In short
Between 2019 and 2023, public buyers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany published more than 338,000 contract awards on TED, the EU's procurement journal. Germany is by far the largest market with about 54,000 awards a year, against roughly 7,600 in the Netherlands and 6,100 in Belgium. The three markets decide very differently: 67% of German awards went on lowest price alone, against 32% in Belgium and only 20% in the Netherlands. Competition is similar everywhere, with a median of 3 bids per contract, but the median Dutch contract (€500,000) is about twice the size of a German or Belgian one.
This article is for English-speaking bid managers who bid, or plan to bid, for public contracts in the Netherlands (NL), Belgium (BE) and Germany (DE). All figures come from TenderRender's own analysis of TED data for contracts above the EU thresholds.
The three markets side by side
| 2019–2023 | Netherlands | Belgium | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract awards (lots) | 38,059 | 30,550 | 269,972 |
| Award notices | 33,284 | 16,245 | 216,905 |
| Awards per year (average) | 7,600 | 6,100 | 54,000 |
| Reported value | €143bn | €52bn | €242bn |
| Median value per award | €500,000 | €225,000 | €242,000 |
| Median number of bids | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Only one bid | 21.9% | 24.3% | 26.0% |
| Five or more bids | 28.7% | 19.7% | 29.3% |
| Awarded on lowest price only | 19.9% | 31.7% | 67.2% |
| Framework agreements | 32.6% | 42.0% | 14.4% |
| Won by SMEs | 65.4% | 28.3% | 57.9% |
| Won by a company from another country | 2.4% | 6.1% | 2.3% |
An award is one winner per lot. A Belgian award notice contains almost two awards on average (1.9), because Belgian buyers split contracts into lots more often than Dutch or German buyers (both around 1.1–1.2).
Treat the reported values with care. Framework agreements often report their maximum value, and a handful of very large frameworks can move a year's total. In 2023, seven Dutch awards above €1bn, mostly frameworks, lifted the Dutch total from about €35bn to €55bn. The median is the more reliable figure.
Year by year
Netherlands
| Year | Awards | Median value | Lowest price only | Only one bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 6,409 | €444,000 | 17.9% | 18.3% |
| 2020 | 7,150 | €456,000 | 18.6% | 19.3% |
| 2021 | 7,884 | €487,000 | 18.3% | 19.0% |
| 2022 | 8,290 | €540,000 | 20.0% | 26.0% |
| 2023 | 8,326 | €600,000 | 24.0% | 26.0% |
Belgium
| Year | Awards | Median value | Lowest price only | Only one bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 6,353 | €193,000 | 31.3% | 24.1% |
| 2020 | 6,295 | €207,000 | 36.4% | 20.4% |
| 2021 | 5,859 | €218,000 | 32.2% | 23.3% |
| 2022 | 5,786 | €242,000 | 31.8% | 27.8% |
| 2023 | 6,257 | €272,000 | 27.1% | 26.5% |
Germany
| Year | Awards | Median value | Lowest price only | Only one bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 47,567 | €244,000 | 66.3% | 25.4% |
| 2020 | 53,852 | €230,000 | 69.5% | 23.4% |
| 2021 | 55,240 | €232,000 | 67.5% | 24.0% |
| 2022 | 57,113 | €251,000 | 66.5% | 29.4% |
| 2023 | 56,200 | €256,000 | 66.2% | 27.6% |
Three trends stand out:
- Contracts got bigger in the Netherlands and Belgium. The median Dutch award rose 35% between 2019 and 2023, the Belgian one 41%. In Germany it rose less than 5%.
- Single-bid awards became more common everywhere. In all three countries the share of contracts with only one bid jumped in 2022 and stayed there in 2023: from 19% to 26% in the Netherlands, from 23% to 27–28% in Belgium and from 24% to 28–29% in Germany.
- The Dutch market grew steadily. The number of Dutch awards rose 30% in five years. Belgium stayed flat.
What each country buys
The mix of contracts differs sharply:
| Share of awards | Netherlands | Belgium | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|
| Services | 67.7% | 48.1% | 39.0% |
| Supplies | 25.4% | 45.6% | 29.0% |
| Works | 6.9% | 6.4% | 31.9% |
- Netherlands: a services market. A quarter of all Dutch awards (25%) fall under CPV 79, business services such as consultancy, staffing and administrative support. Cleaning and environmental services (CPV 90) and works (CPV 45) follow at around 7% each.
- Belgium: supplies and healthcare. The largest category is medical equipment and pharmaceuticals (CPV 33, 13.5% of awards), followed by cleaning and environmental services (11%).
- Germany: construction. Almost a third of German awards are works contracts (CPV 45, 31.5%), followed by architecture and engineering services (CPV 71, 12.6%).
Germany publishes so many works contracts on TED because the EU threshold for works applies to the whole project. Each lot of a large building project is then advertised EU-wide, even when the lot itself is small.
Price or quality?
This is the biggest difference between the three markets, and it holds within each contract type:
| Lowest price only | Netherlands | Belgium | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works | 24.7% | 70.3% | 94.7% |
| Supplies | 21.6% | 22.6% | 67.3% |
| Services | 18.8% | 35.1% | 44.0% |
| All awards | 19.9% | 31.7% | 67.2% |
In the Netherlands, four out of five contracts are awarded on the best price-quality ratio, even for construction. In Germany, works contracts are almost always awarded on price alone, and even services are decided on price in 44% of cases. Belgium sits in between, with price dominating in works and quality dominating in supplies and services.
For a bid manager this changes the job. A Dutch bid is usually won in the quality sections: the plan of approach, risk management, sustainability or social value. A German works bid is usually won in the calculation and lost on formal mistakes.
Competition and procedures
The median contract attracted 3 bids in all three countries, but the spread differs. Belgium has the fewest crowded contests: only 20% of Belgian awards had five or more bids, against 29% in the Netherlands and Germany. In German supplies, 44% of contracts had only one bid.
The procedure type is recorded reliably only in the eForms notices used since late 2023. For awards in 2024–2025:
| Procedure | Netherlands | Belgium | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open procedure | 67.3% | 67.3% | 76.2% |
| Restricted procedure | 18.9% | 0.6% | 1.6% |
| Negotiated with prior publication | 0.8% | 24.8% | 14.8% |
| Negotiated without prior publication | 11.0% | 3.5% | 7.1% |
| Other (incl. competitive dialogue) | 2.0% | 3.8% | 0.3% |
Each country has its own second route. Dutch buyers use the restricted procedure (a selection round first, then bids from a shortlist) for almost one in five awards. Belgian buyers use the negotiated procedure with prior publication for a quarter. German buyers rely most on the open procedure.
Contracts also run for different lengths. The median contract duration in the 2024–2025 notices was 48 months in the Netherlands and Belgium, and 24 months in Germany. A lost Dutch or Belgian contract usually means a four-year wait.
SMEs and foreign suppliers
SMEs won 65% of Dutch awards and 58% of German awards. The Belgian figure is much lower at 28%. Part of that gap is probably reporting: the SME share is based on how winners are flagged in TED, and Belgian notices may mark SME status less consistently. Take the Belgian figure as a lower bound rather than a precise measure.
Cross-border winners remain rare. Only 2.4% of Dutch and 2.3% of German awards went to a company based in another country. Belgium is more open at 6.1%.
What this means for your bids
Read the award criteria before you decide to bid. The same service can be decided on quality in Rotterdam and on price in Cologne. Check the weighting in the documents before you spend time on method statements.
Plan for longer commitments in NL and BE. With median contracts of four years and many framework agreements (33% in the Netherlands, 42% in Belgium), each lost bid keeps you out for a long time. Weigh that in your bid/no-bid decision.
Expect a selection round in the Netherlands. Almost one in five Dutch awards came from a restricted procedure. Your references and selection documents need to be ready before the bid itself.
Look for thin competition. One in four contracts in each country had a single bid. Past awards by the same buyer show where competition is weak.
Bid in the buyer's language. Buyers in these countries usually ask for Dutch, French or German. The accepted languages are stated in the notice.
How TenderRender helps
TenderRender searches TenderNed, Belgium's BOSA platform and Germany's öffentlicheVergabe from one screen and scores each tender against your company description. You can work in an English interface while TenderRender writes the bid in Dutch, German or French, from the tender documents and your own previous bids. The review step then scores your text against each award criterion, so you can see where a quality-led Dutch or Belgian bid is weak before you submit.
About these figures
- Source: TED (Tenders Electronic Daily, ted.europa.eu), the EU's official journal for procurement notices. We analyzed contract award notices from buyers based in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, award years 2019 to 2023. Data processed and analyzed by TenderRender.
- Coverage: only contracts advertised EU-wide, which in practice means contracts above the EU thresholds. Smaller contracts published only on national portals are not included.
- Counting: one row is one award per lot and winner. Award notices are unique TED publication numbers.
- Cleaning: values above €10bn (clear errors) and below €1,000 (missing or unit prices) are excluded from value figures. Bid counts are used only where a number above zero was reported. EU institutions and agencies based in these countries are excluded; this matters most for Belgium, where EU institutions and agencies account for 2,742 awards and about €40bn in 2019–2023.
- SMEs: based on whether the winning company is flagged as an SME in TED, not on the number of SME bids.
- Procedures and duration: only from eForms notices in 2024–2025, because these fields are almost empty in older notices.
- Data date: TED extract as of March 2026. Years from 2024 onwards are incomplete in this extract, so 2023 is the last full year. Analysis carried out on October 15, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Which country has the most public tenders: the Netherlands, Belgium or Germany?
Germany, by a wide margin. German buyers published about 54,000 contract awards a year on TED in 2019–2023, against about 7,600 in the Netherlands and 6,100 in Belgium.
Are Dutch tenders really decided on quality?
Mostly, yes. Only 20% of Dutch awards on TED in 2019–2023 were made on lowest price alone. In Belgium the share was 32% and in Germany 67%.
How many bidders can I expect?
The median was 3 bids per contract in all three countries. Roughly a quarter of contracts had only one bid: 22% in the Netherlands, 24% in Belgium and 26% in Germany.
How long do public contracts run in these countries?
Based on 2024–2025 award notices, the median duration was 48 months in the Netherlands and Belgium and 24 months in Germany.
Do foreign companies win public contracts in NL, BE and DE?
Rarely. Companies from another country won 2.4% of Dutch, 6.1% of Belgian and 2.3% of German awards in 2019–2023.
Why exclude EU institutions from the Belgian figures?
Because the European Commission, Parliament, Council and several agencies are based in Brussels and publish their contracts on TED under Belgium. Including them would add about €40bn and inflate the picture of the Belgian national market.
