Public procurement in South-eastern Europe

All EU markets

This guide compares procurement routes in Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria. Read it alongside the current notice and national legislation. The common EU framework leaves important differences in domestic procedures, electronic submission and remedies.

• Greece
• Slovenia
• Croatia
• Romania
• Bulgaria

Greece

Greece’s electronic procurement arrangements distinguish the ESIDIS systems for supplies and services from the public works subsystem. Official manuals address requests to participate, single-envelope processes, price-only and price-quality evaluation, negotiated procedures and competitive dialogue. KIMDIS serves a separate public-contract registration function.

A bidder should identify the correct subsystem, registration route and document stages before planning submission. Technical and financial parts must follow the specific electronic structure. A notice in a public register is not proof that an offer has been lodged in the submission system. Retain the actual submission confirmation and the documents it relates to.

Official Greece guidance and legislation →

Slovenia

Slovenia’s procurement framework is based on ZJN-3, with a separate defence and security law. It includes a low-value contract procedure alongside the standard routes. Procurement oversight and remedies involve the National Review Commission, an independent body dealing with the legality of award procedures.

For a low-value competition, establish whether negotiations are announced and what declarations are required. Do not assume that a historic English translation contains the latest value limits. A foreign supplier should check the operative Slovenian provisions, electronic instructions and the precise decision it wishes to challenge before choosing its remedy.

Official Slovenia guidance and legislation →

Croatia

Croatia distinguishes simple procurement from the statutory public procurement procedures. The official portal lists amendments to the Public Procurement Act in 2026 and a new 2026 ordinance on procurement documents and tenders. The electronic procurement system supports documents, clarifications, offers, award decisions and electronic appeals.

For a small purchase, examine the buyer’s simple-procurement rules rather than applying a statutory tender checklist automatically. For a formal tender, use the current documentation requirements and distinguish a clarification request from an appeal. The electronic system provides several functions, and using the wrong one may not achieve the intended procedural effect.

Official Croatia guidance and legislation →

Romania

Romania’s Law 98/2016 provides a simplified procedure for qualifying below-threshold contracts, distinct from direct purchasing. Article 113 permits a single stage or a multi-stage process involving selection, negotiation and evaluation. The simplified notice and accompanying documentation are published in SEAP.

A supplier should establish whether negotiation is expressly included and which qualification criteria are required. Direct purchases can still carry quotation or publication duties depending on value; they are not interchangeable with the simplified competitive procedure. Evaluate the current national-currency limits and contract category before deciding which route governs the opportunity.

Official Romania guidance and legislation →

Bulgaria

Bulgaria’s Public Procurement Act and implementing rules operate alongside the central electronic procurement system, CAIS EOP. The procurement agency provides specific instructions for multi-stage procedures, invitations to selected operators and dynamic purchasing systems. Its 2026 guidance also addresses procedures originally opened in leva and subsequent electronic processing.

For a cross-border offer, verify the currency and pricing instructions in the individual procedure, particularly where it spans a currency transition. Check which documents belong to the participation stage and which belong to the tender stage. Use the current Bulgarian legislation for live deadlines and value limits rather than an older English translation of the implementing rules.

Official Bulgaria guidance and legislation →

Cross-border tender preparation

Begin with a bid/no-bid review covering the actual performance location, language, licences, staffing, insurance and delivery obligations. Map German corporate and qualification evidence to the documents requested abroad. An ESPD can simplify initial declarations where applicable, but does not eliminate the need to produce supporting evidence at the required stage.

For a consortium, settle who submits, who signs and which member performs each part. Record reliance on another entity separately from ordinary subcontracting. A commercially sensible partnership is not enough if the tender does not demonstrate that the promised resources will be available.

If the process becomes contentious

Identify the challenged act, when it was communicated, the planned contract date and the relevant national remedy. Do not carry German ten- or fifteen-day rules into another legal system. A request for clarification, an administrative complaint and a formal review application can have different effects. Local procedural advice should be arranged while the award can still be prevented, where that is the objective.

Three practical checks

• A supplier finds a notice on TED: open the national procurement documents and test the submission system before investing in the bid.
• An authority requests a local certificate: establish whether equivalent home-state evidence is accepted and raise any unjustified restriction in time.
• A bidder loses on quality: compare the actual reasons with the published scoring model and preserve the evaluation-related correspondence.

Editorial review: 12 November 2026. These are comparative entry guides; the controlling national text and tender documents determine the individual procedure.