Switzerland at a glance
| Federal law | BöB (Federal Act on Public Procurement, 2019, in force 1 January 2021) and its ordinance VöB |
| Cantons and municipalities | IVöB 2019, the intercantonal agreement: in force in 21 cantons, with others joining |
| Platform | simap.ch: every notice, document, Q&A and award, for all levels of government |
| Thresholds | Federal: CHF 230,000 for goods and services. Cantonal treaty area: CHF 350,000 |
| Foreign bidders | Covered where Switzerland has a treaty commitment (WTO GPA, EU, EFTA, UK, FTAs); coverage differs by level |
| Languages | German, French or Italian; English only where the notice allows it |
| Securities | Bid bonds not usual; works guarantees typically 3–5% |
| Appeals | 20 days, to the Federal Administrative Court or the cantonal administrative court |
The Confederation and the cantons revised their rules together, so federal and cantonal procurement now largely mirror each other. In French they’re the LMP/OMP/AIMP, in Italian the LAPub/OAPub/CIAP.
Who oversees what:
- The Federal Procurement Conference (BKB) sets federal practice and keeps the list of debarred suppliers.
- The Competition Commission (WEKO) polices market access and bid-rigging.
- The central federal administration placed CHF 6.68 billion in contracts in 2025.
Thresholds and procedures (2026–2027, excluding VAT)
The thresholds for 2026 and 2027 are unchanged from 2024–2025. The key question is whether a tender falls in the treaty area (Staatsvertragsbereich), covered by Switzerland’s international commitments; the notice must say so.
Federal buyers:
| Procedure | Goods and services | Works |
|---|---|---|
| Open or selective, treaty area | From CHF 230,000 | From CHF 8.7 million |
| Open or selective, outside the treaty area | From CHF 230,000 | From CHF 2 million |
| Invitation (at least 3 offers where possible) | From CHF 150,000 | From CHF 300,000 |
| Direct award | Under CHF 150,000 | Under CHF 300,000 |
Federal sector entities have higher thresholds: water, electricity, airports, ports and post from CHF 700,000 for goods and services, and rail and gas from CHF 640,000.
Cantons and municipalities:
| Procedure | Goods, services, ancillary construction | Main construction works |
|---|---|---|
| Treaty area (cantons, and municipalities where covered) | From CHF 350,000 | From CHF 8.7 million |
| Open or selective, outside the treaty area | From CHF 250,000 | From CHF 500,000 |
| Invitation | Under CHF 250,000 | Under CHF 500,000 |
| Direct award | Under CHF 150,000 | Under CHF 300,000 |
Minimum bid periods:
- Treaty area: 40 days for an open procedure. They can be shortened, for example by 5 days each for electronic notice, documents and submission, or to 10 days for urgency.
- Outside the treaty area: normally at least 20 days.
- Other tools: framework agreements of up to 5 years, dialogue, e-auctions and design contests. Price-haggling rounds after bids are opened are banned.
Who can bid
- The rule. Swiss companies can bid, and so can companies from countries to which Switzerland has a market-access commitment, within that commitment. SECO keeps the list on simap.ch.
- Coverage depends on who is buying:
| Your country | Federal and cantonal buyers | Municipalities |
|---|---|---|
| EU-27, EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway), UK | Covered | Covered |
| Armenia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Ukraine | Covered | Covered |
| USA, Japan, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Israel, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Taiwan, Aruba | Covered | Not covered |
| EFTA free-trade partners: Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Georgia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, the Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman) | Covered as listed | Varies by partner |
| Mexico | Central government and some sectors only | Not covered |
| Everyone else (including China and India) | Not covered | Not covered |
- Outside the treaty area, foreign companies are admitted only if their country grants reciprocity, or if the buyer chooses to let them in. SECO’s list of reciprocity countries currently reads “none”, so in practice the buyer decides.
- What buyers can’t require: prior Swiss public contracts as a qualification criterion. Suitability criteria must be objectively necessary.
- Consortia and subcontractors are allowed unless the notice limits them. Qualification lists can’t shut out a bidder who otherwise proves it’s suitable.
Labour, equal-pay and environmental rules
These decide more Swiss bids than foreign companies expect.
- Work in Switzerland:
- you must respect the working conditions at the place of performance: collective agreements (GAV), standard employment contracts (NAV), or customary local terms;
- you must also respect equal pay for women and men, and the reporting duties against undeclared work.
- Posted workers. Workers posted from abroad fall under the Posted Workers Act. EU/EFTA postings must be notified 8 days before work starts (up to 90 working days a year). In construction, cleaning, security, catering and some other sectors they must be notified from day one.
- Work abroad: you must respect at least the eight ILO core conventions, plus listed environmental conventions.
- The self-declaration. Bidders sign the BKB self-declaration on working conditions, safety and equal pay. Since 9 March 2026 it also covers payment of taxes and social contributions, and safe working conditions abroad (ILO 155 and 187).
- Subcontractors must meet the same requirements, and buyers can check compliance.
Registering and bidding on simap.ch, step by step
- Search notices on simap.ch; reading needs no login. Set up a saved search by CPV code or region.
- Create a personal account and confirm it by email.
- Create or join your company profile. New profiles are created with a Swiss company ID (UID) or a DUNS number. A foreign company without a UID should have a DUNS number ready.
- Register interest in the project, download the documents (free), and use the anonymous Q&A forum.
- Check the essentials:
- treaty area or not;
- whether your country is on SECO’s list for that type of buyer;
- the procedure language;
- suitability criteria and evidence;
- award criteria and weightings;
- bid validity.
- Challenge the notice now if you need to. Appeals against the notice and identifiable conditions in the documents must be filed within 20 days of publication, or the right is lost.
- Prepare your bid in an accepted language, priced in Swiss francs, with the signed self-declaration and the evidence requested. Typical evidence:
- a commercial-register extract;
- proof that taxes and social charges are paid;
- three years of accounts;
- references;
- quality certificates.
- Submit in the form the notice requires: online on simap where the buyer enables it, otherwise on paper, sometimes with quality and price in separate envelopes.
- After the award, request a debriefing if you lost. The 20-day appeal clock starts at notification.
Languages
- Federal works notices appear in at least two official languages, including the language of the site. Goods and services notices also appear in at least two official languages.
- Federal buyers must accept bids in German, French or Italian.
- English is possible where the notice allows it, mainly for work abroad or highly specialised technical work.
- Treaty-area tenders that aren’t published in English, French or Spanish must also publish a summary in one of those languages.
- Cantonal tenders use the canton’s language.
Securities and payment
- Bid bonds: Swiss law doesn’t require them, and they’re no longer usual. Your bid is binding for the stated validity period.
- Works: a performance guarantee or joint surety is normally 3–5% of the contract value (higher in justified high-risk cases), alongside retentions under the SIA 118 standard. Advance payments must be secured by an equal guarantee.
- Payment: under the federal general terms for services, payment is due within 30 days of a correct invoice. E-invoicing is mandatory for central federal contracts above CHF 5,000.
- Penalties: the federal terms set penalties for late delivery (capped at 10% of the fee) and for breaching labour, equal-pay or environmental duties (10% of the fee, at least CHF 3,000 and at most CHF 100,000 per contract).
- Law and courts: Swiss law applies, and disputes go to Bern for central federal contracts.
- Price audits: where competition is lacking and the contract is worth CHF 1 million or more, buyers can reserve the right to audit your cost calculations.
How bids are evaluated
- The standard: contracts go to the most advantageous tender. Criteria must relate to the performance. As well as price and quality, they can include life-cycle costs, sustainability, deadlines, innovation, after-sales service and plausibility.
- Federal buyers only may also weigh different price levels in the countries where the work is done, and the reliability of the price, within Switzerland’s international obligations.
- Weightings must be published, except where the buyer is buying solutions or approaches.
- Lowest price alone is allowed only for standardised goods or services.
- Unusually low bids must be queried, and can be excluded if the bidder can’t show it meets the conditions.
- No domestic price preference. Non-discrimination is written into the law. There’s no SME quota, but lots and consortia make access easier.
Challenging a decision
- Where to appeal:
- federal decisions go to the Federal Administrative Court, from CHF 150,000 for goods and services and from CHF 2 million for works;
- cantonal decisions go to the cantonal administrative court.
- Deadline: 20 days from notification, in writing with reasons. Court holidays don’t apply.
- What you can challenge: the notice, selection, exclusion, the award, cancellation, list decisions and sanctions. The court reviews legality, not whether the buyer’s choice was appropriate.
- No automatic suspension. Federal courts can grant suspension only for treaty-area contracts; cantonal courts can grant it more broadly.
- Limits outside the federal treaty area: an appeal can only establish that the law was broken; it can’t overturn the award.
- Foreign bidders outside the treaty area may appeal only if their country grants reciprocity.
- If the contract is already signed, damages are limited to bid-preparation costs.
- The Federal Supreme Court hears procurement cases only when they raise a legal question of fundamental importance.
What changed in 2025–2026
- 1 January 2025: buyers must set environmental and resource-saving specifications where suitable.
- 1 April 2025: a new exclusion ground for suppliers that fail to fix a security vulnerability in their hardware or software within the deadline set by the Federal Office for Cybersecurity.
- 1 January 2026: thresholds confirmed for 2026–2027, unchanged.
- February 2026: 21 cantons apply IVöB 2019. Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Obwalden and Geneva are joining, and Bern applies it as cantonal law.
- 9 March 2026: the self-declaration was extended to taxes and social contributions and to ILO 155/187.
- simap.ch: the new platform replaced the old one in 2024, adding online bid submission and consortium profiles.
Live Swiss tenders
See also how companies from outside the EU can bid for EU tenders and which countries can bid on which government tenders.
Questions
Can a foreign company bid for Swiss public tenders without a Swiss entity?
Yes, for tenders in the ‘treaty area’ if your country is on SECO’s list of market-access commitments for that type of buyer. EU, EFTA and UK companies are covered at every level, including municipalities. US, Japanese, Canadian, Korean and other GPA companies are covered for federal and cantonal buyers but not municipalities. Outside the treaty area you’re admitted only if the buyer allows it, because SECO currently lists no country granting reciprocity.
Do I have to bid in German for Swiss tenders?
No. Federal buyers must accept bids in German, French or Italian. English is possible only where the notice allows it, mainly for work done abroad or highly specialised technical work. Cantonal tenders use the canton’s language, so check the notice.
What are the Swiss procurement thresholds for 2026?
Federal buyers must use an open or selective procedure from CHF 230,000 for goods and services, and for works from CHF 8.7 million in the treaty area or CHF 2 million outside it. Cantons in the treaty area: CHF 350,000 for goods and services and CHF 8.7 million for works. Outside the treaty area, cantons go to open procedure from CHF 250,000, or CHF 500,000 for main construction works. All values exclude VAT.
Do Swiss tenders require a bid bond?
Usually not. Swiss law doesn’t require bid bonds, and the federal construction coordination body says they’re no longer usual. Works contracts may require a performance guarantee or surety, typically 3–5% of the contract value, alongside retentions under the SIA 118 standard. Check the tender documents.
Which Swiss labour rules apply to a foreign winner?
For work in Switzerland: the working conditions at the place of performance (collective agreements or customary local terms), equal pay for women and men, and the posted-workers rules, including notifying posted EU/EFTA workers 8 days before work starts (from day one in construction). For work abroad: at least the eight ILO core conventions. Subcontractors are bound too.
How do I challenge a Swiss tender decision?
Appeal within 20 days of notification, in writing with reasons; court holidays don’t extend it. Federal appeals go to the Federal Administrative Court, cantonal ones to the cantonal administrative court. An appeal doesn’t suspend the procedure automatically, and if the contract is already signed, damages are limited to your bid-preparation costs.
Sources
- Federal Act on Public Procurement (BöB), Fedlex
- Ordinance on Public Procurement (VöB), Fedlex
- Intercantonal Agreement on Public Procurement (IVöB 2019), BPUK
- simap.ch
- Federal Procurement Conference (BKB)
This guide explains the rules in plain English; it isn’t legal advice. Procurement rules change, and each tender document sets its own conditions — it always prevails.