Reading a tender
What each field on the detail page means, where the numbers come from, and what to check first.
The detail page shows everything we hold on one notice, normalised into the same shape no matter which portal published it.
The header
- Title as published, plus a translation when the original is in another language, see Translations.
- Stage badge: tender, award, planning and so on. Check this first, it decides whether the notice is something you can bid on at all.
- Deadline and days remaining, for tender-stage notices with a published deadline.
- Bell to track the tender: we notify you when the deadline moves, documents change, or it is cancelled or awarded, see Tracking tenders. Once you track it, the page also lists the changes since you started.
The body
- Description: the buyer's own text. Long descriptions are shortened with a "show more" toggle.
- Buyer: name, and where published the address, email and phone. This is who you ask questions.
- Procedure type: open procedure, restricted procedure, negotiated procedure, and so on, as published.
- Classification: CPV codes with labels, plus source-specific classifications (for example NAICS on SAM.gov).
- Value: estimated or awarded value where the buyer published one. Currencies are shown as published, not converted.
- Region: NUTS codes with names.
- Lots: when the notice itself lists lots, they appear as a table. When one procurement was published as several notices, you see a series instead, see One procurement, several notices.
Taking part
You never bid on Polytender. At the bottom of the page, Participate on ... takes you to the buyer's e-procurement platform, where you get the current documents and submit your offer. For a notice from a publication journal such as TED, that button leads to the platform the notice names, or to the same notice on a platform we also read, and the journal follows as View original notice on .... Further portals publishing the same notice are listed as well.
When we cannot tell for sure where bids are submitted, the button reads View original notice on ... instead: the notice names the platform. The same happens once the deadline has passed, and for awards and planning notices. The original notice is always the authoritative version.
Dates
- Published: when the notice appeared on the portal.
- Dispatch date: when the buyer sent it for publication, where available.
- Deadline: the submission deadline, in the buyer's local time.
What to check first
- Is the stage "tender"? Otherwise there is nothing to bid on today.
- Is the deadline far enough away to prepare an offer?
- Do the documents contain the actual requirements? See Documents.
- Does the buyer have a history with your competitors? Ask the AI connector or search the awards.