eSender

An eSender is an organisation that has been authorised by the TED Publication Office to submit procurement notices to TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) on behalf of contracting authorities. Rather than each buyer managing the technical complexity of direct notice submission, eSenders act as trusted intermediaries that handle notice formatting, validation, and transmission.

What is an eSender?

Under the EU procurement directives, contracting authorities are legally obliged to publish above-threshold notices on TED. The submission process requires notices to be formatted correctly according to the applicable schema (either the standard forms or, from October 2023, the eForms standard), validated for completeness and consistency, and transmitted through an authenticated channel.

eSenders perform this function professionally and at scale. An eSender is typically one of the following:

• A national eProcurement platform operated by a member state government (for example, a central purchasing platform or an e-Notices portal). These submit notices on behalf of all buyers using the national system.
• A commercial procurement software provider whose platform integrates TED submission functionality and submits notices on behalf of client authorities.
• A specialist intermediary service that buyers engage specifically to handle TED publication.

The eSender accreditation is granted by the Publications Office after the organisation demonstrates that its submission system meets the technical and security requirements for authenticated access to the TED submission gateway. Accredited eSenders are listed on SIMAP.

The transition to eForms in October 2023 required eSenders to update their technical systems to support the new XML schema. The eSentool (TED eSender Validation) tool was provided to help eSenders test their eForms-formatted submissions before going live.

Contracting authorities that do not use a national eProcurement platform or a commercial eSender service can submit notices directly through the eSender Portal, which is the Publications Office's own web interface for direct submission.

Why it matters for bidders

From a bidder's perspective, the eSender ecosystem affects how quickly and reliably notices appear on TED. Notices submitted by well-integrated eSenders are typically published within the standard five-day window without delays from formatting or validation errors. Notices submitted with errors are rejected and must be corrected, which can delay publication and in some cases affect the advertised deadline.

Understanding the eSender model also explains why the same notice may appear in a national platform and on TED simultaneously: the national platform acts as the eSender and transmits the notice to TED automatically. Suppliers should not assume that monitoring TED alone is sufficient; some member states also publish sub-threshold notices only on national portals.

Example

A German contracting authority uses its state's central eProcurement platform to create a contract notice for a EUR 5 million IT systems integration project. The platform, acting as an accredited eSender, validates the eForms notice against the TED schema using eSentool (TED eSender Validation) and transmits it to TED. The notice appears on TED Search within five calendar days.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a contracting authority submit to TED without an eSender?

Yes. The eSender Portal is the direct submission option for authorities that do not use an intermediary eSender. However, the portal requires users to format and complete the notice themselves.

How do I find accredited eSenders?

The list of accredited eSenders is published on SIMAP (Information System for Public Procurement). Many national eProcurement platforms are on the list.

What happens if an eSender submits a notice with errors?

The TED submission gateway validates notices on receipt. Notices that fail validation are rejected and returned to the eSender with error codes. The eSender must correct and resubmit, which may delay publication.