Bidding in Poland: the country kit

What a company from another country usually runs into. Each line names where you can check it.

Portals

Notices below the EU thresholds appear in the Biuletyn Zamówień Publicznych on the e-Zamówienia platform, which also takes bids. Many buyers take the bid on another platform, which the notice names.

Check it at Platforma e-Zamówienia

Getting the documents

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 Platforma e-Zamówienia

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 Platforma e-Zamówienia

Electronic signature

A qualified electronic signature is usually required on the bid, or on the files the documents name.

Below the EU thresholds the law also accepts the Polish trusted signature (podpis zaufany) and personal signature (podpis osobisty). Both need a Polish electronic identity, so a company from abroad usually signs with a qualified signature.

A qualified signature from a provider established in another EU state has the same legal effect (eIDAS Regulation, Article 25). Whether the platform's own tool reads your certificate is a practical matter: try it well before the deadline.

Check it at Platforma e-Zamówienia, EU trusted lists of signature providers

ESPD and eCertis

The European Single Procurement Document is accepted as a first proof that you are suitable; here it is called JEDZ (jednolity europejski dokument zamówienia). eCertis shows which certificates of your own country match the ones asked for.

Check it at eCertis (European Commission)

Registers and lists

There is no list to join before bidding. Polish companies show who they are with an extract from the KRS or CEIDG register; a company from another state provides the matching extract of its own register, and the equivalents of the certificates the buyer asks the best-ranked bidder for.

Check it at Urząd Zamówień Publicznych (UZP)

Language of the bid

Bids are usually written in Polish. Certificates in another language usually need a translation; the documents say whether it has to be certified.

Check it at Platforma e-Zamówienia