All contracts from the public sector which are valued above a certain threshold must be published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).
Tenders are published by central government, local councils, MOD, NHS, educational bodies, police, etc.
In addition to public sector tenders, utility organisations also publish Official Journal tenders.
The OJEU is published every day in 20 languages of the European Union.
The term 'journal' is rather misleading, because no hard copy of the document has been published since 1997.
Instead, the journal is published online and the tender database found in a section called Tenders Electronic Daily or TED.
How to use TED
Select the 'EN' symbol to view the site in English.
The site offers standard, extended and expert search or you can browse opportunities by country, business sector or place of delivery.
You can set preferences, such as language or default notice scope for when you return
You can filter the OJEU tenders by individual geographical regions within the United Kingdom.
TED also uses Tenders Direct, a tender tracking system that automatically sends you relevant contract opportunities directly by email. The site also has an RSS feed.
Tenders Direct supplements the OJEU tenders with many lower value tenders sometimes referred to as 'below threshold tenders'.
Advertising requirements
If a contract to be tendered exceeds the fixed thresholds laid down by the EU (currently £139,893 for services and supplies and £3,947,313 for works) it must be advertised in the OJEU.
There are two parts to the advertisement:
Contract notice
A contract notice is effectively the European equivalent of the advertisement that would appear in the UK press (we would advertise, for example, in the Cambridge News and an appropriate technical journal) seeking tenders or expressions of interest.
The contract notice must conform to a standard format laid down by the Union.
Please note that publication in the OJEU is not a substitute for more local advertisements and we will continue to publish details, where appropriate, of tendering opportunities on this website as well as in the technical press.
Award notice
Within 48 days of the award of a contract (which was the subject of a contract notice) an award notice must be placed in the OJEU declaring the name of the successful tenderer.
As well as the notices referred to above, we may publish each year a prior indicative notice (PIN) containing details of contracts that we may be tendering at EU level during the financial year (April to March).
The purpose of the PIN is to provide advance notice of our potential procurement activity (but see also our procurement plan).
Please note that not all of the contracts listed will necessarily go ahead.
TED frequently asked questions
For procurement questions, email Debbie Quincey, the strategic procurement advisor, or call 01223 457400.
