eForms (EU Electronic Forms)

eForms are the standardised electronic notice formats that the European Union introduced progressively from August 2023 to replace free-text procurement announcements on ted. Every above-threshold contract notice published in the EU must now use one of 40 defined eForms subtypes, each with structured, machine-readable XML fields.

What are eForms?

Before eForms, procurement notices on TED were largely free-text documents. Contracting authorities could describe scope, value, and criteria in inconsistent prose, making automated data extraction difficult. eForms replace this with defined data fields for every element of a notice: estimated contract value, CPV codes, procedure type, selection and award-criteria, and, crucially, award data including the winning tenderer name, the number of offers received, and the contract price. This structured approach applies across the full notice lifecycle, from a prior-information-notice announcing upcoming procurement, through the contract-notice launching the competition, to the contract award notice confirming the winner.

The 40 subtypes cover standard public contracts, utilities, concessions, defence, and light-touch regime services, so every notice type now follows the same structured approach.

Why eForms matter for bidders

eForms make EU procurement data genuinely usable at scale for the first time. Because the winning bidder name, price, and number of competitors are now structured fields in the TED API response rather than buried in a PDF, suppliers can build competitive intelligence systems that track who wins in their sector, what prices contracts clear at, and which contracting authorities are most active buyers. For a supplier evaluating a new EU geography, querying historical award notices by CPV code and country reveals both the realistic contract-value distribution and the names of incumbent suppliers they will be competing against. Reading the award criteria fields tells you before submission how quality and price are weighted, which is the first data point in any bid-or-no-bid decision.

FAQ

When did eForms become mandatory?

The EU mandated eForms for all above-threshold notices published on TED from 25 October 2023, with a transitional period that started from August 2023.

How many eForm subtypes are there?

There are 40 defined eForm subtypes covering standard contracts, utilities, concessions, defence procurement, and light-touch regime services across the full notice lifecycle.

Where can I access eForm data?

Structured eForm data is available through the TED REST API at api.ted.europa.eu/v3/notices/search, free of charge and without authentication, in machine-readable XML or JSON.