Beware, one train can hide another (or the importance of choosing the right CPV)

One of the things we do at Euroalert is making sure that the Competitive Intelligence products and services based on public procurement that we provide for our subscribers are of the highest quality. Much beyond than enhancing their technical features or aggregating new sources of data, Euroalert Team works with our clients to ensure that they get the information about public contracts that really affects their businesses.

One of the most important ingredients to achieve that is to make a good tender profile and choose the right CPV codes which are used in public procurement in the EU. If the codes are accurately identified, then the public procurement widgets implemented by our subscribers in their websites will show the contracts in the sectors and countries that really interest their users. In the same way, choosing the right CPV codes when building up a profile to set an alert on public procurement and government contracts in 10ders Alerts, is really important so that the subscriber gets the right alerts in the mail-box.

It seems easy, but this process can sometimes be a tricky one. Not only the CPV code list contains more than 9 000 codes and turns the process of choosing the right one into a digging experience, but one can also be tempted in some occasions by the first results of the search which are maybe not the right ones. It may happen like in the old railway road-crossings where “one train can hide another”, and a title of a contract which is apparently irrelevant for a business really “hides” one which is really interesting.

It also happens that sometimes the names of the CPV can be somehow misleading. Not leaving the railway environment, we recently found a funny example when solving a query from one of our subscribers. Why does a tender about “disposable non-chemical medical consumables and haematological consumables” in Poland appears in a search about rail transport? Easy, it seems that in publishing the tender someone may have mixed the code for “sleepers” with the one for “sleeping pills”.

With Euroalert you can always rely on the advice of our Team to solve these details and build up the profile which better fits into your needs. This will help you to get the most out of the widgets to publish tenders, the alerts on public procurement, the successful bidders lists or the product reports on public procurement.

A new review of the functioning of the Common Procurement Vocabulary CPV is on track

Although there is no mandatory frequency, a review of the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) is made about every four years. Since the Official Journal of the EU has recently published the award of the contract for the review of the functioning of the CPV Regulation and codes, a new revision seems to be already on track. These process started back in August 2011, when the DG for the Internal Market and Services announced a contract notice to make a study on the review of the functioning of the coding currently applying to public tenders.

The Common Procurement Vocabulary published by Regulation (EC) 2195/2002 aims to provide public authorities with a common base to formulate their procurement needs and for companies to better identify business opportunities in public procurement procedures. Choosing the right codes according to the purpose of a contract notices is, indeed, one of the key elements to match both parts of the procurement process: the contracting authority and the potential bidders.

CPV codes contribute to define the object of the contract in public procurement notices, easing the purchasing process. Furthermore, this common coding system enhances the cross-border element in procurement by facilitating companies to bid for contracts in other Member states, therefore contributing to a better functioning of the EU Single Market.

The Danish company to whom the contract has been awarded will have to assess whether the current CPV coding system meets the objectives it was established for. It will also have to evaluate if these objectives are actually relevant and if they are achieved in an efficient and effective manner. The contractor will have a period of twelve months to deliver the works, while interviews, analysis, questionnaires and all the necessary evaluation processes will be performed.

Whatever the results of the study and the proposed changes to the CPV will be, Euroalert.net will be vigilant and will adapt all the services just as it was done for the 2008 CPV codes review. These commercial intelligence services based on public procurement designed for SMEs are those which allow, e.g., to track the publication of this particular tender for the review of the CPV, and to know afterwards which company has won the contract.

By the way, if you feel curious, these are the CPV codes applied to the tender for the CPV review: 79313000, 79419000, 72330000, 79330000, 72221000. Do you think they meet their objectives? If you want to know which services they describe and know a bit more about the system itself, you can always have a look at the CPV codes lists description page at Euroalert.net website.

New rules on thresholds applicable to EU public procurement already published

Today we want to announce you a new change that will affect public procurement market in the European Union. As we already did in the past by detailing you developments such as the introduction of new CPVs in 2008 or the adaptation to the new features put in place by TED in March 2010, this time it is the matter for the changes introduced by Commission Regulation (EU) nº 1251/2011 of 30 November 2011 which modifies procurement Directives in respect to their application thresholds for the procedures for the awards of contract, and was published in the Official Journal on 2 December.

According to this Regulation, the minimum thresholds applicable to public procurement have been slightly increased. Although these changes will not be quite significant, the new figures will nevertheless have to be taken into account both by contracting authorities when launching procurement procedures, and by those companies interested in taking part in bidding processes for public contracts. The new thresholds will enter into force on 1 January 2012 and be applicable for two years.

Therefore, these new thresholds for the publication of public procurement announcements will change from 125,000 to 130,000 Euro in the case of services and supply contracts issued by central government bodies and from 193,000 to 200,000 Euro in the case of other contracting authorities. For services and supply contracts in the case of utilities and defence threshold will now pass for 387,000 to 400,000 Euro. In the case of work contracts and work concessions these figures will pass from 4,845,000 to 5,000,000 Euro.

On our side we will of course be prepared for any change which should be introduced regarding the tools and services on commercial intelligence based on public procurement that Euroalert.net provides for companies in Europe. We will make sure that you can keep on receiving tender alerts, requesting the lists of tender winners or authorities that you need, or receiving your product reports on public procurement, without being affected by these changes.

We would also like to take this occasion to remind you that if you want to keep track on new legislation published in the OJEU, Euroalert.net Customized Newsletters on EU information can certainly help you. They will allow you to keep up to date, not only about new legal developments, but also about news related to the European Union and funding opportunities for your projects. If you have any questions, you can send us an e-mail us to info@euroalert.net or contact us by any of the means described in our web.

Euroalert.net launches the new 10ders Product Reports on Public Procurement and helps you exporting to new markets

Last week we announced you the launching of a new set of 10ders Observatory products focused on providing information and data about public procurement and specially adapted to SMEs active on exports. At that moment we already advised you to keep posted as we intended to be launching different Euroalert.net products in the days to come and will be providing you more details.

We are therefore very proud to present you the features of one of the products with a highest demand among those developed by Euroalert.net: the 10ders Customized Product Report on Public Procurement.

In the last two decades the way to internationalise a company and start exporting has changed dramatically and traditional ways of doing it are no longer valid: acting quickly, gathering relevant information, analysing it and directing commercial actions within your Internationalization Plan in the most suitable markets, has become the most necessary elements of a strategy. Although international fairs and commercial missions might still have their role to play, what it is really critical now is to always have more information than your competitors about the characteristics of the market to make the most of any commercial action your export department undergoes.

As export manager in an SME, wouldn't it be interesting to know who's the distributor who has sold the most to governments in your sector in any given market? Wouldn't' you like to know who's your perfect partner to provide the installation or maintenance services for your product? Or maybe knowing the public bodies which have been the most active in purchasing your product or service in any market? What about knowing who's your major competitor in one particular market and analyse whether it is accessible in this moment?

These questions and many more have now answer thanks to 10ders Product Reports on Public Procurement from 10ders Observatory which offer you the information and listings of the most active economic actors and contracting public authorities which have purchased the most your products and services by publishing tender announcements.

Only with a few clicks and for only 35 €, a really very accessible cost for any company no matter its dimension, you will have your own customized report in your e-mail.

They are very simple to request: you only need to follow the indications to buy your 10ders Customized Product Report in Public Procurement from 10ders Observatory at the Euroalert.net on-line store. First, you need to select the country or countries you want to analyse with the report, and then you describe your product or service. If your already know the cpv codes which define your product just indicate them but if you don't, don't worry, with the 10ders Product Reports in Public Procurement special launching offer, you only need to describe them and we will define the codes for you with no extra cost.

And remember that the more reports you ask in one same order, the more you will save in each of them: 10 product reports in public procurement will only cost 290 €, and you will save 15% in each of them.

If you have any question or wish to make any suggestion that will help us to improve this new service, you only need to send us an email to TenderReports@euroalert.net and we will answer all your questions.

Besides, now you can also benefit from the 10ders Product Report Special Launching Offer and get you customized reports in the very best conditions! Aren't you trying?

Euroalert.net universalizes market intelligence in international tendering and brings it closer to SMEs

Over the past months, access of SMEs to public procurement has jumped to the forefront of Government agendas in almost all EU countries. In several occasions the Commission has shown its determination to support smaller companies in their access to public procurement market, many strategies and documents have been drawn up in this regard, a European code of best practices facilitating access by SMEs to Public Procurement Contracts was published in June 2008, Commissioners have made declarations on this issue... All this is fine, but what companies really need are facts, actions and instruments to achieve the real opportunities that public procurement provide to SMEs.

From Euroalert.net team we have gradually reinforced a conviction we already had when started in all this project: the huge amount of data which is available and waiting to be used by companies of any size who aim at having an international presence...

The participation of Euroalert.net in various forums related to EU Public Procurement, as well as company's consulting activities with firms operating in international tendering or our intervention in events organized by our partners in their sectors of interest have confirmed our conviction.

Euroalert.net already provided you with tools to publish in your website or Intranet procurement notices or awards which represent real business opportunities for your business. Now, with 10ders Observatory you will have a full set of information tools on public procurement and the necessary data to plan your strategy on international tendering markets and bid for public contracts, to adapt your plan of internationalization and to analyse the best way to access the opportunities offered by the public sector in the European Union. Our goal is to provide business support organizations as well as companies with the best tools tailored to each of their needs.

One product for each need, so you can pick only what you really need in order to get maximum value at the minimum cost: this is our goal. A purpose which becomes particularly important in the current economic scenario.

• If you want macro statistics to evaluate the performance of your sector in different markets, what you need are the 10ders Trends Statistical Series on Public Procurement adapted to your targeted sectors
• If what you want is the list of the main economic operators in your area of interest, either awarded companies or contracting authorities, then you are looking for 10ders Product Reports on Public Procurement
• If you already know which are the markets you will focus on and you want to be informed about the business opportunities, announcements or awards that are coming up in them, then what you need are the 10ders Alerts on Public Procurement
• But if, before all this, the first thing you need is to know how your product or service is defined in public procurement contracts (cpv), then you will probably need 10ders Code Advice on Public Procurement to help you identify the code your product or service is defined by and take advantage of other information tools

We will be soon presenting you all these products step by step, as well as all those which will be developed to complete the series of 10ders Observatory products. Remember that each one of them is a separate product, so that you can make up your own "à la carte" public procurement information system. Also, like all Euroalert.net products, 10ders Observatory is designed to be accessible to small companies and organizations, with products which are all quite cost-effective.

10ders Observatory is ready to work with you and help you to find the best way to maximize your sales abroad, you just have to send us an email to info@euroalert.net and we will contact you.

Euroalert.net and 10ders Observatory provide you with information and data about international public procurement opportunities, then is your turn to use them to do business and make money.

Euroalert.net gets ready for the changes in the new TED website

As you all know Euroalert.net publishes and distributes a set of different information products related to public procurement announcements from European Union countries which are published in the OJEU. This means that we follow closely any change made by the Office of Publications of the European Union regarding the structure and characteristics of the publication of these public procurement notices.


A few changes, which can probably be considered as some of the most relevant ones affecting public tendering information and publication in recent times, will take place in the coming days: the new TED website will be available from March 16th, changing its interface and some of its functionalities. As we all know big changes sometimes cause some inconveniences to users, as it will be the case with the loss of saved search profiles for TED users, which will have to be saved and redefined in the new system once the new TED site is launched.

Since the announcement of the migration a couple of months ago, we started working to ensure that as far as possible any of Euroalert.net users and subscribers will be affected by the changes to be introduced in TED website. This changes will restructure essential elements such as NUTS codes and some other characteristics for filtering announcement and notices.

One of the key values of the services provided by Euroalert.net is being able to prepare ourselves and ensure a completely transparent transition for our customers so that the system remains up and running and their functionalities are still the same from the very first day on all our services: 10ders observatory, with data mining services on information from public markets, Euroalert widgets for the automatic publication of procurement notices in the web of our subscribers and web services for content delivery.

Since we started offering business opportunities in the EU public procurement market within the Euroalert.net website there has already been some relevant changes in TED structure which have been immediately assimilated by Euroalert.net, always ensuring the best service for our customers and subscribers. Not so long ago, this was the case for the update of cpv codes in 2008. One of our main commitments is to be prepared to offer to those who rely on Euroalert.net the best possible service.

We will continue keeping you up to the date with these changes and making sure that Euroalert.net always provides you with the best information services on EU public procurement in the most reliable way and at very cost-effective prices thanks to our innovative search technology.

New Tender's CPV codes already in Euroalert.net

Those of you who are already subscribers of the Euroalert.net weekly Newsletter, will be aware of the changes that the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities has made on the CPV codes which describe the content of contracts in public procurement. For those who haven't subscribed to the Newsletter yet, here are some tips.

Every day, the OJEU publishes in the S Series, more than one thousand calls for tenders for works, services or supplies contracts in public procurement: the same you can find every morning in Euroalert.net Calls for Tenders section.

In order to allow economic operators to have free and easy access to these contracts, CPV codes (whose 2008 version has been adopted September 17th), provide a unique classification vocabulary. This system is made up of a main vocabulary of eight digits which give a detailed description of the product or service the contract is related to, followed by a check digit which verifies the code. The more you go down in this tree structure, the more accurate the description is. Simple, isn't it?

There is also a supplementary vocabulary which, although it is not always used, helps to complete even more the description giving some additional details for one specific call. This is the short version of the full description of the new CPV codes for Public Procurement Announcements which we provide you in Euroalert.net. In this section you will also find some documents you can download, which will certainly be useful.

In essence, this coding system aims to provide the highest transparency and accessibility to information, contributing to the fulfilment of the Four Freedoms within the EU Single Market.

In fact, Euroalert.net widgets also provides some tools which can help to improve access to calls for tenders and commercial opportunities in public procurement within the EU, as it allows not only to automatically display them in any website, intranet or blog, but also to filter the results and display only those which really meet the needs of the subscribers. In order to make you as easy as possible to access EU contents, in Euroalert.net we have introduced those changes over the CPV codes from the very first day, adapting the publication and filters to these news.

In future posts we will be spending some time explaining how you can get the most from Euroalert.net Calls for Tenders widgets in public procurement, using the CPV codes, as well as some other features.