Country kit
Bidding in Germany: the country kit
What a company from another country needs to know before it bids for a public contract in Germany.
Not legal advice. Rules and portals change: check the buyer's documents and the official portal.
Written notes last reviewed on November 15, 2026.
For a bidder from abroad
What a company from another country usually runs into. Each line names where you can check it.
- Portals
-
There is no single German portal. Notices from every level are gathered by the federal notice service; the bid goes to the platform each buyer uses (the federal e-Vergabe, a Land's Vergabemarktplatz, or a commercial platform such as DTVP, subreport or Vergabe24), and each wants its own account.
Check it at Bekanntmachungsservice (oeffentlichevergabe.de), e-Vergabe des Bundes
- Getting the documents
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The procurement documents can usually be downloaded without an account. Sign in anyway: only a registered reader is told when the buyer changes them or answers a question.
Check it at Bekanntmachungsservice (oeffentlichevergabe.de)
- Account to submit
-
To submit you need an account on the platform the notice names. Open it days ahead: some platforms check a new company by hand.
Check it at Bekanntmachungsservice (oeffentlichevergabe.de)
- Electronic signature
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A qualified electronic signature is usually not required: in most procedures the bid counts as it is sent through the platform. The documents say when a signature is wanted.
Check it at Bekanntmachungsservice (oeffentlichevergabe.de)
- ESPD and eCertis
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The European Single Procurement Document is accepted as a first proof that you are suitable; here it is called Einheitliche Europäische Eigenerklärung (EEE). eCertis shows which certificates of your own country match the ones asked for.
Check it at eCertis (European Commission)
- Registers and lists
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Prequalification is voluntary and replaces single proofs of suitability: the AVPQ list for supplies and services, PQ-VOB for works. A company from another state can usually show the same with the certificates of its own country or with the ESPD.
Check it at Amtliches Verzeichnis präqualifizierter Unternehmen (AVPQ), PQ-VOB
- Language of the bid
-
Bids are usually written in German. Certificates in another language usually need a translation; the documents say whether it has to be certified.
Check it at Bekanntmachungsservice (oeffentlichevergabe.de)
From the register
Counted from the notices Aperlena reads. These lines change as the register does.
- Sources we read
-
- Datenservice Öffentlicher Einkauf (Bekanntmachungsservice)
- Datenservice Öffentlicher Einkauf (Bekanntmachungsservice) - nationale Bekanntmachungen VOL und ohne Rechtsrahmen
- Transparenzportal Hamburg - veröffentlichte Verträge (HmbTG-Informationsregister)
- Vergabemarktplatz NRW (open data satellites)
- Vergabemarktplatz Rheinland-Pfalz - vergebene Aufträge (Ex-post-Veröffentlichungen nach § 30 UVgO und § 20 VOB/A)
- Vergabeplattform der Landeshauptstadt München - vergebene Aufträge ohne Teilnahmewettbewerb
Notices above the EU thresholds also arrive through TED, the EU's Tenders Electronic Daily.
- Open now
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14,971 open notices. See them
Busiest sectors: Construction work (5,187), Architecture & engineering services (1,846), Medical equipment & pharmaceuticals (1,486)
- Time to bid
-
Open procedure above the EU thresholds: usually 28 to 34 days from publication to the deadline (median: 31, from 88,234 notices).
Open procedure below the EU thresholds: usually 18 to 29 days from publication to the deadline (median: 22, from 46,540 notices).
- Language of the notices
- German
- Currency
- Amounts are stated in euros (EUR).
- Working days
-
Deadlines on Aperlena count working days on the national calendar of Germany: Monday to Friday, without the national public holidays. Regional holidays are not counted.
The next national holidays on a weekday: , , ,
After the award
Not legal advice. The periods run from the day the decision is sent to you. Check your award letter and national law before you rely on any of them.
- Standstill period
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Usually 10 calendar days from the day after the decision was sent (15 when it was not sent electronically).
The buyer usually may not sign the contract before it ends.
- Time to challenge
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No period of its own: the application usually has to arrive before the contract is signed, in practice within the standstill period.
- Review body
- Vergabekammer
- Rule
- § 134, § 160 GWB
The periods are the ones for contracts above the EU thresholds. Below them national rules differ, and some awards have no standstill at all.
On the page of an awarded notice the periods are counted from its award date, with a letter asking the buyer for its reasons. Awarded contracts in Germany