Public procurement in Spain

TED vs Spanish tender portals

TED provides access to procurement notices published at European level. It is not a complete list of every public contract in Spain: use Spanish national and regional sources alongside it.

Search tenders

Coverage comes first

Not all Spanish contracts require EU publication. Publication depends on contract type, estimated value and legal exceptions. Do not use a single monetary threshold for works, services, supplies and all authorities.

Search both levels

Use CPV and keywords on TED, then follow the notice to the original documents. Search PLACSP and the relevant regional profile for contracts outside EU publication and for updates.

Avoid counting the same contract twice

Match authority, file reference and lots. A notice, award and correction can refer to the same procurement; they are not three separate contracts. TED public search does not require an account; saved alerts use EU Login.

Build a search plan across publication levels

Start with the services or goods you supply, relevant CPV codes and territories you can serve. Search TED for notices published at European level and PLACSP for Spanish procurement information. Follow any regional contracting-profile links to the original record. Searching both is a coverage decision, not a reason to count the same contract twice.

Whether EU publication is required depends on the legal regime, authority, contract type, estimated value and exceptions. The thresholds for works, supplies, services and certain special categories differ. Check the current LCSP Articles 19–23 rather than applying a single headline amount to everything.

An absence on TED does not prove that a Spanish procurement is invalid or unavailable. It may fall outside mandatory EU publication, be at a different stage or use terms that your search does not capture. Check the official national or regional record before drawing conclusions.

Match records before comparing prices or counting results

Use authority, contract reference, lot identifiers and notice type to connect publications. A correction, award and contract notice can describe stages of one procurement. Record which version supplies the deadline and which supplies the award amount.

Illustrative example: you find a contract notice on TED and a matching PLACSP record with a subsequent correction. Do not prepare two independent bids or use the older deadline because it appeared in the first search result. Read the current procurement documents and submit through the stated channel.

TED search is publicly accessible; EU Login is used for personalised services such as saved alerts. Alerts help discovery, but neither a TED account nor a national search subscription submits an offer. Keep discovery, qualification and submission as separate steps with separate evidence.