eForms: New standard forms for contracting authorities

As of October 25, 2023, contracting authorities may only use the new eForms for publications. This is provided for in the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1780, which the EU Commission has already adopted on September 23, 2019. The eForms are the new standard for posting notices of intended and executed procurements on the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) portal. The previous EU standard announcement forms will be completely replaced by the introduction of eForms. The provisions of the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1780 do not apply to the sub-threshold sector so far. In the long term, however, the EU plans to establish the new standard here as well.

From the October 25, 2023, the use of eForms will be mandatory and the EU Publications Office will only accept eForms notices. Notices received under the previous schedule by October 24, 2023 will continue to be displayed on the TED portal.

eForms should lead to higher participation in procurement procedures

The eForms are intended to contribute to the digitalization of the procurement market and to reduce the administrative burden. At the same time, the EU Commission hopes that notices will be found more easily as a result of a higher level of data retrieval and that more companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, will participate in tenders. In addition, more transparency is to be offered to citizens.

Clients should prepare

Technically, there will be no significant changes for the employees of contracting authorities. The award portals and award management systems used to date can, in all likelihood, continue to be used without any gaps. However, the data to be collected is likely to be more extensive than before. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1780 provides for a variety of new data fields (mandatory and optional) that contracting agencies should prepare for before October 24, 2023.

If you have any questions regarding the implementation of eForms, please feel free to contact us. If you are interested, we can also offer you a practical workshop to prepare you for working with eForms.