Contract Notice 2026 – Duties and Content

Contract notice: Public announcement of a procurement procedure. Content, deadlines, TED publication and national notice requirements.

Definition: The contract notice is the public announcement of a procurement procedure by which public contracting authorities inform potential bidders and candidates of a contract to be awarded; in the above-threshold area it must be published EU-wide in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (TED) and it triggers the participation and bid deadlines.

Last updated: January 2026 · Legal status: §§ 37 et seq. VgV, Art. 49 et seq. Directive 2014/24/EU, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1780

What is a contract notice?

The contract notice is the central instrument for creating transparency in the procurement procedure: it informs the market that a public contracting authority intends to award a contract and gives interested undertakings the opportunity to participate. In the above-threshold area, publication in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the EU (TED – Tenders Electronic Daily) is mandatory. In Germany, notices are additionally published via the German Notice Portal (DTVP) or other national notice services.

Types of contract notice

Procurement law recognises various types of notice that cover different phases and purposes.

Prior information notice

The prior information notice is a voluntary – or, in certain cases, mandatory – notice by which contracting authorities inform the market at an early stage about planned procurements. It can be used to shorten the bid deadline (§ 38 VgV). A prior information notice is not the same as the actual contract notice.

Contract notice (mandatory notice)

The contract notice is the mandatory announcement by which the procurement procedure is officially launched. It contains all the essential information about the contract and the procedure and must, in the above-threshold area, be published on TED.

Contract award notice (post-award notice)

After the procurement procedure has been concluded, the contracting authority is required to publish a contract award notice. This ex-post notice informs the market about the outcome and contains information on the contractor, the contract value and the procedure applied.

Content of the contract notice

The contract notice must be drawn up using the EU standard forms (eForms) and contain a series of mandatory items:

Name and contact details of the contracting authority
Type and brief description of the contract
CPV code (Common Procurement Vocabulary)
Contract value (estimated value)
Type of procedure chosen
Suitability requirements
Award criteria
Deadlines for participation or submission of bids
Place of performance

eForms – new standard forms

Since October 2023, the new eForms standard forms for notices in the above-threshold area are mandatory in the EU. They replace the previous standard forms and are machine-readable, which significantly improves the analysis of procurement data. eForms are submitted via the EU eSender platform.

National notice obligations

In the sub-threshold area, national notice obligations apply, which vary by federal state and type of contract. In Germany, notices below the thresholds are published, for example, in municipal bulletins, on procurement platforms or via the German Notice Portal. In Austria, sub-threshold notices are published via the Federal Procurement Office or regional notice platforms.

Related terms

FAQ

Where must an EU-wide contract notice be published? In the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union, accessible via the TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) platform. Publication is carried out via the EU eNotices2 portal.

How long before the bid deadline must the notice be published? The minimum deadlines are set by law. In the open procedure, the minimum deadline is 35 days from despatch of the notice (reduced to 15 days where electronic submission is available and a prior information notice has been published).

What are eForms? eForms are the new EU standard forms for contract notices, mandatory since October 2023, which enable machine-readable, structured notice data.

Last updated: January 2026 All information provided without guarantee. For legally binding advice, please consult a law firm specialising in procurement law.