Help

Selecting a language

Pick the language you want to use for browsing from the drop-down list box in the top right corner of the homepage.

You can change language during a session.

Choose from among the EU’s 24 official languages.

Registered users

If you are a registered user, you can:

• save a user profile (preferences, main language, etc.)
• save search profiles to your account
• save documents in a dashboard for faster access
• save search profiles as email alerts or RSS feeds and get new notices of interest sent directly to your email inbox or RSS reader
• search the TED archive for up to 10 years back (data available from 1/1/2014)
• view notices in summary view
• use the machine translation function, which can translate from and into all EU official languages and which can be used for notices of any kind.

Creating a My TED account

To create a TED account, click Register here on the left of the homepage in the My TED section.

You will be redirected to the European Commission authentication service, EU Login, where you can create a new account.

If you already have one, you can use the same credentials to access the service. Follow all the steps and complete the procedure.

• To confirm registration, click the activation link you will be emailed.
• You will be redirected to the TED registration form, where you will be asked to confirm some information.
• Choose your country and check the TED privacy rules.
• End by clicking Confirm.

Logging in

To log in, go to the TED home page.
1. In the left-hand menu, click Log in.
2. Enter your username and password and click OK.

You can log in to TED only if you’ve created an EU Login account (see Create a My TED account).

Logging out

To log out from TED, click Log out in the My TED section.

Browsing by business opportunity

Displays all current tenders. Tenders are divided by country of origin and document type, including active procurement procedures.

Browsing by business sector (CPV)

Displays published notices divided by business sector. TED uses the CPV code system to categorise business sectors.

Any given business sector corresponds to a group of CPV codes. For more information about CPV codes, see:

• CPV
• https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/public-procurement/digital/common-vocabulary
• https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2008/213/oj

Browsing by place of performance (NUTS)

Displays tender documents published in the EU and in relevant non-EU countries, according to where the contract is awarded.

Countries and regions are categorised using the NUTS code system:

• NUTS
• https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nuts/background

Browsing by place of performance (Map)

Find notices by the country where the contract is awarded. It uses the NUTS code system.

Browsing by buyer

Find notices by buyer. Each category contains information on the type of contract.

Quick search

At the top right of any page:

• searches in the language of the interface
• can be used with any search criteria from the ‘Advanced search’ page
• has auto-completion, once you’ve entered at least 2 letters.

Advanced search

Search more precisely for notices by selecting 1 or more criteria (using a comma to separate them).

Options divided into several search criteria groups (text, business opportunities, subject of the contract, etc.)

All search groups can be collapsed or expanded.

The groups are:

• Text:
  • enter strings of characters from a document title, contract type, CPV code, etc.
  • use ‘AND’ to combine search words.
• Business opportunities:
  • Planning – search for prior information notice without call for competition, buyer profile, periodic indicative notice without call for competition and qualification system without call for competition.
  • Competition – search for contract notice, prequalification notices, request for proposals, prior information notice with call for competition, public works concession, design contest, services concession, call for expressions of interest, periodic indicative notice with call for competition, qualification system with call for competition and dynamic purchasing system.
  • Result – search for contract award notice, works contracts awarded by the concessionaire, concession award notice and results of design contests.
  • More options – select the type of document from a detailed list.
• Subject matter of the contract:
  • Common procurement vocabulary (CPV) – search by product group and its classification, using the CPV code, e.g. chemical products (CPV code 24000000), gases (CPV code 24100000). See more on CPV codes at:
    • CPV
    • https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/public-procurement/digital/common-vocabulary
    • https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2008/213/oj
  • Type of contract – search by contract type, e.g. works or supplies.
  • Place of performance – search using the NUTS code to see countries and regions where the contract will be performed. See more on NUTS codes at:
    • NUTS
    • https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nuts/background
  • Total procurement value – search by the amounts indicated in the fields ‘estimated total value of procurement’, for calls for tenders, and ‘total value of the procurement’, for contract awards, (Minimum and/or Maximum) as well as a specific Currency of the tender.
• Procedure:
  • Type of procedure – search by the type of procedure used for an invitation to tender, e.g. contract awards, open procedure, negotiated procedure.
  • Languages in which tenders may be submitted – search for notices in which economic operators are allowed to submit requests to participate in specific language(s).
• Date:
  • Publication date – date the notice was published.
  • Deadline for submission – deadline by which tenders or applications must be submitted.
  • Deadline for requests for documents – deadline by which tender documents can be requested by the economic operator. Applies only for contract notices or subcontract notices in the defence and security fields.
• Published in the Supplement to the Official Journal:
  • OJ S issue number – notices published in a particular OJ edition.
  • Notice publication number – e.g. 255076-2016, 254884-2016.
• Buyer:
  • Official name – name of the buyer.
  • National registration number – e.g. ULG BE 0325 777 171.
  • Country – where the buyer is based.
  • Town/city – where the buyer is based.
  • Type of buyer – e.g. regional or local authority, European institution, international organisation.
  • Main activity – the main activity covered by the contract, e.g. education, health, or housing and community amenities.
• Legal basis – the EU public procurement directive(s) or regulation(s) under which the notice was issued:
  • https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/public-procurement_en
  • https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/public-procurement/rules-implementation

Expert search

To convert your advanced search to an expert one, click Switch to expert mode.

The expert search page will be displayed containing the search criteria you already entered on the advanced search page.

Expert search allows you to use all available search fields, in any combination you choose, by using the common command language (CCL).

You can enter criteria with strict syntax rules in the search field, to run a highly specific search. You can also narrow down your searches using a variety of structured commands, which can restrict your query to specific targeted documents.

The format of syntax used by TED is the following:

XX = [value]

XX is the code or the abbreviation of the search field, comprising 2 letters. The value can be 1 character or a string of characters, a date, a range of numbers, or simply a wildcard.

Statistics mode

Tick the Statistics mode box in the search form to view statistics on selected search fields, instead of the results list.

Instead of a list, this option presents a visual summary of the data, with 2 search fields combined in an X-axis and Y-axis format.

You can combine any 2 available search fields to display the results in this way:

• choose a search option (advanced or expert)
• enter a search query in any search field
• tick the Statistics mode box (in the top right corner in Advanced search or lower right corner of Expert search)
• press Search
• when a new window appears, select the display mode for your results as X and Y-axis
• select a search field from the X-axis drop-down
• select a search field from the Y-axis drop-down
• click Update.

 The results page displays your search criteria only if you ticked the option Display search criteria in the result list in the Preferences window.

Customising the search results display

You can customise the display by selecting a set of fields for a document as additional information and other settings.

• To customise the search results display, go to the My TED section and click Preferences.
• In the General details section, you can set the following items to customise the way in which the search results list is displayed.
  • Number of items per search results page (10, 25, 50 or 100).
  • Display search criteria in results list – displays the options you selected for your search.
  • Highlight full text search patterns – highlights the text you searched for in the results page (and in document view).

In the section ‘Display in the list of search results’, you can set the information you would like to display in the notices listed in the search results:

• Type of authority - is the buyer a regional/local authority / body governed by public law / ministry or other national/federal authority / some other type?
• Type of document - is it a design contest, contract or prior information notice?
• Type of procedure - is it an open, negotiated or restricted procedure?
• Type of contract - is it a service, supply or works contract?

Sorting the results list

The documents displayed can be sorted by document number, country, publication date and deadline.

TED automatically uses descending order for:

• dates (e.g. publication date, deadline) - from latest to earliest
• numbers (e.g. notice publication number) - from largest to smallest
• text (such as country name) - in reverse alphabetical order (Z-A).

To sort the results list, click the arrow next to each heading. Click again to sort in reverse order.

Printing the results list and the documents

You can print the results list in the format in which it is displayed. Alternatively, you can print the actual content of the documents.

Choose from 3 options:

• Print list - to print the results list
• Print selected documents - to print only the content of documents you select from the list
• Print all documents - to print the content of the documents (up to 100) in one go.

Downloading documents from the results list

If you are a registered user, you can download these documents in the following formats and options:

• in PDF and in the language of browsing;
• in PDF and in the original language;
• in XML.

Refining the search

Click Refine search to go back to the search window and the relevant options.

Saving search profiles

To save a search criteria profile:

• Log in to TED
• In the Advanced Search window, select your chosen options and enter your query
• To save the current search criteria, click Manage saved search > Save search criteria
• Select a profile name for your saved search profile
• Use one of the following methods to choose a profile name:
  • To change a previously saved profile with the new options, select a profile name from the list and click Save
  • To create a new one, enter the name of your choice in the profile name field and click Save.

Accessing your saved search profiles

• Log in to TED
• Click My dashboard in the My TED section
• Your saved searches are displayed in the Saved searches tab.

You can update the search profiles by clicking on the icon in the Actions column (edit, edit query or delete).

Email alerts based on saved search profiles

You can set your saved search so that you are automatically notified of any published notice that matches your search options, in the form of:

• email alerts (daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly).
• an RSS feed.

Printing search profiles

• Log in to TED
• Enter the criteria (Advanced or Expert search).
• Click Manage saved search > Print search criteria.

Modifying search profiles

• Log in to TED
• Access your saved search profiles, through the My Dashboard link in the My TED section
• Click the icon in the Actions column for the profile you want to change and select Edit query. The window with your saved criteria will be displayed
• Make the required changes in this window and click Save changes
• The modified profile will be stored in your saved search profiles.

Deleting search profiles

• Log in to TED.
• Access the saved profiles through the My dashboard link in the My TED section.
• Click the icon in the Actions column on the line for the profile you want to delete, and select Delete.

Adding a notice to My Dashboard

To save notices from the search results list:

• Select the notices you wish to add to the list and click Save search > Follow these notices.
• A separate window appears asking you to confirm that the selected documents are to be added to your dashboard. You can also choose whether you want them to be removed automatically when archived.
• Click Save to confirm.

Set a reminder date for a notice saved in My Dashboard

To set up a notice with a reminder date:

• In the My Dashboard page, in the My notices section, click the icon in the Actions column on the line corresponding to the notice you wish to set a reminder date for.
• Click Edit.
• Enter a date in the Reminder date field in the format DD/MM/YYYY. Alternatively, click the calendar icon to expand and select the required date.

You can also select the Activate alerts checkbox to receive email alerts when a notice in the same document family is published.

XML bulk downloads

The XML bulk downloads page lets you download XML packages for daily issues and monthly collections of issues, dating back to January 2011.

Site news

The news page summarises changes and updates to the website and its policy.

Configure the notice alert service

As a registered user, you can set up a maximum of 25 search profiles as a news alert service.

An email will be sent to you if one of these search profiles matches new published notices.

• Log in to TED.
• Go to My TED and click My Dashboard.
• In the Saved searches tab, click Actions corresponding to your search profile and select Edit.
• In the Select the news alert frequency field, choose from daily/fortnightly/monthly/never.

RSS feeds

RSS feeds send automatic updates on the latest notices published, broken down by business sector. This service is available to both registered and unregistered users.