How to bid on public tenders in Germany

German public tenders above the EU thresholds are published on TED, and you can search federal, state and municipal tenders in one place on the central Bekanntmachungsservice (notice service) at oeffentlichevergabe.de. Federal tenders can also be searched on service.bund.de.

Each notice names the e-procurement platform where the procedure runs, such as the federal platform evergabe-online.de. That is where you download the documents, ask questions and submit your bid, and above the thresholds communication is electronic by default.

Above the EU thresholds, Part 4 of the Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB) applies together with the Procurement Regulation (VgV), the Sector Regulation (SektVO) and the VOB/A EU for construction work. Below them, most authorities use the UVgO for supplies and services and the VOB/A for works, and most federal states add their own procurement laws.

The thresholds from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027, excluding VAT, are:

Contract type	Threshold
Works	EUR 5,404,000
Supplies and services, top federal authorities	EUR 140,000
Supplies and services, other contracting authorities	EUR 216,000
Supplies and services, utilities	EUR 432,000
Social and other specific services	EUR 750,000

Two federal laws changed the rules in 2026. Since 1 July the Vergabebeschleunigungsgesetz (Procurement Acceleration Act) lets federal authorities award contracts up to EUR 50,000 excluding VAT directly. It also makes self-declarations the standard proof of suitability, so further documents are generally requested only from bidders with a realistic chance of winning. If a review chamber rejects a bidder’s application, the bidder’s appeal no longer stops the authority from awarding the contract. Procedures started earlier continue under the old rules.

The Bundestariftreuegesetz (Federal Collective Agreement Compliance Act) has applied since 1 May 2026 to federal works and service contracts and concessions from EUR 50,000, but not to supplies. Winning bidders must give their staff, and their subcontractors’ staff, the working conditions set for their sector by ministerial ordinance, or face contractual penalties of up to 1% of the contract value per breach and up to 10% in total. As of September 2026 no sector ordinance had been published, so check whether the tender documents include the obligation.

The tender documents set the bid language, and in most German tenders it is German. Some authorities also accept English, as the Federal Foreign Office does in its standard conditions, but documents in other languages then need a certified German translation.

Above the thresholds you can start with the European Single Procurement Document, in German the Einheitliche Europäische Eigenerklärung, and the authority asks the intended winner for the actual evidence before award. Optional prequalification saves repeating this: construction companies can register with PQ-VOB, and suppliers and service providers with the AVPQ, the official register run by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK).

Staff you send to Germany to perform a contract are entitled to at least the German minimum wage, which is EUR 13.90 gross per hour in 2026 and EUR 14.60 from 1 January 2027, or to a higher sector minimum wage where one applies. In sectors such as construction, building cleaning, security and transport, postings must be reported to German customs through the Meldeportal-Mindestlohn.

For construction work the client generally withholds 15% of each invoice as construction withholding tax (Bauabzugsteuer) unless you present an exemption certificate (Freistellungsbescheinigung) from the German tax office assigned to your country, for example Finanzamt Chemnitz-Süd for Czech, Slovak and Romanian companies. Authorities must also check the federal competition register (Wettbewerbsregister) before awarding contracts from EUR 50,000 (EUR 30,000 until 30 June 2026).

Many bids in Germany fail on formal grounds rather than price or quality. A bid is excluded if it arrives late, lacks required documents or changes the tender documents, and the authority may not request missing documents that affect the evaluation.

In an open procedure above the thresholds the bid period is at least 35 days, which can be cut by five days for electronic submission or to 15 days in urgent cases. A breach of the rules must be raised with the authority (Rüge) within 10 calendar days of noticing it, or by the bid deadline if it is visible in the notice or documents. After the award notice is sent electronically, the contract cannot be signed for 10 calendar days, and the review chambers (Vergabekammern) only hear cases above the thresholds.