When a public contract in Belgium exceeds the European thresholds, it must not only be published nationally via e-Notification, but also at European level via TED — Tenders Electronic Daily. TED is the official publication database of the European Union for public procurement and provides access to hundreds of thousands of tenders from all EU and EEA member states.
For contractors looking to compete across borders — or simply wanting to fully monitor their Belgian market — TED is an essential source. In this article we explain how TED works, when European publication is mandatory, and what the transition to eForms means.
What is TED?
TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) is the online version of the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union, specifically dedicated to public procurement. It is managed by the Publications Office of the European Union in Luxembourg.
TED publishes new notices daily in all official EU languages. The database contains several types of notices:
- Contract notices — calls for competition for new contracts.
- Prior information notices — early signals of planned contracts, often months before the actual notice.
- Contract award notices — results of completed procurements, showing the winner and the award amount.
- Corrigenda — amendments to previously published notices.
- Design contest notices — for specific procedures in special sectors.
Each year, TED publishes more than 700,000 notices, with a total contract value exceeding €700 billion.
When is European publication mandatory?
A public contract must be published at European level when its estimated value (excl. VAT) reaches or exceeds the European thresholds. For the 2026–2027 period, those thresholds are:
| Contract type | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Works | €5,404,000 |
| Supplies & services (federal authorities) | €140,000 |
| Supplies & services (other authorities) | €216,000 |
| Special sectors — supplies & services | €432,000 |
With European publication, longer minimum submission periods also apply. For an open procedure, the standard period is 35 days (instead of 22 for a purely Belgian publication). In case of urgency, this period can be shortened to 15 days, but the authority must justify the urgency.
Important: a contract that must be published at European level may not be published nationally before the date of dispatch to TED. European publication takes precedence.
eForms: the new European standard
Since 2024, eForms have been the mandatory standard for all procurement notices published via TED. eForms replace the previous standard forms and bring several important changes:
More structured data. eForms use a more detailed data model, making notices more machine-readable. This enables monitoring tools like TenderWolf to filter and match more accurately.
New fields. eForms contain fields for sustainability (green criteria, environmental impact), innovation, SME access, and strategic procurement principles. This reflects the EU’s increasing focus on socially responsible procurement.
Flexible structure. Not all fields are mandatory for every notice. The required fields vary by procedure type, sector (classic or special), and threshold. This makes the forms more flexible but also more complex.
Multilingual support. eForms support publication in multiple languages, with the authority required to publish in at least one official EU language.
Searching on TED
TED offers a search interface at ted.europa.eu where you can filter by:
- CPV codes — the primary search key for finding relevant contracts.
- NUTS codes — the place of performance, at regional or country level.
- Notice type — contract, prior information, award, corrigendum.
- Procedure type — open, restricted, negotiated, etc.
- Publication date — search within a specific period.
- Keywords — free text search within notices.
TED’s search functionality is powerful but not always intuitive. Results appear in the language of the original publication, meaning that as a Belgian company wanting to tender in other countries, you may sometimes need to search in French, German or English.
Limitations of TED
While TED is the most complete source for European tenders, the platform has some limitations:
Only contracts above the European thresholds. The many contracts below the thresholds — published only nationally — cannot be found on TED. In Belgium, these are published via e-Notification.
No specification documents. TED publishes the notice, but not the full specifications. For the actual specification documents, you need to go to e-Notification or the platform the authority mentions in the notice.
Translation delays. Although notices are published in multiple languages, translations sometimes appear days after the original publication. If you wait for the English version, you lose valuable submission time.
No monitoring function. TED does not offer a proactive notification service comparable to e-Notification’s search profiles. You must search regularly yourself — or use a tool like TenderWolf that continuously monitors TED on your behalf.
TED and TenderWolf
TenderWolf integrates TED as one of its data sources. Every notice on TED relevant to the Belgian market — and notices from other EU countries that may be interesting for your profile — is automatically included in your dashboard. The advantages:
- You do not need to monitor TED separately.
- TenderWolf combines TED data with Belgian e-Notification data, so you see both national and European contracts in a single overview.
- Matchmaking goes beyond CPV codes: text analysis of the notice also detects contracts that are relevant in content but published under an unusual CPV code.