A

Award notice

Advertisement published in the Supplement to the Official Journal (OJ S) of the European Union to inform interested parties that a contract has been awarded or is to be awarded.

B

Buyer profile

Part of the web page of the contracting authority, where information concerning its procurement is published.

C

Call for tenders

A public procurement procedure (regardless of the type of the procedure).

Candidate

Any economic operator who submits a request to participate in a two-step procedure.

CoCo 

This is an additional coordinator contact within an economic operator's organisation. This role is given per procedure. That person is involved in the exchange of information between the consortium or his or her organisation (as sole tenderer) and the contracting authority, for a particular submission or invitation related to a call for tenders. See details here.

Contract

Generic term that may refer to any type of contract and includes both public contract and concession contract.

Contract notice

Advertisement launching the procurement procedure published in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union.

Contracting authority

Public body launching a procurement procedure.

D

Direct contract

Contract containing all the details necessary to implement it (as opposed to framework contract).

E

Economic operator

Any natural or legal person, including a public entity or group thereof, that offers supplies, services or works on the market.

F

Framework contract (FWC)

Contract establishing the general outline of the services or supplies to be delivered and requiring an additional step to make the actual purchase.

I

Invitation to tender

Letter giving the necessary details for tender submission. It is part of the procurement documents.

O

Order form

Simplified form of specific contract used under a framework contract.

P

PCoCo

Primary coordinator contact. The PCoCo is a user role within an economic operator's organisation, who is nominated, for each procedure, as the main contact point between the consortium or the organisation (as sole tenderer) and the contracting authority, for a particular submission or invitation related to a call for tenders. This is the person you designate as contact person when drafting your submission. See details here.

Prior information notice

Optional advertisement in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union, announcing the intention of launching the procurement procedure in the near future.

Procurement documents

Set of documents presented by the contracting authority to economic operators, to enable them to submit tenders (includes the notice, tender specifications, draft contract and invitation to tender).

Public contract

Type of contract used when purchasing services, supplies or works (as opposed to concession contract).

Purchase order

Simplified form of direct contract, used for simple purchases of low value.

R

Request to participate

The first step in two-step procurement procedures.

S

Specific contract

Contract specifying details of a particular purchase, based on a framework contract.

Submission receipt

A digitally signed document, in PDF format, automatically generated by the system after the good reception of a tender. It lists all the documents received and the exact date and time of reception of the tender. It constitutes a legal proof of tender submission and reception. Both the economic operator submitting the tender and the contracting authority receiving it have access to this document.

Submission report

A document in PDF format, automatically generated by the system, which lists all the documents that will be included in the tender. 

T

Technical specifications

Document describing the subject of the procurement (part of the tender specifications).

Tender

Offer, bid. Sometimes incorrectly used as public procurement procedure.

Tender specifications

Document, or set of documents, giving full details on the subject matter, conditions and organisation of the procurement procedure (includes technical specifications and criteria).

Tenderer

An economic operator who has submitted a tender.