Find suitable tenders: keywords, CPV and original sources
Build a search routine that finds useful opportunities and separates closed results from open procedures.
After this guide, you can …
- Build searches in the buyer’s language
- Use CPV as an additional search tool
- Check an opportunity against its original source
1. Search for the customer’s task
Start with the service, not your company name. A cleaning business might search for recurring cleaning, building cleaning and school cleaning. An IT business could add maintenance, support, network operations or a specific software service. Record synonyms and related tasks. Combine them with locations and a realistic delivery area. Avoid applying so many filters at once that suitable notices disappear.
2. Use CPV as a second search route
CPV is a European classification for purchased supplies, services and works. Relevant codes help bridge differences in wording. Read a few clearly suitable notices, compare their codes and then search those categories too. A CPV match is neither evidence of eligibility nor a guarantee of fit. The actual specification remains decisive, and a service may be classified under a broader code.
3. Distinguish an opportunity from information
TED carries European procurement notices, while national and regional sources complement the German market. Check the notice type: a prior information notice concerns possible future buying, a contract notice starts a procedure, a change notice updates it, and a result notice records a decision already made. Verify deadlines at the source. A missing deadline means unknown, not indefinitely open.
4. Turn searching into a manageable routine
Save search profiles and select a small number of candidates to investigate. Vergabezone shows sources and helps collect and organise opportunities; an aggregation is not a promise of complete market coverage. Before deciding, open the official procedure link, obtain the latest documents and check changes. Keep search terms that produce relevant results. Award notices can also help you recognise buyers with recurring needs.
Good searching combines useful keywords with verification of the current original procedure.
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Go to the original source
Editorially checked on 27 October 2026. The current original documents of your procedure govern.
- Your Europe — Search and bid for a public contractEuropäische Union / Your Europe
- VgV — insbesondere §§ 29 und 47: Unterlagen und EignungsleiheBundesamt für Justiz / Gesetze im Internet