find a Tender replaced TED in the UK on 31 December 2020, and since 24 February 2025 it carries both above- and below-threshold notices for new UK procurements, except below-threshold notices in Scotland.[3]
• Private-sector projects, such as a manufacturer's own plant expansion. Those need project research, not a tenders portal.

From 1 January 2026, the EU thresholds (excluding value added tax) are:[2][4][5]

Works contracts, all directives

€5,404,000

Supplies and services, central government authorities

€140,000

Supplies and services, sub-central contracting authorities

€216,000

Supplies and services, utilities (water, energy, transport, postal)

€432,000

For an equipment supplier this matters in two ways. A €300,000 pump or instrument package is below the €432,000 utilities threshold if a water utility buys it, so it may never reach TED, but above the €140,000 threshold if a central government authority buys it. And a large works contract may contain your equipment without naming it, so the opportunity is with the contractor, not the buyer.

The Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) classifies what is being bought. A code has eight digits plus a check digit; the first two digits give the division, and each further digit narrows the group, class and category.[6] TED's advanced search filters by CPV, nature of contract, place of performance, value, procedure and dates.[7]

Examples of codes an industrial supplier might start from:

• 42120000 — pumps and compressors
• 38400000 — instruments for checking physical characteristics
• 44160000 — pipelines, piping, conduits and related articles
• 45000000 — construction work, for works packages that may contain equipment

Search the parent code and its children, and add the place-of-performance filter for your countries. Notices are written by buyers across the EU, often in their own language, so a CPV and place search catches notices an English keyword search will miss. Buyers also choose codes imperfectly; run a keyword search alongside as a check, not instead.

Planning: prior information notices

Published before a call for competition, these are your earliest signal. Some are for information only; some shorten tender deadlines; some act as the call for competition itself.[1] Record the buyer, scope and expected timing, and diary a check.

Competition: contract notices

The live tender. Decide quickly whether you would bid as prime, partner with a bidder or supply the eventual winner.

Result: contract award notices

Identify who won. For equipment suppliers this is often the most useful notice: the winning contractor may now be buying the packages you sell. Our EPC and EPCM guide covers that route.

Directive 2014/24/EU covers procurement by public authorities generally. Directive 2014/25/EU covers entities operating in water, energy, transport and postal services, with its own €432,000 threshold for supplies and services.[2] For pumps, valves, instrumentation and treatment equipment, utilities are frequently the buyer, so check which regime a notice uses before comparing values. The Irish water investment guide shows the same question for one national utility.

For every notice, record one decision: bid, partner or supply the winner, watch or not relevant, with the reason. The free tender triage worksheet (CSV) keeps the notice reference, scope, your role and next check together, and the eTenders guide works through fictional triage cases.

Fictional example: a valve maker finds a prior information notice from a regional water utility for treatment-works upgrades in two years. It is not a bid for the valve maker, but it is a watch: diary the expected contract notice and, later, the award notice that names the contractor.

To monitor at scale, TED's Search API can be used anonymously for expert queries and bulk downloads.[8]

What is TED?

TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) is the online version of the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union, where public buyers in the EU publish procurement notices, mainly for contracts above the EU thresholds.

Is TED free to use?

Yes. TED notices can be searched on the website, and the TED Search API does not require authentication.

What are the EU procurement thresholds for 2026?

From 1 January 2026 the EU thresholds are €5,404,000 for works, €140,000 for supplies and services bought by central government, €216,000 for sub-central authorities, and €432,000 for supplies and services bought by utilities. They apply for 2026 and 2027.

Are UK tenders on TED?

No. Find a Tender replaced TED for UK notices on 31 December 2020. Since 24 February 2025 new UK procurements under the Procurement Act 2023 are published on Find a Tender.

Which CPV code covers pumps?

CPV 42120000 covers pumps and compressors. Search the parent code and its sub-codes, and combine it with a place-of-performance filter.

What is a prior information notice?

A prior information notice is a planning notice that a buyer publishes before a call for competition. It is the earliest public signal of an upcoming tender on TED.

Should I only look at tenders I can bid for directly?

No. Contract award notices name the winning contractor, who may then buy equipment and services from suppliers. That route is often more relevant to equipment makers than bidding as prime.

1. TED — eForms standards and notice types
2. European Commission — Public procurement thresholds
3. Find a Tender — UK public procurement notices service
4. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152 — thresholds under Directive 2014/24/EU for 2026–2027
5. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2150 — thresholds under Directive 2014/25/EU for 2026–2027
6. Commission Regulation (EC) No 213/2008 — Common Procurement Vocabulary
7. TED Help — Search and browse
8. TED Developer Docs — Search API

Sources were checked on 27 October 2026. CPV descriptions are shortened. EU material © European Union, reused under the Commission's reuse policy; the institutions do not endorse the commercial interpretation. This is commercial research guidance, not legal or bid advice. The fictional example is Demand Range's own.