How to choose an engineering partner for a public design tender

TenderDesk · 12 Oct 2026 · 18 min read

bid teams engineering partners public procurement teaming agreements eu tenders

What buyers check on your structural, MEP and cost partners, how to vet a firm in a few hours, how to split the fee and liability, and the red flags that sink bids.

To choose an engineering partner for a public tender, first check that the firm clears every test the buyer will apply to it (exclusion grounds, registration, turnover, insurance and matching references), then check that the people named on the bid will really be free to do the work. Only then compare fee, local knowledge and fit, and put the deal in a written teaming agreement before you submit, because a weak partner can get your whole team excluded.

Key points

The buyer checks your partners, not just you. Under Directive 2014/24/EU, every group member and every firm whose capacity you rely on must pass the exclusion grounds and the relevant selection criteria, and each one fills in its own ESPD.
The role you give a partner changes the risk. Joint bidder, relied-on entity or subconsultant: each means different paperwork and liability.
Capability is not capacity. Perfect references are no use if the engineer on the CV is booked solid.
References must be the partner's own. EU case law (Esaprojekt, C-387/14) says a firm cannot claim a group's experience unless it actually took part in that work.
Borrowing a partner's turnover can make them jointly liable (Article 63). Agree this before the deadline.
Sign a teaming agreement before submission covering roles, exclusivity, fee split, liability, insurance, staff and exit.
Country rules differ. Groupement, Bietergemeinschaft, RTP, UTE, combinatie and agrupamento each carry their own liability and post-award rules.

Why the partner choice decides the bid

Most architecture practices in Europe are very small. The Architects' Council of Europe (ACE) 2024 Sector Study, published in April 2025, found that nearly 70% of practices are one-person practices. Even a 20-person studio rarely has structural, building services (MEP), cost, fire and landscape skills in-house, so most public design bids are coalitions.

That coalition is assessed twice. First at selection, where the buyer checks whether the team as a whole, and each firm in it, meets the minimum criteria. Then at award, where the quality score often includes the organisation, qualifications and experience of the staff assigned to the contract (Article 67(2)(b) of the directive). Your structural engineer's CV and references can score points, or lose them.

Decide first whether the tender is worth chasing: see our guide on go / no-go decisions.

What the buyer checks on each partner

The checks come from Articles 57 to 63 of Directive 2014/24/EU and the national laws that transpose it.

Exclusion grounds

Every group member, and every firm whose capacity you rely on, must be free of the mandatory and discretionary exclusion grounds in Article 57: convictions, unpaid taxes or social security, insolvency, grave misconduct, serious past contract failures. If a relied-on firm hits an exclusion ground, the buyer can require you to replace it (Article 63(1)). If a group member does, the whole group can fall.

In the UK, under the Procurement Act 2023 (in force since 24 February 2025), buyers must check whether a supplier's associated persons and subcontractors are on the central debarment list. Ask partners directly, and have a fallback.

Registration and professional qualifications

Article 58(2) lets the buyer require enrolment in a professional or trade register in the firm's home country, or a specific authorisation where national law requires one to provide the service. For engineers this can mean chamber membership, a licence to sign structural calculations or a recognised qualification. In France, buyers often ask engineering firms for OPQIBI qualification certificates. These assess compliance, staff and client-attested references, and last four years with an annual check. Buyers must also accept equivalent proof.

Economic and financial standing

Turnover. Under Article 58(3), a minimum yearly turnover requirement must not exceed two times the estimated contract value, unless the buyer justifies a higher figure. Check whether it applies to each member or to the group as a whole. In Spain, UTE members' solvency is added together.
Professional indemnity (PI) insurance. Article 58(3) also allows the buyer to require "an appropriate level of professional risk indemnity insurance". Check the limit, per claim versus aggregate, territory and expiry. Broker Vanbreda noted in June 2026 that foreign policies "almost never" meet Belgian legal requirements, so extra local cover is usually needed.

Technical and professional ability

Article 58(4) and Annex XII let the buyer ask for references and staff qualifications. For services, the default reference window is the past three years, although the buyer may accept older references to ensure enough competition. Check:

Building type. A school reference beats a warehouse for a school tender.
Role. Was the partner the structural engineer of record, or a subconsultant to another engineer?
Scale. The Dutch architects' association BNA, in its 2026 guidance for public clients, recommends asking for reference projects of roughly 30–60% of the size of the contract.
Named people. The CV must belong to someone who will actually work on the job.

The CJEU's Esaprojekt judgment (C-387/14, 2017) matters here. A firm cannot rely on the experience of a consortium it belonged to unless it was actively and specifically involved in that work. A partner quoting a famous hospital where it did only the car park is a risk.

How the partner's role changes what is checked

Role	What the partner files	Liability to the buyer	Typical use
Group member (joint bidder, consortium)	Its own ESPD plus national declarations	Usually joint and several with the other members	Partner's turnover or references are needed and it will do a large share
Relied-on entity (Article 63, "avvalimento", "Eignungsleihe")	Its own ESPD plus a commitment letter	Not a party, but the buyer may require joint liability if you borrow financial standing	You need its references, staff or turnover to qualify
Subconsultant not relied on	Named in your ESPD; its own identity and exclusion sections only if the buyer asks	None directly; you carry it	Specialist input you could replace without failing selection

The paperwork column follows the Commission's ESPD guidance; the tender documents can ask for more. If you rely on another firm's qualifications or professional experience, that firm must actually perform the services concerned (Article 63(1)). The Bavarian Chamber of Architects makes the same point for Germany: lending references under § 47 VgV usually means the lender must also be a subcontractor.

More on structures in lead firm, consortium or subcontracting, and on forms in ESPD, declarations and the admin pack.

Capability versus capacity

Capability is whether a firm can do the work: skills, references, software, certifications. Capacity is whether it can do it for you, on your programme, with the people it named.

Small engineering firms are often strong on capability and thin on capacity. A five-person structural practice may have exactly one engineer with school experience, and that engineer may already be named on three other bids. If two of those win, your project gets the junior.

Test capacity with direct questions:

Who exactly will work on this, and at what percentage of their time?
How many other bids are they named on with the same people?
Who replaces them if they leave, and does that person meet the CV requirements?
Can the firm resource the peak stages (detailed design, tender documents) in the months the programme shows?

Ask for a short staffing letter naming the people and confirming availability. Where key staff are scored, buyers usually require approval of any replacement.

Local presence, language and codes

For a cross-border bid, local factors often decide the partner:

Language. Submissions, meetings, site minutes and permit files will be in the buyer's language.
Codes and approvals. Eurocodes are common across Europe, but national annexes, fire rules, energy regulations and approval routes are not. Germany uses independent checking engineers for structural calculations in many cases. France relies heavily on technical inspection bodies. Italy has its own structural standards. A local engineer knows these routes.
Signing rights. In several countries only a registered engineer can sign certain documents. Check whether your partner's registration covers the host country, or whether a local engineer of record is needed.
Site presence. Construction-stage services need someone who can be on site at short notice.

A good pattern for a first bid abroad: a local engineer as group member, your trusted engineer as subconsultant if the fee allows. See what buyers publish in Germany and France.

How to assess a firm you've never worked with

You will often meet a partner weeks before a deadline. This check takes hours, not days.

Step 1: desk check

Company register extract (Companies House, Handelsregister, Registro Imprese, Registro Mercantil, KvK, BCE/KBO, Zefix, RCS and so on): directors, age, insolvency flags.
Last three years of filed accounts, where public. Compare turnover with the tender requirement.
Professional registration and any national qualification (for example OPQIBI in France).
Recent award notices on TED or the national portal, which show who the firm has won with.

Step 2: references, verified

Ask for three references in the same building type within the buyer's window. For each one, get the client's contact, the firm's exact role, the construction cost, the dates and the names of the people involved. Call at least one client.

Step 3: people and availability

Ask for the CVs of the people who would actually be named, and the staffing letter described above. Meet the lead engineer, not only the business developer.

Step 4: insurance

Get the PI certificate. Check the limit per claim, the aggregate, exclusions, territory and expiry. Ask whether the insurer will issue a project-specific certificate if you win.

Step 5: a working session

Spend an hour on the actual brief. Ask the engineer for two or three early ideas on structure or services strategy. That hour tells you more about fit than any brochure.

A simple partner scorecard

Pass/fail items come first. Fail one and the firm is out. Then score the rest from 1 to 5 and weight them.

Criterion	Weight	Partner A (25 staff, regional)	Partner B (6 staff, specialist)
Exclusion grounds, registration, insurance, turnover	Pass/fail	Pass	Pass (turnover only just)
References in the building type	25%	4	5
Named people and availability	20%	4	2
Local presence and language	15%	5	3
Fee level	15%	3	4
Collaboration and digital workflow (BIM, CDE)	10%	3	4
Financial and insurance strength	10%	4	2
Exclusivity and relationship	5%	3	5
Weighted score		3.85	3.55

How the score works: Partner A = 0.25×4 + 0.20×4 + 0.15×5 + 0.15×3 + 0.10×3 + 0.10×4 + 0.05×3 = 3.85. Partner B has the better portfolio, but its one school specialist is already committed. Partner A wins this bid.

The teaming agreement

A short written agreement before submission prevents most post-award disputes. Bid forms (France's DC1 and DC2, Spain's UTE commitment, Germany's declaration naming a representative) cover only part of it.

What to include

Parties and structure. Group member, relied-on entity or subconsultant, and who leads.
Scope split. Services by firm and stage, with a responsibility matrix.
Exclusivity. Whether the partner may join other teams for the same tender. French buyers may restrict this if justified (R2142-21), and Portuguese programmes typically ban it. Where allowed, agree that no pricing or design is shared.
Bid costs. Usually each bears its own; agree how prize money is shared.
Fee split and payment. Amounts, cuts, extras, invoicing and timing.
Named staff. Who, how much time, substitution rules.
Liability and insurance. Internal allocation, indemnities, minimum PI limits, and whether you will buy a project policy. The Bavarian Chamber of Architects recommends a project policy for joint bids.
Authority of the lead. What the lead can sign, submit and agree on behalf of the group.
Post-award form. The buyer may require a specific legal form after award (Article 19(2) of the directive; § 43 VgV in Germany; article R2142-22 in France). Agree it now.
Copyright and publicity. Ownership and how each firm credits its share.
Exit. Not shortlisted, lost, insolvency or a member leaving mid-contract.
Law and disputes. Governing law and a simple escalation route.

Fee split: a worked example

A sub-central buyer tenders the design of a school extension. The design services are estimated at €600,000, well above the 2026–2027 EU threshold of €216,000 for sub-central buyers (in force since 1 January 2026), so the notice goes on TED. The lead architect builds the fee bottom-up with three partners:

Firm	Hours	Rate	Cost-based fee	Share
Architect (lead)	4,200	€85	€357,000	59.4%
Structural engineer	1,100	€95	€104,500	17.4%
MEP engineer	1,250	€90	€112,500	18.7%
Cost consultant	300	€90	€27,000	4.5%
Total	6,850		€601,000	100%

The team decides to bid €560,000 to stay competitive, a cut of 6.8%. Three ways to share it:

Pro rata. Everyone takes 6.8% off: architect €332,645, structural €97,371, MEP €104,825, cost €25,158. Fair if every estimate was equally realistic.
By negotiation. Each firm states its floor. The lead absorbs the rest because it chose to bid low.
With a coordination fee. The lead keeps an agreed percentage of partners' fees for coordination, BIM management and client contact. Fine if the lead really does that work.

Also write down how extras and post-award cuts are shared, and when partners are paid. In France, subconsultants accepted by the buyer can be paid directly by the buyer above a small threshold. In a groupement conjoint, each member is usually paid its own share. Our guide to pricing a fee proposal covers fee scales and pricing formulas.

Joint liability: what it means in practice

In most countries, bidding group members are jointly and severally liable to the buyer. The country-by-country position is set out in lead firm, consortium or subcontracting.

Example: a structural design error on the school extension leads to €180,000 of remedial work. In a joint and several group, the buyer can claim the full amount from the architect, even though the error was the engineer's. The architect then has to recover it from the engineer under the teaming agreement and the engineer's insurance. If the engineer's PI limit is €1 million per claim and still in force, that works. If the policy has lapsed or excludes the country, the architect pays.

Insurance checks and an indemnity clause decide who actually pays.

Country quirks that affect partners

Group forms and liability rules by country (groupement, Bietergemeinschaft, RTP, UTE, combinatie, agrupamento) are compared in a table in lead firm, consortium or subcontracting. For choosing and signing up a partner, these details matter most:

France. Each group member files its own DC2; a subconsultant needs a DC4 declaration so the buyer can accept it and approve its payment terms.
Germany. A firm lending references under § 47 VgV normally has to be named as a subcontractor; for turnover alone a commitment declaration is enough.
Italy. A design RTP must involve a young professional licensed for less than five years (Allegato II.12, art. 39, D.Lgs. 36/2023). That person need not be a group member: an employment or collaboration contract with a member is enough.
Spain. UTE members' solvency is added together, and the UTE deed is signed only after award.
Belgium. Construction service providers must carry Belgian-compliant liability insurance, and foreign policies rarely suffice on their own.
Portugal. Members of an agrupamento may not bid alone or in another group in the same procedure, and must associate before signature or the award lapses.
Switzerland. Groups and subcontractors are allowed unless the tender excludes or limits them (Art. 31 BöB/IVöB).
Luxembourg. Architects and consulting engineers must belong to the OAI (Ordre des Architectes et des Ingénieurs-Conseils).

Always check the tender documents, which can add justified, proportionate conditions for groups. Country pages: Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.

Red flags

Walk away, or at least slow down, if a potential partner:

Will not name people, or names a director who will never do the work.
Claims references it cannot document, or claims a consortium's whole project when it did one part (the Esaprojekt risk).
Sends an expired PI certificate, or one that excludes the building type or country.
Is only just at the turnover threshold, with falling accounts.
Refuses a written commitment letter when you rely on its capacity.
Is named on several competing bids for the same tender with the same staff, or will not tell you.
Changes its fee at the last minute, after you have built the bid around it.
Has a recent contract termination, dispute or debarment it did not mention.

Where to find partners

Your past teams. The best partner is usually one you have delivered with. Keep a list with references, people and rates.
Award notices. TED and national portals publish who won, and often with whom.
Engineering associations. National consulting engineering associations include Syntec-Ingénierie and CINOV (France), VBI (Germany), OICE (Italy), Tecniberia (Spain), NLingenieurs (Netherlands), ORI (Belgium), suisse.ing (Switzerland), APPC (Portugal) and the OAI (Luxembourg). In the UK, the Association for Consultancy and Engineering represents engineering consultancies.
Qualification directories. In France, the OPQIBI directory lets you filter engineering firms by qualification.
Practice directories. The verified practices directory on TenderDesk (/firms) lists architecture and engineering firms by country and discipline.

Start before the notice. When an interesting tender appears in the open tender feed, you should already have two or three engineering firms per discipline you could call that day.

Common mistakes

Choosing the partner before reading the selection criteria. Read the notice first, then shortlist partners who fill the specific gaps.
Treating the engineer as a name on a page. If engineering staff are scored at award stage, a weak CV costs points as surely as a weak design.
Ignoring post-award form. A Spanish UTE deed or a Portuguese consortium contract has to be in place before signing. Late, and the award can lapse.
Forgetting the young professional in Italy, or the DC4 for a French subconsultant. Small omissions cause exclusions.

For writing up the team section once you have chosen, see how to write a winning tender response.

Checklist

Before you approach partners

Read the notice: selection criteria, award criteria, staff to be scored, group rules
List the gaps your practice cannot fill alone (disciplines, turnover, references, staff)
Decide the role you need for each partner: group member, relied-on entity or subconsultant

Due diligence on each partner

Company register extract and last three years of accounts
Professional registration and any national qualification
No exclusion grounds (ask directly; check debarment lists where they exist)
PI certificate: limit, aggregate, exclusions, territory, expiry
Three references in the building type, with role, cost, dates and client contact
At least one reference call made
CVs of the people who will actually be named
Staffing letter confirming availability and time share
Working session on the brief held

Agreement and bid

Partner scorecard completed and decision recorded
Exclusivity agreed, and checked against the buyer's rules on multiple bids
Teaming agreement signed: scope, fee split, payment, liability, insurance, staff, exit
Commitment letter signed if you rely on the partner's capacity
ESPD and national declarations collected from each member and relied-on entity
Subconsultant forms prepared where required (for example DC4 in France)
Post-award legal form agreed and timeline noted

Frequently asked questions

Does each engineering partner need to fill in its own ESPD?

Yes, if it is a group member or a firm whose capacity you rely on. Each completes and signs its own ESPD, and the group leader collects them. A subconsultant you do not rely on usually provides less.

Can I use my engineering partner's references to qualify?

Yes, under Article 63 of Directive 2014/24/EU, but only if that partner will actually perform the services the references relate to. You will need its commitment letter, and the references must reflect work it really did.

Who is liable if my structural engineer makes a mistake?

In most bidding groups, members are jointly and severally liable, so the buyer can claim the whole loss from any member, including you. You then recover it from the engineer under your teaming agreement and its insurance. If the engineer is your subconsultant, you carry the liability to the buyer and claim back under the subconsultancy contract.

Can an engineering firm join several competing teams for the same tender?

It depends on the country and the tender. Some buyers ban it, French law allows buyers to restrict it where justified, and Portuguese tenders typically prohibit it for group members. Where it is allowed, insist on confidentiality and make sure no pricing or design information passes between teams.

Should my engineering partner be a joint bidder or a subconsultant?

Make it a joint bidder when you need its turnover or references to qualify and it will deliver a large share of the work. Otherwise, a subconsultancy keeps control, and the risk, with you.

How much of the fee should go to engineering partners?

There is no fixed rule. The split should follow the hours and rates each firm needs for its scope, adjusted for any coordination fee the lead keeps. Build it bottom-up and write it down before you submit.

How early should I find an engineering partner?

Ideally before the notice is published. The legal minimum for an open procedure above EU thresholds is 35 days, or 30 with electronic submission (Article 27 of the directive), and the first week goes on reading the documents. Keep a shortlist of two or three firms per discipline and per target country so you can confirm a team within days.