Lead firm, consortium or subcontracting: structuring an EU bid team

Q: Does the architect have to be the lead firm or do most of the work?

No. Any member can lead, and the Court of Justice held in Caruter (C-642/20, 2022) that a national rule forcing the lead to perform the majority of the contract breaches Article 63. The buyer may only require that certain critical tasks are performed by the bidder or by one named member of the group.

TenderDesk · 12 Oct 2026 · 19 min read

consortium teaming eu procurement espd joint liability bid strategy

How to structure an architecture or engineering bid team for an EU tender: lead and subcontract, form a consortium or rely on a partner's capacity, with liability rules by country.

You have three ways to bring other firms into an EU public tender: bid alone and subcontract them, bid together as a group (consortium, joint venture, groupement, Bietergemeinschaft, UTE), or rely on their capacity to pass the selection stage. If your practice can pass selection on its own, lead and subcontract; if no single firm passes on its own, or the buyer wants every discipline to sign the contract, form a group. Then read the tender documents for the liability rule, because in most countries group members are jointly and severally liable for the whole contract.

Key points

EU law lets groups bid without any legal form. A buyer may only require a legal form after award, and only if it is needed to perform the contract (Directive 2014/24/EU, Article 19).
You can rely on another firm's turnover, staff or references to pass selection. But you can only borrow its qualifications or professional experience if that firm will actually do the work (Article 63).
Every group member, and every firm whose capacity you rely on, fills in its own ESPD. A subcontractor you do not rely on is usually just named in your ESPD.
Joint and several liability is the default in practice in Italy, Spain and Germany and is common elsewhere. In France you choose between a groupement conjoint and a groupement solidaire, and the lead firm may still have to be jointly liable.
The buyer cannot force the lead firm to do the majority of the work. The Court of Justice struck down Italy's rule on this in Caruter (C-642/20, 2022).
Lock the team before you submit. Changing members between selection and signature is possible only in narrow cases, so a signed teaming agreement matters more than a friendly email.
A group of firms that could each have bid alone can raise competition-law questions, especially in Germany and Spain. Write down why you are teaming.

The three structures in plain words

How partners appear in your bid tells the buyer who signs, who is liable and whose credentials it scores.

1. Lead firm with subcontractors

Your practice is the only bidder. You sign the contract, you invoice the buyer and you carry all liability towards the buyer. Your engineers, landscape architect or cost consultant sign subcontracts with you.

It is the cleanest structure when you pass every selection criterion alone. The buyer may ask you to name subcontractors and their share (Article 71(2)), and may require certain critical tasks, usually the lead design role, to be done by you directly (Article 63(2)).

2. Group of economic operators

Two or more firms bid together. Every member signs the bid (or gives a mandate to a lead member to sign) and becomes a party to the contract. The names vary by country: groupement momentané d'entreprises in France, Bietergemeinschaft (later ARGE) in Germany, raggruppamento temporaneo di professionisti (RTP) in Italy, unión temporal de empresas (UTE) in Spain, agrupamento de concorrentes in Portugal, combinatie in the Netherlands.

The buyer assesses the group as a whole, so turnover and references normally add up. In return, members usually answer for each other.

3. Reliance on another firm's capacity

You stay the sole bidder but use another firm's resources to pass selection, for example its turnover, its staff numbers or its school references. EU law allows this "regardless of the legal nature of the links" between you (Article 63(1)). The other firm must commit its resources, usually by a signed letter.

In practice a firm you rely on for references becomes your subcontractor, because Article 63 only lets you borrow experience if that firm performs the related services.

How the three compare

	Lead + subcontractors	Group (consortium)	Reliance on capacity
Who signs the contract	Lead only	All members (or lead under mandate)	Lead only
Liability to the buyer	Lead carries all	Usually joint and several, all members	Lead; plus the other firm for financial capacity if the buyer requires it
Whose credentials count	Lead's only, unless you also rely on a sub	All members' combined	Lead's plus the relied-on firm's
ESPD	Lead; subs named in it	One per member	Lead plus one for each relied-on firm
Fee flow	Buyer pays lead; lead pays subs	Depends on country and agreement; often each member invoices its share	Buyer pays lead

What EU law actually says

The rules come from Directive 2014/24/EU, transposed into each national code. They apply in full above the EU thresholds. From 1 January 2026 those are €140,000 for services and design contests run by central government, €216,000 for other public buyers, and €5,404,000 for works (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152). Below them, national rules usually follow the same logic.

Groups (Article 19)

Groups, including temporary associations, may bid. The buyer may not require a specific legal form to submit a tender or a request to participate.
Any special rule for how groups meet selection criteria, or perform, must be objectively justified and proportionate.
After award, a legal form may be required only if needed for satisfactory performance.

Reliance on other entities (Article 63)

Article 63 is the rule partners most often misread:

You may rely on other firms for economic and financial standing and for technical and professional ability.
For educational and professional qualifications or relevant professional experience, you may rely on another firm only if it will perform the works or services for which that capacity is required.
You must prove you will have the resources, usually with a signed commitment.
The buyer checks the other firm for selection and exclusion, and must make you replace it if it fails a criterion or has a compulsory exclusion ground.
For financial standing, the buyer may require you and the other firm to be jointly liable for performing the contract.
Groups can rely on members or outside firms on the same terms.

The ESPD (Article 59)

The European Single Procurement Document is the self-declaration you file instead of certificates. Where you rely on other firms, your ESPD must carry the same information about each of them (Article 59(1)). Before award, the buyer must ask the winning bidder for up-to-date supporting documents, and it may ask for them earlier if needed (Article 59(4)).

Subcontracting (Article 71)

Subcontracting does not change the main contractor's liability. National law may allow direct payment of subcontractors, and you must replace a subcontractor with a compulsory exclusion ground.

What the Court of Justice has added

Caruter (C-642/20, 28 April 2022). Italy required the lead member of a group to meet the requirements and perform the contract "in majority share". The Court held that Article 63 precludes this. Buyers may require certain critical tasks from one member (a qualitative test) but not a majority share (a quantitative one) (summary).
MT Højgaard and Züblin (C-396/14, 24 May 2016) and Luxone (C-403/23 and C-404/23, 26 September 2024). A group that loses a member can continue if the remaining members still meet the requirements and the change does not worsen other bidders' competitive position. In Luxone the Court held that excluding a group because members withdrew during repeated extensions of the bid-validity period was disproportionate. France's legal directorate reads its own "frozen composition" rule the same way (Lettre de la DAJ, 7 October 2024).

The ESPD: who files what

Rule of thumb, subject to the tender's own instructions:

Role in your bid	Own ESPD?	What it covers
Group member (including the lead)	Yes	Full ESPD: identity, exclusion grounds, the selection criteria it contributes to
Firm whose capacity you rely on	Yes	Identity, exclusion grounds, and the selection criteria you are borrowing
Subcontractor you do not rely on	Usually no	Named in the lead's ESPD (the subcontracting section). Some buyers ask for its exclusion declarations too
Group as a whole	No separate ESPD	The lead's ESPD says it is part of a group and names the other members

National versions use different names. France uses the DUME or DC1 (listing members and the mandataire), DC2 per member and DC4 per subcontractor; Germany the EEE or Eigenerklärungen; Italy the DGUE; Spain the DEUC; the Netherlands the UEA. The UK dropped the ESPD and uses the Central Digital Platform under the Procurement Act 2023. See ESPD, declarations and the admin pack explained.

Joint and several liability by country

"Jointly and severally liable" means the buyer can claim the full amount of a loss from any one member, whatever the internal split. If your engineer's design error costs €400,000, the buyer can come to you for all of it. You then recover from your partner under your teaming agreement. The tender documents always decide, so read the liability clause first.

Country	Name of the group	Usual liability position	Legal form and changes
France	Groupement momentané d'entreprises (GME)	Choice: conjoint (each member commits to its own share) or solidaire (each member is committed financially for the whole contract) (R2142-20). In a conjoint group, the mandataire is jointly liable for every member if the contract says so (R2142-24).	No legal form required to bid; only after award if needed (R2142-22). The buyer may bar a firm from bidding both alone and in a group, or in several groups (R2142-21). Composition is frozen from application to signature, except for restructuring or a member unable to perform for reasons beyond its control (R2142-26, revised December 2024)
Germany	Bietergemeinschaft, then ARGE	The ARGE is usually a civil-law partnership (GbR), so each partner is personally liable for the whole service (Bayerische Architektenkammer, 12/2023). Buyers normally ask for a declaration of joint liability and a named representative	Groups are treated like single bidders (§ 43 VgV). Reliance is § 47 VgV; borrowed references require the lender to be a subcontractor. Composition must stay identical. Competition-law check applies (see below)
Italy	Raggruppamento temporaneo di professionisti (RTP)	The offer creates joint liability towards the buyer, subcontractors and suppliers (D.Lgs. 36/2023, art. 68(9))	Members give the lead a single collective mandate by authenticated private deed. Design groups must include at least one young professional, qualified less than five years (Allegato II.12, art. 39). A member may withdraw if the rest still qualify (art. 68(17))
Spain	Unión temporal de empresas (UTE)	Members are jointly and severally bound and appoint a single representative (LCSP art. 69)	Formalised in a public deed only once awarded. If the buyer suspects collusion it must ask the members to justify bidding jointly and may refer the case to the competition authority (art. 69.2)
Portugal	Agrupamento de concorrentes	Members are jointly liable to the buyer for maintaining the bid; liability for performance then depends on the form they adopt and the contract	No legal association needed to bid. Members must associate (single entity or external consortium) before the contract is signed, or the award lapses; members may not also bid alone or in another group (CCP art. 54; see for example the Ordem dos Arquitectos 2023 tender rules)
Netherlands	Combinatie	Tender documents typically require each member to be jointly and severally liable (hoofdelijk aansprakelijk) and to name a lead (penvoerder)	Usually a standard "declaration of combination" form in the tender pack; one UEA per member
Belgium	Groupement / combinatie without legal personality	Joint and several liability is usually written into the specifications	Check the specific specifications (cahier spécial des charges / bestek) for the representative and payment rules
United Kingdom	Consortium	Not fixed by statute; set by the contract. Authorities often ask for joint and several liability or a parent company guarantee	Under the Procurement Act 2023, firms you rely on are "associated persons" and are checked for exclusion. Subcontracting or guarantee arrangements must be legally binding (Cabinet Office guidance)
Switzerland	Bietergemeinschaft / communauté de soumissionnaires	Joint liability is usually required by the tender	Groups and subcontractors are normally allowed unless the tender excludes or limits them; taking part in more than one team usually needs express permission
Luxembourg	Groupement	Joint and several liability is common in the specifications	Follows the directive: no legal form to bid

When each structure wins

Lead and subcontract when

You pass every selection criterion alone: turnover, insurance, references, registration.
The buyer is scoring a lead designer's track record, not a multidisciplinary team's.
Your partners do clear, separable packages (structures, MEP, landscape, cost) that you can manage and pay.
You want control over the fee, the client and the design.

The risk sits with you. Price it, and keep subcontracts back-to-back with the main contract.

Form a group when

No single firm passes selection alone, for example your turnover is too low but the engineer's is high.
The buyer wants each discipline to contract directly, or scores the team's combined references.
Partners want their own contract position and invoicing.
You are bidding abroad and a local practice brings registration, language and site presence.

The price is shared liability. Do not enter a solidary group with a firm you have not checked. See how to choose an engineering partner for a tender.

Rely on capacity when

You are short on one measurable criterion, such as turnover or average staff numbers, and the other firm is happy to stand behind you without joining the bid.
A related company (parent, sister practice) holds the turnover or references.

Remember the limit: borrowed references only count if the lender performs that work. An engineer's school references will not prove your experience as lead architect of a school.

Join someone else's team when

If a bid needs €10 million turnover and you have €1 million, join a larger team as member or subcontractor. It is how small practices build the references to lead next time. The go/no-go guide covers when to bid as partner instead of lead.

A worked example

A 12-person architecture practice wants to bid for the design of a new secondary school. The notice is for a €1.4 million design services contract from a regional authority, well above the €216,000 threshold. Selection requires:

average annual turnover of at least €1.5 million over the last three years, which is within the directive's cap of twice the contract value (Article 58(3));
two school design references in the last five years;
professional indemnity insurance of €2 million per claim.

The practice has €1.1 million average turnover, one school reference and €1 million of cover. Its usual engineering partner has €3 million turnover and four school references for structural and MEP design.

Option A: lead, rely on the engineer, subcontract. The practice relies on the engineer's turnover. Fine, but the buyer may require joint liability for financial standing, so the engineer carries risk without being a party. The practice can use the engineer's school references only for the engineering scope that the engineer will perform. If the criterion asks for architectural school references, the gap remains. Insurance still falls short.

Option B: group. Combined turnover is €4.1 million and the references add up, provided the notice does not demand two references from the architectural member alone. Each member files its own ESPD. Fee split, for example 60/40, means €840,000 to the architect and €560,000 to the engineer. The catch: under joint and several liability, the practice answers to the buyer for the whole €1.4 million contract, including engineering errors. The teaming agreement must give each firm an indemnity for its own scope, and both should check whether their insurers accept a solidary group. The Bavarian chamber of architects suggests a project-specific policy to avoid disputes between insurers.

Option C: different partner. If the notice wants two architectural school references, the fix is a second architecture practice with school experience, or not leading this one.

The practice chooses Option B once the notice confirms combined capacity counts and the engineer's insurer accepts the liability clause.

The teaming agreement

Sign it before submission: two signed pages beat thirty unsigned ones. The full list of clauses, with a worked fee split, is in how to choose an engineering partner. Three points depend on the structure you choose:

Lead powers. In a group, write down what the lead may sign, submit and negotiate for the others, in the form the country requires (an authenticated mandate in Italy, the DC1 habilitation in France).
Exclusivity versus the buyer's rules. France lets buyers bar a firm from bidding alone and in a group, or in several groups (R2142-21). Italy excludes firms that appear in more than one group unless they show it did not affect the tender (art. 68(14)).
Payment route. Say who invoices and whether a joint account is needed. The Bavarian chamber notes that a German ARGE usually needs its own tax number and bank account.

After award, the agreement turns into a full consortium or ARGE agreement, or the legal entity the buyer requires.

Competition law: when teaming is a problem

An architect teaming with engineers rarely raises questions. Two competitors who could each have bid alone can, because agreeing not to bid separately restricts competition.

Germany is the strictest. Under § 1 GWB, a bidding group is generally acceptable if a member could not bid alone, its capacity is tied up in other contracts, or only the joint bid is commercially sensible. Cost savings or a better chance of winning are not enough on their own. The group must explain its reasons when asked, often within about a week (Wolters Kluwer, 2022). Spain's procurement code requires the buyer to ask a UTE to justify itself and to refer unresolved suspicions to the competition authority.

Practical rule: write a short note, before you submit, saying why each member could not or would not bid alone for this tender. Keep it on file.

What happens after award

Supporting documents. Proof of everything declared in the ESPDs (tax, social security, insurance, registration, turnover) for every member and every relied-on firm.
Legal form. Spain: the UTE is formalised by public deed. Portugal: members associate before signature. Italy: the mandate is given by authenticated deed. Elsewhere, only if the tender requires it.
Subcontractor details. For works and for services at the buyer's premises, subcontractor names are due before performance starts (Article 71(5)).
Payment. Depending on country and contract, the buyer pays the lead, pays each member directly, or pays accepted subcontractors directly. France has a long-standing direct payment regime for accepted subcontractors.
Changes. Replacing a member during the contract is a contract modification and needs the buyer's consent. During the procedure it is possible only in the narrow cases above.
References. Each member may cite the project in later bids, stating its own role and share.

Common mistakes

Calling everyone a "partner". Say in the forms and on the team page who is a member, who is a subcontractor and whose capacity you rely on.
Borrowing experience from a firm that will not do the work. Under Article 63, references and qualifications only count if the lender performs the related services.
Missing ESPDs. A relied-on firm without its own ESPD is a frequent admin failure in teamed bids.
Changing the team between selection and tender. In a restricted procedure, the team that was shortlisted is the team that bids, unless the narrow change rules apply.
Signing joint liability unread. Check your insurer and the cap first.
Forgetting country-specific rules. For example, the young professional in an Italian RTP, or the DC1 habilitation of the mandataire in France.

Finding partners and tenders

You can filter open notices by country and building type on the tender feed, and the TenderDesk firms directory lists verified practices by discipline and country if you need a partner you have not worked with before.

Checklist

Listed every selection criterion and marked which firm meets each one
Decided the structure: lead + subcontractors, group, or reliance
Checked that borrowed references and qualifications come from firms that will do that work
Checked the tender for: limits on groups, critical tasks reserved to the bidder, ban on multiple bids, required legal form after award
Read the liability clause (joint and several, conjoint, solidaire) and checked each member's insurance
Ran the competition-law check if partners could each have bid alone; wrote down the reasons
Signed teaming agreement: lead powers, exclusivity, scope, fee split, bid costs, indemnities, insurance, copyright, exit
One ESPD (or national form) for each group member and each relied-on firm; subcontractors named
Commitment letters from relied-on firms, signed
Lead's mandate or authority to sign, in the form the country requires
Country extras done (e.g. DC1/DC2/DC4 in France, young professional in Italy)
Team page and organisation chart show each firm's role and status clearly
Supporting documents for every member ready for the post-award request

Frequently asked questions

Can a buyer require our consortium to form a company before we bid?

No. Under Article 19 of Directive 2014/24/EU, a buyer cannot require a group to take a specific legal form to submit a tender or a request to participate. It may require a legal form after award, but only if that is necessary for satisfactory performance of the contract.

Does the architect have to be the lead firm or do most of the work?

No. Any member can lead, and the Court of Justice held in Caruter (C-642/20, 2022) that a national rule forcing the lead to perform the majority of the contract breaches Article 63. The buyer may only require that certain critical tasks are performed by the bidder or by one named member of the group.

Can we use our engineer's references to meet the experience criterion?

Only if the engineer will actually perform the services those references relate to. Article 63 allows reliance on another firm's professional experience and qualifications only on that condition. Engineering references will therefore support the engineering part of the criterion, not your experience as lead architect.

Is every member of a consortium liable for the whole contract?

Usually, yes. Italy and Spain make group members jointly liable by law, German ARGE partners are personally liable for the whole service, and buyers elsewhere usually write joint liability into the contract. France lets you choose a groupement conjoint, where each member commits to its own share, though the lead may still have to be jointly liable.

Does each member need its own ESPD?

Yes. Every group member files its own ESPD, and so does every firm whose capacity you rely on. Subcontractors you do not rely on are normally just named in the lead bidder's ESPD, though some buyers ask for their exclusion declarations too.

Can we change a team member after we have been shortlisted?

Only in narrow cases. EU case law lets a group continue without a member if the remaining firms still qualify and other bidders are not disadvantaged. France allows changes for restructuring or a member unable to perform for reasons beyond its control, with the buyer's approval.

Is it legal for two architecture practices to bid together?

Usually, yes, but if each could have bid alone the group may raise competition-law questions. In Germany a group must be able to show that a member could not bid alone, had capacity tied up elsewhere, or that only a joint bid made commercial sense. Write down your reasons before you submit.