TED architecture tenders, explained and listed

TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) is where every public architecture tender and design contest above the EU thresholds is published. This page explains how to find architecture tenders on TED (notice types, CPV codes, thresholds) and lists the ones open today, read from TED four times a day and scored for real design content, so the genuine commissions and competitions come first.

1,000 TED architecture tenders open today68 design contests30 countries

How to search TED for architecture tenders

On ted.europa.eu, open the advanced search and combine three filters: the notice type (contract notice, or design contest notice for competitions), the CPV code (start with 71200000 architectural and related services, add 71400000 for urban and landscape work) and the country or NUTS region. Save the search and TED emails you new matches. Expect the list to mix real commissions with supervision, surveys and maintenance contracts that share the same codes; the notice's title, its 'nature' field and the procedure tell you which is which.

  • Contract notice

    A tender for architecture or engineering services: open, restricted, competitive dialogue or negotiated procedure. Decided on quality and price criteria set out in the notice.

  • Design contest notice

    A competition, judged by a jury, usually leading to the commission. Open or restricted; the notice states the prizes, honoraria and number of participants.

  • Prior information notice

    An authority announcing what it will tender in the coming months. Useful for planning a team early; no submission yet.

  • Contract award notice

    Who won, and at what price. Read them to learn what a given authority buys, and from whom, before its next tender.

Why TED alone is not enough

Below the thresholds, which is most school extensions, small housing schemes, refurbishments and many municipal competitions, the notice never reaches TED. It appears on the national portal: BOAMP in France, BASE in Portugal, TenderNed in the Netherlands, simap.ch in Switzerland, Find a Tender in the United Kingdom (which left TED in 2021), and the regional portals of Germany, Italy and Spain. TenderDesk reads TED and these portals together, removes the duplicates and shows one list. The country pages explain each country's system.

Germany · 508France · 153Poland · 34Romania · 29Czechia · 25the Netherlands · 25Sweden · 23Belgium · 23Italy · 22Spain · 21Bulgaria · 18Denmark · 16Ireland · 16Hungary · 11Luxembourg · 10Slovakia · 9Finland · 8Lithuania · 7Slovenia · 6Austria · 5Greece · 5Latvia · 5Switzerland · 5Portugal · 5Croatia · 3Estonia · 3Cyprus · 2Liechtenstein · 1Iceland · 1Malta · 1

TED architecture tenders open today

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After you have found one

A TED notice tells you the authority, the deadline and the criteria; the tender documents, on the authority's own platform, tell you the rest. On a paid plan TenderDesk links the documents, writes a brief and a checklist, and gives the team one workspace to answer (bid management for architecture firms). When the notice asks for engineers or a local architect, find a partner for the tender among the verified firms on the platform.

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Questions

What is TED?
TED, Tenders Electronic Daily, is the online supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union where every public contract above the EU thresholds must be published: around 2,000 notices a day from the EU member states, the EEA, Switzerland and others. Architecture and engineering services and design contests are among them.
Which CPV codes cover architecture tenders on TED?
The 7100000-8 family, 'architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services': 71200000-0 architectural and related services, 71220000-6 architectural design services, 71221000-3 architectural services for buildings, 71240000-2 architectural, engineering and planning services, 71400000-2 urban planning and landscape architectural services, and 71250000-5 architectural, engineering and surveying services. Many authorities also use 71300000-1 (engineering services) for mixed design teams.
What are the EU thresholds for architecture services?
For 2026–2027 the threshold for services and design contests is €140,000 for central government authorities and €216,000 for other contracting authorities (€432,000 for utilities), excluding VAT; works contracts start at €5,404,000. Above them the notice must be published in TED; below them it appears only on the national portal, which is why TenderDesk reads both.
Why do TED searches return so many irrelevant notices?
Because CPV codes are broad: 71000000 also covers site supervision, surveys, inspection, road and utility engineering and maintenance. TenderDesk scores every notice from 0 to 100 for how much real design work it contains, so an architect can read the ones that matter and skip the rest.
Can I get TED notices in English?
A TED notice is published in the language of the authority with a machine-translated title and summary. TenderDesk shows each notice in your own language (23 European languages are supported), with the key facts (scope, budget, dates, eligibility) extracted into a brief on the paid plans.

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