Country kit
Bidding in Sweden: the country kit
What a company from another country needs to know before it bids for a public contract in Sweden.
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
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There is no state portal. Notices are published in privately run notice databases registered with the Swedish Competition Authority, and the bid goes to the system the notice names.
Check it at Upphandlingsmyndigheten
- Account to submit
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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 Upphandlingsmyndigheten
- 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 Upphandlingsmyndigheten
- 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 ESPD (europeiskt enhetligt upphandlingsdokument). 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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There is no list to join before bidding. Buyers check a Swedish company's taxes with the Tax Agency themselves; a company from another state is usually asked for the matching certificates of its own country.
Check it at Konkurrensverket
- Language of the bid
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Bids are usually written in Swedish. Certificates in another language usually need a translation; the documents say whether it has to be certified.
Some buyers accept bids in English: the documents say so.
Check it at Upphandlingsmyndigheten
From the register
Counted from the notices Aperlena reads. These lines change as the register does.
- Sources we read
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Notices above the EU thresholds also arrive through TED, the EU's Tenders Electronic Daily.
- Open now
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1,605 open notices. See them
Busiest sectors: Construction work (313), Architecture & engineering services (202), IT services (142)
- Time to bid
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Open procedure above the EU thresholds: usually 28 to 34 days from publication to the deadline (median: 31, from 14,519 notices).
- Language of the notices
- Swedish
- Currency
- Amounts are stated in SEK. Aperlena shows a conversion to euros beside them.
- Working days
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Deadlines on Aperlena count working days on the national calendar of Sweden: 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
- Förvaltningsrätten
- Rule
- Lag (2016:1145) om offentlig upphandling, 20 kap.
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 Sweden