Summary
EU public procurement has an extensive technical vocabulary — acronyms, legal terms, and procedural concepts that can be bewildering for those new to the field. This glossary covers the essential terminology every bidder needs to understand when reading tender documents, completing an ESPD, or following the news about EU procurement policy. Definitions are based on Directive 2014/24/EU and common usage in EU procurement practice as of 2026.
A–C
Abnormally Low Tender (ALT): A bid with a price so low that the contracting authority must ask the tenderer to explain it. Under Article 69 of Directive 2014/24/EU, an authority may reject an ALT if the explanation is unsatisfactory. A price is abnormally low if it appears to not cover all costs, including overheads and reasonable profit.
Accords-Cadres: The French term for framework agreements — multi-supplier contracts from which individual call-offs are placed without running a full tender each time.
Award Criteria: The criteria used to evaluate and compare compliant tenders to determine the winner. Under Directive 2014/24/EU, contracts must be awarded on the basis of the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT), which may include price, quality, technical merit, sustainability, and other factors.
CAN (Contract Award Notice): The notice published on TED after a contract has been awarded, disclosing the winner's identity, contract value, and evaluation outcomes. Required within 30 days of award for above-threshold contracts.
CN (Contract Notice): The notice published at the start of a procurement process, inviting suppliers to submit tenders or requests to participate. The primary document for finding new EU procurement opportunities.
Competitive Dialogue: A procurement procedure used for complex contracts where the contracting authority conducts a structured dialogue with shortlisted candidates to develop the most suitable solutions, before inviting final tenders.
Consortium: A group of companies that jointly submit a single tender for a contract. Each member of the consortium typically covers different aspects of the contract deliverable and shares responsibility for performance. Also called a "joint venture" or "grouping of economic operators."
CPB (Central Purchasing Body): An organisation that aggregates demand and runs framework agreements on behalf of multiple contracting authorities (e.g., UGAP in France, Consip in Italy, SKI in Denmark).
CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary): The EU's standardised eight-digit code system for classifying public contracts by subject matter. Every TED notice includes at least one CPV code.
D–F
Debriefing: The feedback provided by a contracting authority to an unsuccessful tenderer after contract award. Bidders have a legal right to request a debriefing under Article 55 of Directive 2014/24/EU, including their score on each criterion and the reasons for non-selection.
Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS): An electronic process for common purchases that operates like a framework agreement but remains open to new suppliers throughout its lifetime. Any qualifying supplier can apply to join at any time, unlike a closed framework.
e-Certis: The European Commission's online database mapping national certificates and attestations across EU member states — used to identify what documentation proves qualifications in different countries.
eForms: The new standardised electronic forms for EU procurement notices, mandated under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1780. Replaced the previous notice formats from late 2023 onwards.
ESPD (European Single Procurement Document): The standardised self-declaration required from tenderers in above-threshold EU procurement, covering exclusion grounds and selection criteria. Introduced by Article 59 of Directive 2014/24/EU.
Exclusion Grounds: Circumstances in which a supplier must (mandatory) or may (discretionary) be excluded from a procurement process. Mandatory grounds include criminal convictions for corruption, fraud, or terrorism. Discretionary grounds include insolvency, professional misconduct, and conflicts of interest.
Framework Agreement: An agreement establishing the terms governing contracts to be awarded over a period of up to 4 years, from which individual call-offs can be placed without a new full competition.
G–M
GPP (Green Public Procurement): The policy of incorporating environmental criteria into public procurement specifications and award criteria, promoted by the European Commission as a tool to advance the Green Deal.
Lot: A subdivision of a contract that can be tendered and awarded separately. Contracting authorities must consider dividing contracts into lots under Article 46 of Directive 2014/24/EU. Lots improve SME access by allowing smaller companies to bid for manageable portions of large contracts.
MEAT (Most Economically Advantageous Tender): The award basis required under EU procurement law. MEAT evaluations consider price alongside quality, technical merit, environmental characteristics, after-sales service, social value, and other relevant criteria — not just the lowest price.
Mini-Competition: A second-stage competition between suppliers already admitted to a framework agreement, used to determine which framework member wins a specific call-off contract.
N–S
Negotiated Procedure: A procurement procedure in which the contracting authority negotiates with one or more suppliers. The competitive procedure with negotiation (Article 29) requires prior publication; the negotiated procedure without prior publication (Article 32) is an exceptional direct award mechanism.
Open Procedure: The most common EU procurement procedure — any supplier can submit a full tender without pre-qualification or shortlisting. Standard minimum deadline: 35 days from contract notice publication.
PIN (Prior Information Notice): A voluntary advance notice published before a formal procurement begins, giving suppliers early warning of upcoming contracts. Publishing a PIN can reduce the subsequent tender deadline to 15 days.
Restricted Procedure: A two-stage procurement procedure where suppliers first submit requests to participate, a shortlist is established, and shortlisted candidates are then invited to submit full tenders.
Selection Criteria: The criteria used to assess whether a supplier is sufficiently qualified to perform the contract — financial standing, technical capability, professional qualifications. Not to be confused with award criteria, which evaluate the quality of the tender itself.
Standstill Period: The mandatory period (minimum 10–15 days) between notification of the award decision and contract signature, during which unsuccessful bidders can initiate a legal challenge before the contract is signed.
T–Z
TED (Tenders Electronic Daily): The EU's official electronic procurement journal, supplementing the Official Journal of the European Union. Above-threshold contracts must be published on TED. Available at ted.europa.eu.
Technical Specifications: The precise description of the characteristics required of the goods, works, or services being procured — including performance requirements, functional specifications, standards, and test methods.
Threshold: The financial value above which EU procurement procedures are mandatory and contracts must be published on TED. Thresholds vary by type of contracting authority and type of contract, and are updated every two years.
Variant: An alternative solution offered by a bidder in addition to, or instead of, the requested standard solution — permitted only where the contracting authority explicitly allows variants in the contract notice.