Insights
How IT service providers win public contracts: 2025 TED market data, EVB-IT pitfalls, and a guide to compelling software concepts.
Tom Dietrich
Founding GTM Engineer
Key Takeaways
32.2% of above-threshold awards in 2025 were based on quality and concept criteria
In the software licenses sector (CPV 48), 32.99% of awards fall under quality competition
The top 3 contractors for software licenses hold a combined 12.71% market share
EVB-IT contracts define the mandatory legal framework in the majority of IT procurements
Introduction
Around 32.2% of above-threshold awards in Germany in 2025 were based on quality and concept criteria (Source: TED, ForgentAI analysis). For you, this means: The pure price war is increasingly giving way to a quality competition. Winning an IT tender is a systematic process where IT service providers meet public needs through tailored concepts, legally compliant EVB-IT contracts, and strategic pricing. Those who want to grow in the public sector must precisely address the evaluation matrix of the procurement offices. Public procurement is developing into a central revenue driver for mid-sized companies. The annual contract volume of contracting authorities in Germany alone amounts to around 500 billion euros (Source: Public tenders are Germany's next growth engine. Winning opportunities with AI.). This market offers enormous potential but requires a deep understanding of the formal requirements. Bid Managers face the challenge of efficiently analyzing complex procurement documents and deploying resources in a targeted manner. The combination of market data, legal expertise, and technological tools forms the foundation for sustainable success in public procurements.
Contents
How large is the market for IT procurements and how strong is the competition?
What specifics apply to SaaS solutions in public procurement?
How do you safely navigate the EVB-IT contract types?
Quality Competition: How to Build a Compelling IT Concept
Which award criteria decide software concepts?
Methodology
Frequently Asked Questions about IT Tenders
How Forgent Addresses This
How large is the market for IT procurements and how strong is the competition?
The public sector is investing heavily in the digitization of administration. The analysis of 17,712 procurement offices in the 2024–2026 period shows high demand for specialized IT services (Source: TED Europe). Particularly in the area of software procurement, it is evident that price is not the sole award criterion.
Data: In the software licenses sector (CPV 48), 32.99% of all above-threshold awards are based on quality and concept criteria. Below-threshold procurements are not included.
TED Europe, ForgentAI analysis
At the same time, the market is characterized by a certain concentration. With 820 participating companies in the software licenses segment, the top 3 contractors account for a combined 12.71% of all awards (Source: TED Europe). These figures illustrate that, alongside established large enterprises, there is ample room for specialized mid-sized providers. To survive in this environment, Bid Managers must exactly decode the requirements of the procurement offices and translate them into compelling bids.
The data proves a clear trend toward quality-driven procurement.
What specifics apply to SaaS solutions in public procurement?
The procurement of Software-as-a-Service in the public sector is subject to strict regulatory requirements. According to § 97 GWB, public contracts must be awarded in competition and under transparent conditions. For SaaS providers, this means they must not only meet functional requirements but also prove strict compliance with data security and European cloud infrastructure mandates. Generic AI like ChatGPT often fails due to the complexity of procurement documents, as it overlooks legal nuances. A domain-specific AI analyzes the qualification criteria and precisely extracts the knockout conditions. The Bid Manager then decides on participation based on this processed data. In 79 evaluated pilot projects, it was shown that specialized systems can create a 70 to 90 percent draft based on historical company data. The combination of legal compliance and technological support is the key to operating successfully in this highly regulated market environment and convincing contracting authorities of one's own capabilities.
SaaS providers need a precise qualification strategy.
How do you safely navigate the EVB-IT contract types?
The Supplementary Contract Terms for the Procurement of IT Services (EVB-IT) form the legal basis for IT procurements by the public sector. These contract frameworks are mandatory for federal authorities and are also used as a standard by states and municipalities. A central aspect is the Sektorenverordnung (SektVO), which defines special procurement rules for the water, energy, and transport sectors. Companies that want to win IT tenders must examine the liability regulations, service level agreements, and usage rights of the respective EVB-IT contract types in detail. Deviations from these requirements generally lead to the mandatory exclusion of the bid. The precise analysis of the contract terms requires legal expertise and ties up significant time resources in Bid Management. A systematic review of the legal framework protects IT service providers from incalculable risks and ensures that calculated margins are not endangered during the project by contractual penalties or unclear specifications.
Tip: Use the official federal EVB-IT evaluation matrices as a structural framework for your internal bid approval.
A sound understanding of contracts minimizes legal risks.
Quality Competition: How to Build a Compelling IT Concept
A technically excellent IT concept is the decisive lever to prevail in the quality competition. Procurement offices evaluate not only technical feasibility but also methodology, project management, and the qualifications of the deployed personnel. The challenge lies in presenting complex technical matters in a comprehensible and evaluable manner.
A structured approach pays off: An occupational safety service provider was able to increase its win rate by 78% and reduce effort in the bid/no-bid process by 83% through systematic qualification and improved concept work (Source: Arsipa Case Study). Such efficiency gains are crucial, as base models often only achieve an accuracy of 50-80% when extracting procurement documents (Source: 'Trust nothing you haven't tested yourself'). A compelling concept exactly addresses the required award criteria and avoids generic marketing statements.
Structured concepts beat unstructured walls of text.
Which award criteria decide software concepts?
The evaluation matrix of the procurement office is the blueprint for your bid. It exactly defines how many points are awarded for price, functionality, user-friendliness, and implementation concept. For above-threshold procurements, this matrix must mandatorily be disclosed in the procurement documents.
CPV Code | Category | Share of Concept-Based Tenders | Top 3 Market Share |
|---|---|---|---|
48000000 | Software Licenses | 32.99% | 12.71% |
72000000 | IT Services | 32.20% | 15.40% |
Source: TED, EU. ForgentAI analysis, May 2026. Sample: 374,098 above-threshold procurements.
The analysis of the TED data shows that the quality share for software licenses is significant. Bid Managers must ensure that every requirement from the specification is demonstrably answered in the concept. Missing information leads to point deductions and drastically reduces the chances of winning.
Which of these criteria do you serve weakest in your current bid process?
Methodology
This analysis is based on data from Tenders Electronic Daily (TED), the official portal for European public contracts. The study period covers the years 2024 to 2026. The sample includes n=374,098 above-threshold procurements in Germany. Below-threshold procurements, especially smaller municipal procurements, are not included in this dataset. The classification of concept-based tenders was carried out through a semantic analysis of the published award criteria.
Frequently Asked Questions about IT Tenders
What is an EVB-IT tender?
An EVB-IT tender is based on the Supplementary Contract Terms for the Procurement of IT Services. These standardized contract frameworks regulate the legal framework for the purchase of hardware, software, and IT services by the public sector in Germany.
How does the public sector weight price compared to quality?
The weighting varies depending on the procurement procedure and the object of procurement. For complex IT projects and software licenses, the focus is increasingly on quality. TED data shows that for above-threshold procurements in the software licenses sector, nearly a third of awards are strongly quality-driven.
Why are above-threshold procurements relevant for IT service providers?
Above-threshold procurements exceed the EU thresholds and must be tendered Europe-wide. They are characterized by high contract volumes and standardized, transparent procedures, making them an attractive growth market, especially for mid-sized and large IT service providers.
How Forgent Addresses This
The manual analysis of complex IT procurement documents and the manual writing of software concepts cost countless hours and tie up valuable resources in Bid Management. As a domain-specific AI platform for tenders, Forgent supports you in achieving a +10% higher win rate through complete and error-free bids. A triple AI quality assurance checks every draft for completeness, factual accuracy, and homogenization, achieving an accuracy of 98%+ in internal benchmarks when extracting all requirements. You still make the final review and decision on the submitted concept.
Data source: Tenders Electronic Daily (TED), supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union, Publications Office of the European Union (ted.europa.eu). License: CC BY 4.0. Evaluation and analysis by ForgentAI. ForgentAI is not affiliated with the European Union and is neither funded nor endorsed by it.