Euroalert analyses with exporting companies how to get the most from competitive intelligence tools based on public procurement

As you already know Euroalert provides competitive intelligence tools based on public procurement information which help companies from all sectors to access new business opportunities. Being in contact with companies and sharing with them our experience in the management of these type of tools is without any doubt one of the most satisfying parts of our job. It is for that reason that since Euroalert was invited to be in the panel of a seminar about public procurement opportunities for Irish construction companies organised by Enterprise Ireland a couple of years ago, it is always a pleasure for us to take part in seminars and workshops whenever one of our partners invites us to talk about these opportunities with their businesses.

The last occasion was on 26 April at a seminar organised by the Spanish Association for the Internationalisation of the Electronics, Information Technology and Telecommunications Companies (Secartys). In this seminar we briefly went through the current situation of public procurement in the European Union and discussed how competitive intelligence techniques are an important contribution to any company's strategy. We also analysed how key information can be obtained from public procurement and government contract notices by using competitive intelligence tools such as Euroalert's and revised a few examples adapted to their own sector.

In Secartys' website you can access the programme of the seminar about the use of competitive intelligence tools and techniques in the field of public procurement in the European Union (Spanish version). You can also have a look here at the presentation we used during this seminar.

Herramientas de Inteligencia Competitiva y Contratación Pública: Cómo aprovechar plenamente estas oportunidades

More presentations by euroalert.

If you represent a trade association, a chamber of commerce, an export promotion agency or any other kind of organization working with exporting companies, and you think it could be interesting for them to know how they can use these tools to make their businesses grow, do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail or through Euroalert profiles in Twitter, Facebook or Google+. It will be a pleasure to share our experience and help them to achieve their objective for growth.

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 meets International Trade at IMEX 2011

Among the activities our Team has prepared for this month, for whom we will give you some more details in the coming days, Euroalert.net will be on May 11th at the Madrid «Fair for International Business and Investment IMEX 2011», one more opportunity for us to meet institutions and businesses who develop their activity in the field of International Trade.

As you already know Euroalert.net has taken the challenge to build up the most complete pan-European platform aggregating information on all public contracts in the European Union which will help us to provide value services for SMEs. Our services and tools on EU Government contracts information are already being used by institutions and companies in many countries in order to improve their results in the public procurement sector outside their home countries, developing their export strategies and Internationalization Plans.

Among the institutions who already trust Euroalert.net to help their companies to export their products and services to foreign countries, there are organizations such as the Irish Trade and Technology Agency Enterprise Ireland, the London Chamber of Commerce or the Export or the International Promotion Agency for Spanish Madrid region PromoMadrid.

We are sure that this will be a perfect occasion for us to meet institutions and companies willing to improve their market intelligence focused in export activities thanks to Euroalert.net information products and services.

If you are in Madrid in May 11th and have the opportunity to stop in IMEX 2011, you can contact us either by e-mail or via Twitter as the Head of Euroalert.net International Department, Mai Rodriguez Entem, will be there all that day and will be pleased to meet you and chat about how Euroalert.net can help you to export.

IMEX 2011 will also run on May 12th, so if you are close to Madrid Municipal Conference Centre, don't forget: you have an appointment with International Trade!

Come and take a 7-day FREE TRIAL for Euroalert.net 10ders Alerts

In our first post of this year we already mentioned you a new product we had included in Euroalert.net's on-line Store to close the year on a high note: the Alerts on public procurement contracts from all EU countries which we called 10ders Alerts. To make a good start of this new year, Euroalert.net offers you the possibility to enjoy a 7 days free trial by only making a very simple registration and to setting up your profile. During 7 days you will receive in your e-mail public procurement announcements marching your business needs.

As it has been the case for all 10ders products, we have created 10ders Alerts thinking very specially about what SMEs from all over Europe actually need and which are their difficulties in accessing public procurement market. For that reason, our main purpose was to create a service very easy to use, which can be bought at a very competitive price (only 20€/month or 192€/year), but, above all, a service including all the new features we have developed to enhance search power and filtering so you will only receive public contracts, procurement announcements and awards which are relevant for your business.


You are welcome to try it for FREE and give us your opinion, which will certainly help us to improve the product for all Euroalert.net Community. As always, for any question, just don't hesitate to contact us, you can do so in our e-mail TenderAlerts@euroalert.net.

Just like the 10ders Product Reports in public procurement, that you can also buy in Euroalert.net on-line store, this is one more excellent tool for exporting SMEs. Using 10ders Alerts they will be able to explore new business opportunities with the Public Sector in different countries, or to improve their commercial market intelligence and know what their competitors are doing, find new partners or distributors, or knowing whether their product is competitive outside their country.

10ders Alerts is the first of a series of important announcements we will be making in the coming weeks, and is one more step in our goal to build a pan-European platform which will aggregate all public procurement and tender announcements in the European Union (which represent more that 2155 billion euro!).

As we progress in this objective, we will be able to develop new cost-effective information services which will be accessible for any SME and will help them to be more competitive in public procurement markets.

For example, very soon we will be announcing you something we are really looking forward to making public: the entry of a new member of Euroalert.net Team, who will take the position as Editor in Chief and will therefore be in charge of offering you an even better selection of the most relevant news from the European Union and its institutions.