Electronic Bid Submission in Public Procurement

Electronic bid submission: mandatory online submission of bids above the thresholds. End-to-end encryption, eIDAS signature, §§ 47 et seq. BVergG 2018.

Definition: Electronic bid submission is the legally mandated electronic submission of bids and requests to participate via approved procurement platforms in public award procedures, using in particular end-to-end encryption, time stamps and eIDAS-compliant electronic signatures.

Last updated: January 2026 · Legal basis: Article 22 of Directive 2014/24/EU, §§ 47 et seq. BVergG 2018, § 10 VgV, eIDAS Regulation (EU) No 910/2014

What is electronic bid submission?

Electronic bid submission is the electronic form of submitting bids, requests to participate and other procedural documents in public award procedures and has been mandatory in the EU above the thresholds since 2018. It replaces the former submission of paper bids and provides the technical basis for fully digital award procedures – from the contract notice through bid submission to contract award.

Article 22 of Directive 2014/24/EU obliges all Member States to ensure electronic communication in award procedures. The obligation already applied to central purchasing bodies from October 2016, and to all other contracting authorities from October 2018.

Procurement platforms

Electronic bid submission takes place exclusively via approved electronic procurement platforms that must meet the statutory minimum technical requirements. Austria and Germany have a number of accredited platforms:

Austria: Platforms such as the Federal Procurement Management System (VMS), the ANKÖ platform or state solutions
Germany: DTVP, the federal eVergabe portal (evergabe.de), Vergabe24, subreport ELViS and state systems

All platforms must ensure that the integrity, confidentiality and authenticity of submitted data are preserved.

Significance and function

Electronic bid submission increases the efficiency and transparency of award procedures, reduces sources of error through automated checks and enables a fully digital process chain in public procurement.

End-to-end encryption

End-to-end encryption (E2E encryption) is a core technical feature of electronic bid submission and ensures that submitted bids cannot be viewed by anyone – not even the contracting authority – until the bid submission deadline has expired. Only after the official bid opening time are the encrypted bids decrypted. This safeguards the confidentiality of bids and prevents the contracting authority or third parties from gaining knowledge of bid content before the deadline.

Time stamp

The qualified electronic time stamp provides verifiable evidence of when a bid was received on the procurement platform. It is decisive for checking whether a bid was submitted on time. Bids received after the bid deadline – even where the delay is due to technical problems – must in principle be excluded from evaluation.

eIDAS-compliant electronic signature

In certain cases, an eIDAS-compliant qualified electronic signature (QES) is required for the validity of an electronically submitted bid. Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 (eIDAS) governs the cross-border recognition of electronic signatures in the EU. A qualified electronic signature is legally equivalent to a handwritten signature (Article 25(2) of the eIDAS Regulation). Whether a signature is required depends on the contracting authority's requirements in the procurement documents.

Submission of documents and bidder enquiries

In addition to bid submission itself, electronic bid submission in practice also covers electronic communication between the contracting authority and bidders – in particular the submission of bidder questions and the electronic transmission of answers, as well as bidder information letters. Article 22(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU requires fully electronic communication in the award procedure.

Legal basis

The obligation to submit bids electronically is grounded in European and national procurement law.

Article 22 of Directive 2014/24/EU – Electronic communication, basic obligation
Annex IV to Directive 2014/24/EU – Minimum technical requirements for electronic communication tools
eIDAS Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 – Electronic signatures and trust services

Austria

In Austria, the requirements for electronic bid submission are set out in §§ 47 et seq. BVergG 2018 (BGBl. I No 65/2018). § 47 BVergG 2018 obliges contracting authorities to communicate electronically; § 116 BVergG 2018 requires electronic bid submission above the thresholds. Exceptions are only permitted for contracts where physical samples or models are strictly necessary.

Germany

In Germany, § 10 VgV (Procurement Ordinance) governs electronic communication and bid submission above the thresholds. § 10(1) VgV requires bids to be submitted exclusively in electronic form. The UVgO contains corresponding rules in § 7 for the area below the thresholds, although the obligation to submit bids electronically below the thresholds is less strict and is implemented differently by the individual federal states.

Related terms

FAQ

What happens if a bidder cannot submit their bid on time due to technical problems? Technical problems on the bidder's side do not in principle release the bidder from the obligation to meet the deadline. Where the technical problem lies on the side of the contracting authority's procurement platform, an extension of the deadline may be appropriate. Bidders should always submit bids with a sufficient time buffer and immediately document and report any technical problems to the contracting authority.

Must every bid be signed electronically? Not necessarily. Whether an electronic signature is required depends on the requirements set out by the contracting authority in the procurement documents. In many cases, secure submission via the procurement platform with authentication is sufficient. For certain declarations (e.g. bidding consortium declarations) a qualified electronic signature may be required.

Does the obligation to submit bids electronically also apply to small companies? Yes. The obligation to submit bids electronically applies regardless of company size. Procurement platforms must be designed to be usable by all bidders without discrimination and without disproportionate effort.

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