ESPD, declarations and the admin pack: EU tender paperwork explained

TenderDesk · 12 Oct 2026 · 20 min read

espd eu procurement tender documents bid teams compliance

The ESPD and its national versions explained for architects and engineers: what you declare, who signs in a team, what proof follows award, and how to avoid admin rejections.

The ESPD (European Single Procurement Document) is a standard EU self-declaration in which you state that your firm is not excluded and meets the selection criteria, so you do not attach certificates at bid stage; only the bidder the buyer intends to award to must then prove it, usually within days. Each country wraps it differently (DUME in France, DGUE in Italy, DEUC in Spain, UEA in the Netherlands, DEUCP in Portugal) and adds national forms and databases. Most admin rejections come from a missing ESPD for a team member, a wrong signature or a certificate that cannot be produced on time.

Key points

The ESPD is mandatory for procedures above the EU thresholds. For 2026–2027 those are €140,000 (central government) or €216,000 (other public buyers) for services and design contests, and €5,404,000 for works.
It replaces certificates at bid stage only. Before award, the buyer must ask the chosen bidder for up-to-date evidence. It may also ask any bidder for it at any time.
In a team, every member of a group and every firm whose capacity you rely on needs its own ESPD. Plain subcontractors need one only if the buyer asks.
Exclusion grounds must be clean on the day you submit. A tax or social security debt paid off after the deadline usually does not save you.
National forms sit on top of the ESPD: DC1/DC2/DC4 in France, Eigenerklärungen in Germany, the Anexo I declaration in Portugal, the Selbstdeklaration in Switzerland. Since the Procurement Act 2023, the UK uses its own Central Digital Platform instead.
Keep a standing "admin pack" per firm (registrations, insurance, tax and social certificates, accounts, references, signatory powers). Refresh it every quarter, not the night before a deadline.
Use e-Certis to find which document proves what in another country. If a partner abroad cannot get the exact certificate the buyer names, the buyer must accept an equivalent.

What the ESPD actually is

The legal basis in one paragraph

Article 59 of Directive 2014/24/EU obliges public buyers to accept the ESPD as "preliminary evidence" in place of certificates from public authorities or third parties. In it, you confirm that no exclusion ground applies, that you meet the selection criteria, and that you can provide the supporting documents on request. The standard form is set by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/7. The ESPD must be provided in electronic form only. The Commission switched off its own ESPD service on 2 May 2019, so you now fill it in through a national service or directly on the buyer's e-procurement platform. The Commission names the Belgian, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Polish and Portuguese services as fallbacks for anyone without one.

The six parts of the form

Part	What it covers	What an architecture practice typically fills in
I	The procedure and the buyer	Usually pre-filled by the buyer
II	Your firm: identity, representatives, reliance on others, subcontracting	Registration number, SME status, who can sign, which partners you rely on
III	Exclusion grounds: A criminal convictions, B taxes and social security, C insolvency, conflicts, misconduct, D national grounds	Mostly "no" answers, but read each one
IV	Selection criteria: α global yes/no, A suitability, B economic and financial standing, C technical and professional ability, D quality and environmental standards	Professional registration, turnover, PI insurance, references, staff, ISO certificates
V	Reducing the number of candidates (restricted procedures)	Extra references or scores used to shortlist
VI	Concluding statements and signature	Who signs, and where

The "α" option in Part IV lets the buyer accept a single yes/no answer for all selection criteria. Only use it if the notice allows it. Many design tenders want the detail, because they score references at shortlist stage.

Thresholds: when the ESPD is mandatory

The ESPD is a creature of the directive, so it is compulsory above the EU thresholds set by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152 for 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027: €140,000 for services and design contests of central government buyers, €216,000 for other public buyers (regions, cities, hospitals, universities) and €5,404,000 for works, all excluding VAT. The full table, and how the thresholds are changing, is in the 2026 market overview.

Below the thresholds, many buyers still use the ESPD; others use a shorter national declaration. Read the tender's list of required documents ("pièces de la candidature", "Eignungsnachweise", "documentazione amministrativa", "sobre A") before you assume either way.

Exclusion and selection: what you are really declaring

Exclusion grounds (Article 57)

Mandatory grounds. A final conviction for participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorist offences, money laundering or terrorist financing, or child labour and human trafficking. This applies to the firm and to anyone on its board or with powers of representation, decision or control. Unpaid taxes or social security contributions established by a final, binding decision are also a mandatory ground.

Discretionary grounds. These are environmental, social and labour law breaches, insolvency, grave professional misconduct, collusion, conflicts of interest, and prior involvement in preparing the procedure. They also cover significant failures on a previous public contract that led to termination or damages, and misrepresentation. Member states decide which of them their buyers must apply.

Two practical points for design firms:

Prior involvement. If your practice wrote the feasibility study or the brief, say so and explain how the buyer levelled the field (for example, by publishing your study to all bidders). Silence is what gets firms excluded.
Self-cleaning. If something did happen, Article 57(6) lets you show you have paid compensation, cooperated with the investigation and changed your people or processes. Exclusion periods are capped at five years for mandatory grounds and three years for discretionary ones, unless a judgment says otherwise.

Selection criteria (Article 58)

Buyers can only test three things:

Suitability to pursue the professional activity. Enrolment in a professional or trade register in your home country (the Ordre des architectes, an Architektenkammer, the Ordine degli Architetti, the Ordem dos Arquitectos and so on).
Economic and financial standing. Typically minimum turnover and professional indemnity insurance. The minimum yearly turnover may not exceed twice the estimated contract value, except in duly justified cases.
Technical and professional ability. References, staff, qualifications and equipment.

Everything you tick in Part IV must be provable later.

Who signs what in a bid team

If you bid as a group (consortium, groupement, ARGE, RTP, UTE), each participant fills in its own ESPD, Parts II to V. If you rely on another firm's capacity to pass a selection criterion, for example a structural engineer's references or a larger partner's turnover, that firm also needs its own ESPD. Under Article 63 it must not be excluded either. Where you rely on its turnover, the buyer can make it jointly liable for the contract. For references and qualifications, you may only rely on a firm that will actually do that part of the work.

Document	Lead / mandataire	Each group member	Firm relied on (Art. 63)	Subcontractor not relied on
ESPD	Own ESPD	Own ESPD	Own ESPD (Parts II–III, plus the relevant part of IV)	Only if the notice asks (Parts II–III)
Commitment letter (resources made available)	Collects it	–	Signs it	–
Group mandate / designation of lead (e.g. France DC1)	Signs	Signs	–	–
Offer / form of tender	Signs, if mandated	Signs, unless they have mandated the lead	–	–
Evidence before award	Provides	Provides	Provides	Only if asked

For how to choose between a group, reliance and subcontracting in the first place, see lead firm, consortium or subcontracting. For vetting a partner before you put their name on your ESPD, see how to choose an engineering partner.

Worked example: counting ESPDs

A six-person practice in Lyon leads a bid for a €480,000 (excl. VAT) design commission for a secondary school. The buyer is a département, a sub-central body, so the €216,000 threshold applies and the ESPD is mandatory. The team:

the Lyon practice (lead, architecture);
a Porto structural engineer (group member);
a Brussels MEP consultant (group member);
a landscape architect from Annecy, a subcontractor, whose school-grounds references the lead uses to meet the "two comparable references in landscape" criterion.

The count is four ESPDs. There is one per group member and one for the landscape architect, because the team relies on its references, so Article 63 applies. If the buyer sets a minimum turnover, it cannot exceed €960,000, twice the contract value, unless justified. The notice says whether turnover is assessed per member or for the group combined. In France you would also expect a DC1 signed by all three members naming the Lyon firm as mandataire, and a DC4 for the landscape subcontractor.

After ranking first, the Lyon practice must produce evidence from all four firms. The Portuguese and Belgian certificates will not look like French attestations, which is where e-Certis earns its keep (see below).

National versions and what each country adds

The ESPD is common to the EU, but every country wraps it differently. You can browse open notices by country on the tender feed or start with the country guides for France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the UK.

Country	ESPD name	National forms you will meet	Evidence the winner provides / buyer checks	Watch-outs
France	DUME (eDUME)	DC1 (application letter, names the lead), DC2 (declaration per candidate or member), DC4 (subcontractor), ATTRI1 (acte d'engagement)	URSSAF attestation de vigilance (under 6 months), attestation de régularité fiscale, Kbis	Buyers must accept an electronic DUME; vigilance attestation renewed every 6 months during contracts of €5,000+
Germany	EEE (Einheitliche Europäische Eigenerklärung)	Eigenerklärungen, the buyer's own Bewerbungsbogen; Formblatt 124 on VOB/A works tenders	Registry extracts, tax and social insurance certificates; AVPQ prequalification can stand in for many	Architects and engineers bid under the VgV, not VOB/A; check chamber registration rules
Italy	DGUE	Domanda di partecipazione, platform declarations	Buyer checks via ANAC's FVOE (criminal records, tax, INPS/INAIL, company register)	Groups for design services must include a young professional (qualified under 5 years) as a designer
Spain	DEUC	Declaración responsable (sobre A)	Documents within 10 working days of request (art. 150.2 LCSP); ROLECE registration helps	Miss the 10 days and your offer counts as withdrawn, with a 3% penalty
Netherlands	UEA (via TenderNed)	Buyer's own declaration forms	Gedragsverklaring Aanbesteden (GVA) from Justis, KvK extract	Foreign firms cannot get a GVA; they provide the home-country equivalent
Belgium	DUME / UEA (e-Procurement)	Buyer's forms per the specifications	Buyer pulls social security and tax debt certificates via Telemarc	Foreign partners supply their own certificates, as Telemarc only covers Belgian sources
Portugal	DEUCP	Anexo I declaration (art. 57(1)(a) CCP)	Documentos de habilitação proving no art. 55 impediments	Failure to deliver means the award lapses ("caducidade da adjudicação")
Luxembourg	DUME / ESPD	Buyer's forms on the national portal	Registry and tax/social certificates on request	Check which languages the buyer accepts for supporting documents
Switzerland (not EU)	None	Selbstdeklaration / autodéclaration (art. 26 BöB)	Proofs on request; equal-pay check for 100+ employees	Federal form updated for 1 February 2026; cantons use their own versions
UK (not EU)	None since the Procurement Act 2023	Core supplier information on the Central Digital Platform	Accounts, connected persons, exclusions, shared by share code	Register before you bid; the supplier is responsible for keeping data accurate

France: DUME, DC1, DC2, DC4, ATTRI1

French buyers must accept an electronic DUME whatever the contract value (article R2143-4 of the Code de la commande publique). The DAJ's Service DUME can also pull some certificates for you on the "dites-le nous une fois" (tell us once) principle. Many buyers still ask for the DAJ's own DC forms:

DC1 is the application letter. In a groupement, it names the mandataire and is signed by all members.
DC2 is the declaration for each candidate or member: capacities, turnover, references.
DC4 declares a subcontractor.
ATTRI1 (formerly DC3) is the acte d'engagement. It is an optional model, mainly signed at award. Applications and offers can be submitted unsigned unless the consultation documents say otherwise. The buyer must have the winner sign before the contract is concluded.

Before award, the chosen firm must provide its URSSAF attestation de vigilance (less than six months old) and its attestation de régularité fiscale. If it cannot, its application is inadmissible and the buyer moves to the next-ranked bidder (R2144-7). For contracts of €5,000 or more, the vigilance attestation must be renewed every six months until the contract ends.

Germany: EEE, Eigenerklärungen and prequalification

German buyers accept the EEE but often add their own Eigenerklärungen (self-declarations) or a Bewerbungsbogen for VgV design procedures. Formblatt 124, the federal "Eigenerklärung zur Eignung", belongs to VOB/A construction works, so you see it more on works tenders. Prequalification saves paperwork: the AVPQ register for supplies and services is kept by the chambers of commerce (IHK) under § 48(8) VgV, and PQ-VOB covers construction firms. The buyer still judges suitability, and the relevance of your references, case by case.

Italy: DGUE and the FVOE

Under the 2023 Code (D.Lgs. 36/2023), you complete the DGUE on the buyer's certified e-procurement platform. Proof sits in ANAC's Fascicolo virtuale dell'operatore economico (FVOE, art. 24). The buyer pulls criminal-record, tax, INPS/INAIL and company-register data itself. You upload only what administrations cannot obtain, such as evidence of past comparable services. For design-services groups (RTP), the Consiglio di Stato confirmed in February 2026 that the team must include at least one young professional, qualified for less than five years, acting as a designer. Missing this is a classic admin exclusion for foreign-led teams.

Spain: DEUC, declaración responsable and ROLECE

Spain uses the DEUC or a declaración responsable in the admin envelope. The best-ranked bidder must then prove its capacity, solvency and committed resources within ten working days of the request (art. 150.2 of Ley 9/2017). If it fails, the offer is treated as withdrawn, and the buyer claims a penalty of 3% of the base tender budget (excl. VAT). Registering in ROLECE, the state register of bidders, lets buyers read much of this directly. A purely formal slip can usually be corrected once; a missing requirement cannot.

Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal

Netherlands. The UEA is usually completed via TenderNed and signed by an authorised representative. The winner's GVA (or a foreign firm's home-country equivalent) follows at award.
Belgium. Buyers pull Belgian tax and social security certificates through Telemarc; a Belgian firm downloads one from MyMinfin only if the buyer has no access. Foreign partners supply their own.
Portugal. Besides the DEUCP, bids carry the Anexo I declaration (art. 57(1)(a) CCP): you accept the caderno de encargos without reservation and declare you are in no art. 55 situation. A false statement is a very serious administrative offence. If the winner fails to deliver the habilitação documents through its own fault, the award lapses. Platforms expect a qualified electronic signature, and who was entitled to sign is a frequent ground of challenge.

After award: proving what you declared

Timing

Article 59(4) lets the buyer ask for supporting documents at any point "where this is necessary to ensure the proper conduct of the procedure". Before award, it must ask the selected bidder for up-to-date proof. Deadlines are short: ten working days in Spain is typical of the strictest end. Under Article 59(5), you do not have to resend documents the buyer can get free of charge from a national database, or that it already holds from an earlier procedure. Tell it where to look.

e-Certis: translating evidence across borders

e-Certis is the Commission's free online directory of which certificate proves which ESPD criterion in each country. Use it when your Porto engineer asks "what is the Portuguese equivalent of an attestation de vigilance?". Also use it when a buyer insists on a document that does not exist in your country. Under the directive, the buyer then has to accept an equivalent, typically a sworn declaration where no certificate exists.

The standing admin pack

Keep this per firm, and ask each regular partner for theirs:

company registry extract (Kbis, Handelsregister, visura camerale, certidão permanente, KvK, Companies House), most buyers want it recent;
professional registration proof for the firm and the named architects or engineers;
professional indemnity insurance certificate showing cover per claim and in aggregate, the policy period and the insurer;
tax and social security certificates (with renewal dates in your calendar);
criminal-record extracts for the firm and its directors, where your country issues them;
turnover figures and accounts for the last three financial years;
reference sheets with client contact, value, dates, role and, where available, a certificate of satisfactory completion;
CVs, diplomas and chamber numbers for key staff;
ISO 9001 / 14001 certificates, if you have them;
proof of signing authority (articles, board resolution or power of attorney);
your last completed ESPD XML file, so you can re-import it instead of retyping.

If you still need a partner, the verified practices directory is one place to start. In TenderDesk, each partner uploads its documents to the shared bid, so the lead can see what is missing before the deadline, not after.

Signatures and qualified e-signatures

The EU eIDAS Regulation (910/2014) recognises three levels of electronic signature: simple, advanced and qualified. Only a qualified electronic signature (QES) has the legal effect of a handwritten signature in every member state. Practical rules:

Read the tender rules for the level required. France often accepts unsigned applications. Portugal and Italy expect QES on platform uploads. In Germany, text form (Textform) is the default for requests to participate and bids under § 53 VgV, unless the buyer asks for an advanced or qualified signature.
The signer must have authority. A QES proves who signed, not that they could bind the company. Attach proof of authority if the signer is not a registered director.
Sign the right file. Some platforms want each PDF signed. Others want the ESPD XML or a signed archive. A signed cover letter does not sign the attachments.
Check foreign certificates early. A QES issued in one member state is valid in all of them. But a partner's signing card can still fail on a buyer's platform, so test-sign a dummy file a week before the deadline.
Do not use a colleague's card. Signing with a certificate that belongs to someone else, or to a third party, invites a challenge from the second-ranked bidder.

Common admin rejections and how to avoid them

Missing ESPD for a group member or a firm you rely on. Count ESPDs against your team chart, as in the worked example.
Exclusion ground live on submission day. The Court of Justice held in Ciclat (C-199/15, 2016) that a social security debt existing at submission can justify exclusion even if regularised before award. Run your tax and social checks before you bid.
A missing document the rules say is a reason for exclusion. In Cartiera dell'Adda (C-42/13, 2014) the Court accepted exclusion even though the statement arrived after the deadline. Manova (C-336/12, 2013) allows clarification only of facts that objectively existed before the deadline. You can fix the evidence, not the substance.
ESPD and evidence do not match. If your ESPD says €1.2m turnover and your accounts say €900,000, that can be treated as misrepresentation under Article 57(4)(h). That ground can exclude you from other tenders too.
Expired certificates. An URSSAF attestation older than six months or an insurance certificate past its renewal date is as bad as none.
Wrong signer or wrong signature level. See above.
Late evidence after award. Ten working days goes quickly when a partner's accountant is on holiday. In Spain it can cost the 3% penalty.
Country-specific team rules. Examples are Italy's young-professional rule for design groups, chamber registration for the named architect in Germany, and Ordem registration in Portugal.
"Global yes" answered when detail was wanted. If the notice scores references at shortlist stage, Part IV α will not get you shortlisted.

If a tender needs certificates from three countries in ten days, factor that into your go / no-go decision. For the rest of the submission, see how to write a winning tender response.

Checklist

When you decide to bid

Is the contract above the EU threshold (€140,000 / €216,000 for services, €5,404,000 for works, 2026–27)? Is the ESPD required?
Which ESPD service or platform does the buyer use? Can you import last time's XML?
Team chart drawn: who is a group member, who is relied on, who is a plain subcontractor?
One ESPD planned per group member and per relied-on firm.
National forms identified (DC1/DC2/DC4, Eigenerklärungen, Anexo I, Selbstdeklaration and so on).
Country team rules checked (Italian young professional, chamber registrations).

Before submission

Exclusion grounds checked for every firm and its directors: taxes and social security paid up today.
Part IV answers match accounts, insurance and references exactly.
Turnover requirement checked: per member or combined? Within twice the contract value?
Commitment letters signed by every firm you rely on.
Signers have authority; proof attached if needed.
Correct signature level (QES where required) on the correct files; test-signed in advance.
Upload completed early; platform receipt saved.

After ranking first

Deadline for evidence in the calendar (e.g. 10 working days in Spain).
Certificates from every team firm collected, in date, translated where required.
e-Certis checked for foreign equivalents.
National databases named so the buyer can retrieve what it can (Telemarc, FVOE, ROLECE, AVPQ).

Every quarter

Admin pack refreshed: registry extract, tax and social certificates, insurance, accounts, references.

Frequently asked questions

Is the ESPD the same as the DUME, DGUE, DEUC and UEA?

Yes. DUME (France), DGUE (Italy), DEUC (Spain), UEA (Netherlands) and DEUCP (Portugal) are national names for the same EU standard form set by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/7. The content is common, but national services and platforms may add country-specific exclusion grounds in Part III D. They also produce files in their own interface, so always use the service the buyer names.

Does every member of a consortium need its own ESPD?

Yes. Each participant in a group fills in its own ESPD (Parts II to V). So does every firm whose capacity you rely on to meet a selection criterion. Subcontractors you do not rely on only need one if the procurement documents ask for it.

Can I fix a mistake in my ESPD after the deadline?

Sometimes. Under Article 56(3) the buyer may ask you to complete or clarify information, provided equal treatment is respected. Case law limits this to facts that objectively existed before the deadline. You cannot add a reference you did not have or fix a condition the tender says leads to exclusion.

Do I need a qualified electronic signature?

Only if the tender or national rules require it, but many do, notably in Portugal and Italy. Under eIDAS, a qualified electronic signature from any member state is recognised across the EU. You still need to prove the signer had authority to bind the firm.

What happens if I can't produce a certificate in time after award?

Usually you lose the award and the buyer moves to the next-ranked bidder. In France the application becomes inadmissible. In Portugal the award lapses. In Spain the offer is treated as withdrawn and a 3% penalty applies. Prepare your admin pack before you bid so this never depends on someone else's office hours.

Does the UK still use the ESPD?

No. Since the Procurement Act 2023 regime went live on 24 February 2025, suppliers register on the Central Digital Platform (Find a Tender). There they enter core supplier information: basic details, accounts, connected persons and exclusions. They share it with the buyer through a share code. The buyer may still ask project-specific questions on top.