Tendering for Government Contracts

Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU - formerly called OJEC)

Almost all public procurement contracts for business worth more than an EC limit, which is roughly £99,000, must be published in the daily supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). This provides information on the current requirements and invites suppliers to express an interest, or to tender directly in some cases, depending on the contract procedure. It also sets out information about contracts that have been awarded.

The regulations that say precisely which contracts must appear in OJEU are very detailed. However, you can get information about these from the OGC website. As a general guide, tenders for more than £99,000 of goods and services or for more than £3.8 million of works must appear in OJEU. However, there are many exceptions to these limits, including a number of services that do not need to be advertised. Some departments, however, have made it their policy to advertise more widely in OJEU than they are obliged to.

There are several ways of gaining access to OJEU.

• Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) is the online version of OJEU. It uses subject and country codes to give you direct access to notices that may interest you. However, many businesses find it easier to use the TED service offered by Business Link, Euro Information Centres and commercial organisations like Government Opportunities.
• Copies of OJEU (in CD-ROM format) are available by paying a subscription or by buying copies from The Stationery Office.
• The Stationery Office also has a Scanfax Service that is one of a number of OJEU scanning services that will fax specific extracts from OJEU.
• You can also see copies at some Euro Info Centres.