glossary

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EU Procurement Framework

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Contracting Authority

A contracting authority is any public body or organisation that procures goods, services, or works and is subject to EU procurement rules.

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CPV Codes

CPV codes are a standardised classification system used across EU procurement to describe the subject of a contract in a consistent, language-neutral way.

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OJEU

The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) is the formal gazette where the EU publishes legal notices, including public procurement opportunities above defined financial thresholds.

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TED

Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) is the online supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union and the EU's central database for above-threshold public procurement notices.

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Procurement Procedures

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Competitive Dialogue

Competitive Dialogue is an EU procurement procedure used for complex contracts, where the contracting authority engages in a structured dialogue with shortlisted bidders to define the solution before final tenders are submitted.

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Competitive Procedure with Negotiation

The Competitive Procedure with Negotiation is an EU procurement procedure that allows the contracting authority to negotiate with shortlisted bidders to improve their initial tenders before final award.

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Open Procedure

The Open Procedure is the default EU procurement procedure, where any interested supplier may submit a full tender response in a single stage.

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Restricted Procedure

The Restricted Procedure is a two-stage EU procurement procedure with a pre-qualification stage (selection) followed by a tender stage limited to shortlisted candidates.

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Tender Documents

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Contract Notice

A Contract Notice is the formal notice published on TED that launches a public procurement above EU thresholds and invites economic operators to participate.

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ESPD

The European Single Procurement Document is a standardised self-declaration form used across the EU to demonstrate that a bidder meets selection criteria and is not subject to exclusion grounds.

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Invitation to Tender

The Invitation to Tender is the formal document pack issued to bidders that sets out detailed requirements, response templates, evaluation methodology, and submission instructions for a full tender.

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Prior Information Notice

A Prior Information Notice (PIN) is an early-stage notice published on TED to signal an upcoming procurement, allowing the market to prepare and the contracting authority to compress later timelines.

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Evaluation & Award

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Dynamic Purchasing System

A Dynamic Purchasing System is an open, electronic procurement arrangement under EU rules that allows new suppliers to join at any time and competes individual contracts among admitted suppliers.

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Framework Agreement

A Framework Agreement is a multi-year arrangement with one or more suppliers under which individual contracts ("call-offs") can be awarded without re-running the full EU procurement process.

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MEAT

Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) is the standard EU award basis, combining price with quality criteria to identify the best overall value rather than the lowest price.

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Standstill Period

The Standstill Period is the mandatory pause between the announcement of a contract award decision and the formal signing of the contract, during which unsuccessful bidders can challenge the decision.

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Bid Team & Strategy

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Bid Library

A Bid Library is a structured, version-controlled repository of reusable content — case studies, capability statements, certifications, CVs, policies, and Q&A pairs — that a bid team draws on to assemble tender responses faster and more consistently.

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Bid/No-Bid Decision

The Bid/No-Bid Decision is the structured choice to pursue or decline a specific tender opportunity, based on fit, win probability, commercial value, and resource constraints.

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Compliance Matrix

A Compliance Matrix is a structured table that maps every requirement in a tender to the section of the response that addresses it, used both internally for response management and externally to demonstrate compliance to evaluators.

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Win Themes

Win Themes are the small set of differentiated, buyer-relevant messages that a bid team weaves through its response to drive scoring against the contracting authority's priorities.

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