A municipal works yard needs a firm for grounds maintenance, a school authority needs an electrician, a hospital needs a cleaning contractor. Before the contract is awarded, somebody in the buying department looks the bidder up, and the first stop is that firm's website. The market behind it is no niche: in reporting year 2024 German public buyers reported 199,334 contract awards (Federal Statistical Office) worth 135.2 bn euros (Federal Statistical Office), submitted by 11,524 registered reporting bodies (Federal Statistical Office). For a trades business this is work that pays on time and stays plannable, provided the check on the other side runs smoothly. It tends to fail over small things: a reference list without contract values, an imprint without a representative, a phone number nobody answers. This article shows what a buyer looks up before award, which deadlines set the pace, and which part of it belongs on your own website.
Public buying is a volume market, not a special case
Public buyers are not a homogeneous group. 11,524 reporting bodies were registered for the procurement statistics (Federal Statistical Office), from federal agencies down to a rural municipality with three works-yard staff. The centre of gravity sits at the bottom: 51.9% of all recorded awards came from the municipal level (Federal Statistical Office). The typical public buyer is not a ministry but the town administration, the school authority or the municipal water utility. A business that already serves private and commercial clients gains a third audience with its own expectations, to be kept as separate as private and business customers on one website, only with far more formal evidence.
Most of these contracts are smaller than the word tender suggests. In the same evaluation, 90% of all awards were reported below the European thresholds (Federal Statistical Office), which means shorter procedures and leaner evidence. By count, construction dominates: 53.8% of the recorded awards were construction contracts (Federal Statistical Office). For roofers, electricians and landscapers, that is the message in this statistic. They need no sales department to reach public contracts; they need a website that stands up to a check, and the willingness to fill in a form completely.
Seen from a European angle, public buying is one of the largest markets there is. The European Commission puts it at around 14% of the Union's gross domestic product (European Commission), with over 250,000 buying authorities behind that figure (European Commission). This scale explains why the procedure is so formalised: where public money is distributed, every decision has to be documented. For the bidder that is uncomfortable and reassuring at once, because the buyer may not decide on sympathy, only on what can be evidenced. How that translates into a website carrying exactly this evidence is shown in how it works.
Above or below: the threshold decides the procedure
Whether a contract must be advertised across Europe depends on the estimated net contract value. For supply and service contracts of sub-central authorities the threshold is 216 000 EUR (Commission Delegated Regulation EU 2025/2152). For central government authorities it is lower at 140 000 EUR (Commission Delegated Regulation EU 2025/2152). For construction, the Europe-wide obligation only starts at 5 404 000 EUR (Commission Delegated Regulation EU 2025/2152). For social and other specific services the directive names 750 000 EUR (Directive 2014/24/EU). Below these values national procurement law applies, with shorter deadlines and usually without a European notice.
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| Type of contract | Threshold | What follows for the bidder |
|---|---|---|
| Supplies and services of states and municipalities | 216 000 EUR (Commission Delegated Regulation EU 2025/2152) | Europe-wide notice, formalised suitability check, long deadlines |
| Supplies and services of central government authorities | 140 000 EUR (Commission Delegated Regulation EU 2025/2152) | Same procedure, but the threshold is reached sooner |
| Construction contracts | 5 404 000 EUR (Commission Delegated Regulation EU 2025/2152) | Most municipal construction awards stay below it and run nationally |
| Social and other specific services | 750 000 EUR (Directive 2014/24/EU) | A separate, simplified regime with a high threshold |
| Report to the procurement statistics | from 50,000 euros net (Procurement Statistics Ordinance, Section 2) | Smaller contracts are recorded statistically as well, and thus documented |
| Query in the competition register | from 50,000 euros net (Competition Register Act, Section 6) | The bidder is checked independently of their own statements |
In practice this means one thing for a small firm: the standard case is the below-threshold award. There the notice is often only regional, the deadline tight and the number of firms addressed limited. Some procedures start with an invitation to three to five businesses that the buyer selects itself, and that selection is made by a person doing research. At this point your website is not a marketing device but evidence: it answers whether the firm offers the service at all, in what radius it works and how large it is. Anyone who has also settled the tax treatment of website costs saves a discussion with the accountant later.
What a public buyer looks up before award
The legislator wanted to keep the paperwork small. Proof of suitability and of the absence of grounds for exclusion is to be provided by self-declarations; documents beyond that should only be requested from promising candidates (Act against Restraints of Competition, Section 122). That relieves the burden, but it only shifts the check. Anyone submitting a self-declaration asserts something about their own business, and the buyer compares that assertion with what is publicly visible. If the company name does not match the commercial register, or the site names a service that does not appear in the offer, clarification becomes necessary, and time is scarce in a procurement procedure. Evidence that sits properly on your own pages, such as seals, master craftsman certificates and qualifications, spares you exactly that query.
Company name and representation
Full company name, legal form, registered office, register court and number. The imprint is the first comparison with the commercial register.
Scope of work in plain words
Which trades the firm performs itself and which it subcontracts. A buyer looks for the scope of work, not for a slogan.
References with value and year
Client, delivery period, volume. Without those three details a reference will not carry the suitability check.
Size of the business
Headcount, managerial staff, technical equipment. The buyer uses this to judge whether the contract fits the firm.
Availability during the procedure
A named contact, phone number, postal address and an electronic address that is read during the review week.
Certificates and attestations
Tax clearance, liability cover, prequalification. What belongs on the page is that the evidence exists, not the document.
These six fields are not a wish list but the order in which a check actually runs. It is striking how often it stalls at the third point. Firms show project pictures with no attribution, no year and no client, pleasant to look at but useless for the suitability check. A reference entry needs three lines of text next to the picture: who, when, at what volume. How to combine project photos with solid details is diligent work that is set up once. What matters is that the details on the page match the offer; a discrepancy is spotted immediately.
The competition register checks too, regardless of what you state
References: the past three years count
Procurement law limits what the buyer may demand. As evidence of technical and professional capacity it may request a list of the principal supplies or services delivered in the past three years at most before the procedure begins, stating the value, the date of delivery and the recipient (Procurement Regulation, Section 46). Those three details are the content of the reference. The query about staffing is limited in the same way: a statement showing the average annual headcount and the number of managerial staff over the last three years is permissible (Procurement Regulation, Section 46).
On the financial side a similar limit applies. A required minimum annual turnover may exceed twice the estimated contract value only where the subject matter carries particular risks (Procurement Regulation, Section 45). A statement of overall turnover may be requested for the last three financial years at most, and only where such figures are available (Procurement Regulation, Section 45). A firm that has been trading for two years does not have to show three annual turnovers. Customer reviews do not replace these figures; they work on the private side, not in the suitability check.
- The client by name where you have their consent. Without consent, the type of client will do: municipal utility, housing association, school authority.
- Delivery period with the year. The check normally looks at the three most recent years; a project without a year drops out of that window.
- Volume in a measurable figure. Square metres, running metres, number of installations, contract value as a range.
- The trade you performed, not the whole project. With EV charging and solar this distinction matters particularly.
- Contact persons only with consent. Third-party contact details do not belong on the page without permission.
- A date of the last update. A reference list whose newest entry is four years old answers the suitability question with no.
Your website is the archive you do not have to search during the procedure
Price decides more often than the tender suggests
The European Commission measures access to public contracts per member state. For Germany it reports that 56% of procedures are awarded on the lowest bid alone (European Commission). In 20% of procedures only a single company submits an offer (European Commission), which says more about barriers to entry than about competition. At least the administration decides briskly: reviewing a procedure takes 47 days on average (European Commission). Not naming prices on your own pages costs nothing here, but it does on private enquiries, where a price estimator qualifies enquiries in advance.
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| Indicator for Germany | Value | What follows for the bidder |
|---|---|---|
| Award on lowest price alone | 56% (European Commission) | Calculation before rhetoric: the offer decides, not the self-portrayal |
| Procedures with a single bid | 20% (European Commission) | Applicants stand in a crowded field less often than assumed |
| Average decision speed of the review | 47 days (European Commission) | Weeks pass between submission and award; plan the liquidity |
| Awards to small and medium-sized enterprises | 71% (European Commission) | The size of the firm is rarely the knock-out criterion |
| Procedures divided into lots | 19% (European Commission) | Large contracts are split less often; consider subcontracting |
| Procedures without a call for bids | 7% (European Commission) | Part of the work is awarded on direct approach; being findable counts |
| Value published Europe-wide | 1.8% of gross domestic product (European Commission) | The bulk runs below the European notice |
Two values deserve context. That 71% of awards go to small and medium-sized enterprises (European Commission) refutes the assumption that public contracts are something for corporations. And that only 19% of procedures are divided into lots (European Commission) explains why some tenders look too big for a single firm: the answer is a bidding consortium or subcontracting rather than abstention. Union-wide the picture is similar: 55% of procedures use the lowest price as the sole award criterion (European Commission), and only 11% are carried out jointly by several authorities (European Commission).
The deadlines that set the pace
In an open procedure above the thresholds the deadline for submitting bids is at least 35 days from the day after the contract notice is sent (Procurement Regulation, Section 15). That deadline may shrink. Where urgency is duly substantiated, the buyer may set a deadline that does not fall below 15 days (Procurement Regulation, Section 15). Where electronic bids are accepted, the standard deadline may be shortened by five days (Procurement Regulation, Section 15). In practice that often leaves a good week of working time, as with response time on enquiries, except that here the deadline is statutory.
- Notice and bid deadline. Normally at least 35 days in the open procedure (Procurement Regulation, Section 15), five days shorter for electronic submission, down to 15 days where urgency is substantiated.
- Retrieving the tender documents. The buyer states an electronic address at which they can be accessed free of charge, without restriction, in full and directly (Procurement Regulation, Section 41).
- Information on the intended award. A contract may only be concluded 15 calendar days after that information is sent (Act against Restraints of Competition, Section 134).
- Complaint about an identified breach. It must be raised with the buyer within ten calendar days, otherwise a later review application is inadmissible (Act against Restraints of Competition, Section 160).
- Report to the statistics. After award the buyer transmits the data within 60 days (Procurement Statistics Ordinance, Section 1). Every award is documented.
The documents are free and available in full
What of that belongs on your own website
Not everything a public buyer checks belongs online. Attestations carrying tax numbers, insurance policies and balance sheets stay in the filing cabinet and only travel into the procurement portal. What belongs in public is whatever carries the shortlist and saves the follow-up question. The list below is short enough for a single morning.
- The full company name with legal form, registered office, register court and number sits in the imprint and matches the commercial register.
- One page lists the services as trades rather than marketing terms, including the work the firm deliberately does not offer.
- A reference page names, per project, the client or type of client, the year, the volume and the trade performed.
- The business states its order of magnitude: headcount, vehicles, workshop area, working radius in kilometres.
- A named contact with phone number and electronic address sits on the contact page and is read on working days.
- Qualifications are named with designation and issuing body; the careers page carries the same details.
- The page is readable without a login, works on a phone and loads from an administrative network with strict filtering.
The site as a filing place for evidence
Every award leaves a trace. Contracts from 50,000 euros net upwards are reported to the procurement statistics (Procurement Statistics Ordinance, Section 2), within 60 days of award (Procurement Statistics Ordinance, Section 1). A business should set up the same order for itself: whoever notes client, period, volume and contact after finishing a public contract will have, three years later, exactly the reference procurement law wants to see. That filing collects personal data, so think through your own notification path after a data breach once.
Public buyers do not buy from the firm that advertises loudest, but from the one whose statements can be checked.
Grounds for exclusion and the time afterwards
Procurement law knows mandatory and discretionary grounds for exclusion, and both reach beyond the individual procedure. Where a mandatory ground applies, an undertaking may be excluded from award procedures for five years at most from the day of the final conviction (Act against Restraints of Competition, Section 126). For the remaining grounds it is up to three years from the relevant event (Act against Restraints of Competition, Section 126). For most firms this is no practical worry, but it shows the standard: it is checked and documented. Keeping your own attack surface small avoids the kind of incident that would have to be explained.
Where a business starts
- Pick a procurement platform and register. Registration is usually free and takes half an hour. You need an account for queries, bidder information and submitting the offer; the tender documents themselves must be available without a login.
- Read one live procedure in your own trade from end to end, without submitting an offer. Afterwards you know the forms and the details your site has to supply.
- Build the reference page and fill it retrospectively. Three years are enough; every entry gets client, year, volume and trade.
- Reconcile the imprint and contact page with the commercial register. A deviation in the company name is the most common avoidable clarification case.
- Look at the structure once by example, in the demos and in how it works.
Sources and studies