This is the checklist behind a bid in France: every document and step a French tender asks for, in the order you meet them, with who may lawfully handle each one. How French procurement works overall, from thresholds and procedures to how bids are judged and paid, is in How to bid for public contracts in France; the platform-by-platform walkthrough is in How to respond to a French public tender, step by step.
Before you bid
1. Open an account on the platform that hosts the tender. State buyers use PLACE (marches-publics.gouv.fr); other buyers use their own profils d’acheteur, such as Maximilien, Megalis, achatpublic, marches-securises or AWS. The account is what lets you download the DCE, put questions to the buyer and deposit your response. From €60,000 HT, electronic deposit is compulsory in formal procedures, and many smaller tenders work the same way.
- Cost and time: free; open the same day.
- Valid: an account belongs to one platform. Nothing carries over, so you open one wherever you bid.
- Who does it: an adviser can register as their own user under your company’s identity once you have signed a written authorisation. Your part is that letter, and approving the new user if the platform asks the company administrator to.
- From abroad: pick your country and enter a national identifier (company registration number, DUNS or a local number) where a French firm would enter its SIREN or SIRET.
2. Have your company identity in order. A French company already has its SIREN and SIRET numbers from INSEE, assigned through the Guichet unique des formalités des entreprises run by INPI. The SIRET lets platforms pre-fill DUME data through public APIs and appears on your URSSAF and tax certificates. The Kbis, issued by the greffes, proves the company is registered and shows who can sign for it; buyers usually want one less than 3 months old. These records are public and can be retrieved for you. Formalities for a new French entity are filed on the Guichet unique by the legal representative or a mandated professional.
3. Get a qualified signature certificate in good time. You rarely sign anything at submission: the DUME and the DC1 and DC2 forms need no signature unless the buyer demands one. But every winner signs the acte d’engagement (ATTRI1), which becomes the contract, and some tender rules (the RC) require signing when you deposit. The signature must be advanced with a qualified certificate, or qualified, under eIDAS (XAdES, CAdES or PAdES).
- From: private qualified trust service providers, for a fee.
- Time: allow several days, so order it well before a deadline.
- Valid: 1–3 years, and issued to a natural person, not to the company.
- Who does it: the holder must be able to commit the company, or hold a délégation de pouvoir. You buy the certificate in your signatory’s name; nobody else ever holds it.
- From abroad: qualified certificates on an EU trusted list, or an eIDAS equivalent, are accepted.
With your bid
4. The candidature: DUME, or DC1 and DC2. Buyers must accept the electronic DUME. The alternative is the ministry’s forms: DC1, the letter of candidature, and DC2, the candidate’s declaration. Either way you declare on your honour that no exclusion ground applies and set out your capacities. It is free, prepared the same day and used for that one procedure. An adviser can fill it in; you confirm the sworn statements. An expert-comptable can supply the turnover figures for the financial-capacity part, bearing in mind that a buyer can’t demand turnover above 1.5× the contract value. There is no SME certificate in France: you declare SME status in the DUME or DC2.
5. A DC4 for each subcontractor. The DC4 presents a subcontractor to the buyer and sets up direct payment to it. You can file it with your offer or later, during performance, and the buyer’s silence for 21 days counts as acceptance. It’s free; it can be prepared for you, and you and the subcontractor sign it.
6. If you bid as a group or someone else signs.
- Groupement: a joint bid names a mandataire, often in the form conjoint avec mandataire solidaire, and the buyer can’t insist on a particular legal form at candidature stage. An avocat usually drafts the agreement and the mandate; each member’s empowered signatory signs. In a groupement, the mandataire files the DC1. Joining up with a French or EU firm is a common way in for foreign companies.
- Délégation de pouvoir: when the offer or acte d’engagement is signed by anyone other than the legal representative shown on the Kbis, the buyer can ask for proof of that authority. An avocat drafts the délégation the same day and your legal representative signs it; it lasts for whatever period it states.
7. Deposit electronically. Your response goes onto the profil d’acheteur before the deadline; a late one is eliminated. A backup copy (copie de sauvegarde) is optional and the buyer cannot make it compulsory. An adviser can deposit from their own account for your company, free of charge. If the RC requires a signature at submission, your empowered signatory applies it before the upload.
If you’re in line for award
Once the buyer has picked you, it asks for evidence and sets a deadline. Anything missing makes the bid irrecevable, and the buyer moves on to the next-ranked bidder.
| Document | Issued by | Who can get it for you | Cost, time and validity | What only you do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attestation de régularité fiscale (corporate or income tax, and VAT) | DGFiP, through your Service des impôts des entreprises | An expert-comptable with access to your professional tax space; otherwise form 3666-SD to the SIE | Free; immediate online for companies paying corporate tax; shows your position at the end of the previous month | Give the accountant access, or download it yourself |
| Attestation de vigilance | URSSAF | Your accountant or payroll provider, through its own delegated access | Free; usually an immediate download; valid 6 months | Keep contributions paid; grant the access |
| Kbis or home register extract | The greffes (abroad, your home register) | Retrieved from public records | Usually wanted less than 3 months old | — |
| List of foreign employees who need a work authorisation (Code du travail D8254-2) | Your company | Prepared from your HR data | Free; same day; renewed every 6 months, for contracts of €5,000 or more | Supply the data and confirm it |
| Exclusion-grounds evidence | Your honour declaration; register extracts | Assembled for you | Within the buyer’s deadline | Sign the declaration; request any extracts |
| Insurance certificates: décennale, RC professionnelle | An insurer authorised in France or the EEA | Your broker or insurer | Certificate renewed each year | Take out the policy |
The tax and URSSAF certificates exist so the buyer can confirm you’ve filed and paid; the attestation de vigilance carries a security code that buyers check online. Ten-year builder’s liability (assurance décennale) is compulsory for building trades, and the CCAP commonly requires professional liability cover (RC professionnelle) for services.
When the tender asks for them:
- Trade qualifications such as Qualibat (including RGE for energy-renovation work), Qualifelec or OPQIBI, used as technical-capacity evidence in works and engineering tenders. The qualification body audits your file and references; you apply. Buyers must accept equivalent proof.
- ISO certificates (9001, 14001, 45001, 27001) from a COFRAC- or EA-member-accredited body, after an audit you undergo.
- SecNumCloud, ANSSI’s qualification for cloud providers, which many State buyers require for hosting sensitive data. You go through the qualification with an approved evaluation centre; ANSSI publishes the list of qualified providers and those in qualification.
- French translations. Contracts are drafted in French and buyers can require French versions of the candidature and offer. Certified translations come from a traducteur expert judiciaire, listed by a cour d’appel or the Cour de cassation.
- Apostille. Foreign public documents used in France need an apostille from the state that issued them unless an exemption applies. For French documents going the other way, the 15 regional notaries’ centres apostille them for €5–€40 HT per act, in 24 hours or 3 working days.
Before the contract and the first invoice
Sign the acte d’engagement (ATTRI1). Your empowered signatory signs it with their qualified signature. Only your empowered signatory can do this; an adviser never holds the certificate.
Guarantees. A contract may withhold a retenue de garantie of up to 5%, which you can replace with a first-demand guarantee (garantie à première demande) or a personal surety; advance payments may also need a guarantee. A bank or insurer issues it in favour of the buyer, and you sign the facility. Banks and insurers from other EU countries can issue it too.
Renew the attestation de vigilance. For contracts of €5,000 HT or more, a fresh one is due every 6 months until the end of performance.
Chorus Pro. Invoices to public buyers go through Chorus Pro, including from suppliers outside France. Your company is set up there as a structure: with a SIRET, an intra-EU VAT number for EU firms, or country and name for others. It’s free and done the same day. A structure can have several users, so your accountant or adviser can work under their own user attached to it, once the structure’s main manager approves.
Foreign employers. A foreign company without a French establishment that employs staff under French social security declares and pays contributions through URSSAF’s Service Firmes étrangères; an accountant or payroll provider can handle it under mandate, and you sign the registration. Posted workers instead carry A1 forms, and the firm supplies home-country equivalents of the attestation de vigilance.
Who does what
| Step | Who can do it | What only you do |
|---|---|---|
| Platform accounts | An adviser, as their own user under your company | Sign the authorisation; approve users |
| SIRET and Kbis | Retrieved from public data | — |
| Qualified signature certificate | A qualified trust service provider | Buy it in your signatory’s name and sign |
| DUME or DC1/DC2, DC4 | Prepared for you | Confirm the sworn statements; sign the DC4 |
| Groupement, délégation de pouvoir | An avocat drafts | Sign |
| Electronic deposit | An adviser, from their own account | Sign first, if the RC requires it |
| Tax certificate and attestation de vigilance | An expert-comptable or payroll provider | Grant access; keep taxes and contributions paid |
| Insurance and guarantees | A broker, insurer or bank | Take out the policy; sign the facility |
| Qualifications, ISO, SecNumCloud | The qualification or certification body | Apply and undergo the audit |
| Acte d’engagement (ATTRI1) | — | Sign with your qualified signature |
| Chorus Pro | Your accountant or adviser, as a user of your structure | Approve the user as structure manager |
The professionals involved
| Professional | Licensed or regulated by | What they do for a bidder |
|---|---|---|
| Expert-comptable | Ordre des experts-comptables (Conseil national and regional councils) | Keeps your DGFiP and URSSAF filings current so the certificates can be issued; downloads them with your access; prepares turnover figures for the DUME or DC2 |
| Avocat | Conseil national des barreaux and the local bars | Advises on the RC, exclusion grounds, groupements and subcontracting; drafts délégations de pouvoir; handles the référé précontractuel and contract challenges |
| Notaire and the notaries’ apostille centres | Conseil supérieur du notariat; chambres des notaires | Authentic powers of attorney; apostille and legalisation of French public acts for use abroad |
| Traducteur expert judiciaire | Courts of appeal (expert lists) | Certified French translations of foreign register extracts, tax and social certificates and statutes |
| Certification and qualification bodies (Qualibat, Qualifelec, OPQIBI…) | COFRAC; the owner of each scheme | ISO 9001, 14001, 45001 and 27001 certification; trade qualifications used as technical-capacity evidence |
| Bank or insurer | ACPR | First-demand guarantees and personal sureties in place of the retenue de garantie; advance-payment guarantees; décennale and RC pro certificates |
| Consultant en marchés publics | Not regulated | Watches BOAMP, PLACE and TED; downloads DCEs; prepares the DUME or DC1, DC2 and DC4, the mémoire technique and price schedules; deposits from their own account when you have authorised it |
If your company is from abroad
You don’t need a French company or a SIRET number to bid; who may bid from abroad, and on what terms, is explained in How to bid for public contracts in France. For the paperwork:
Platforms take your home register number, and your home register extract replaces the Kbis; INSEE has issued no registration certificates since 1 January 2023. The DUME and DC forms are the same, with your capacities shown by home documents. In place of the French tax and URSSAF certificates you supply your home authorities’ equivalents, or a sworn statement before a competent authority where none exists, with a French translation. Your home register extract shows who represents the company, so translate it too. Foreign builders working in France need décennale cover valid for French works, and Chorus Pro takes your intra-EU VAT number, or your country and company name.
Pitfalls
- Never sign with someone else’s certificate. Certificates are personal to one natural person; your empowered signatory, or the holder of a délégation de pouvoir, signs.
- Read the RC before you deposit. Usually no signature is needed at submission, but some buyers do require one, and the RC is where that is written.
- Keep the attestation de vigilance alive. It lasts 6 months and must be renewed throughout performance on contracts of €5,000 HT or more.
- Treat every platform separately. An account on PLACE does nothing for you on Maximilien or Megalis.
- Have the winner’s pack ready before you’re selected. The buyer sets the deadline, and a missing certificate passes the award to the next bidder.
- Legal advice comes from an avocat. Legal consultation for others is largely reserved to avocats and certain regulated professions: a bid consultant can’t give you legal opinions, and an expert-comptable can do so only as an accessory to accounting work.
- An avocat can’t act for competing bidders in the same procedure.
Doing it with askTender
In France, your askTender Partner is added as a named user on your company’s account on PLACE and the buyers’ platforms and works under their own login; askTender confirms this with the portal before your first bid. You keep your own login and sign what only you can sign: the authorisation, your sworn statements, any signature the RC demands and the acte d’engagement with your own qualified certificate. The askTender Desk prepares the DUME or DC forms and the offer, assembles the bid and coordinates the certificates; askTender Partners, such as an expert-comptable, an avocat or a traducteur expert judiciaire, do the steps their licence covers.
Questions
Which documents do I file with a bid in France?
Your candidature, either the electronic DUME or the DC1 and DC2 forms, in which you declare on your honour that no exclusion ground applies and describe your capacities, plus your offer and, if you use subcontractors, a DC4 for each one. Certificates are asked later, and only from the bidder the buyer selects.
What does the selected bidder have to deliver?
An attestation de régularité fiscale from the tax office, the URSSAF attestation de vigilance and a register extract (Kbis for a French company), plus anything else the buyer asked for, all within the buyer’s deadline. If they’re missing, the bid is irrecevable and the buyer turns to the next-ranked bidder.
How long is the attestation de vigilance valid?
6 months. It is required when a contract of €5,000 HT or more is concluded, and again every 6 months until the work is finished. Buyers check its security code online, and it is usually downloaded immediately from your URSSAF online space.
Can my accountant get the tax and URSSAF certificates for me?
Yes. An expert-comptable you have given access to your professional tax space and your URSSAF space as your mandated firm can download both. Without that access, you download them yourself; the tax certificate can also be requested from your tax office with form 3666-SD.
Can someone else sign the acte d’engagement with my company’s certificate?
No. A qualified signature certificate is issued to a natural person, not to the company, and only the person who can commit the company, or who holds a délégation de pouvoir, signs with it. Advisers prepare and upload; they never sign with your certificate.
Do I need a Kbis or a SIRET as a foreign company?
No. You use your home register number on the platforms and your home register extract as evidence. Chorus Pro takes an intra-EU VAT number, or your country and company name if you’re outside the EU.
Sources
- PLACE (marches-publics.gouv.fr): terms of use for companies
- Service-Public Entreprendre: the candidature file (DUME, DC1, DC2)
- Service-Public Entreprendre: signing and submitting a bid electronically
- Service-Public Entreprendre: subcontracting (DC4) and groupements
- Service-Public Entreprendre: certificates asked from the selected bidder
- Service-Public Entreprendre: SIREN, SIRET and the Kbis extract
- URSSAF: the attestation de vigilance
- URSSAF: Service Firmes étrangères
- Service-Public Entreprendre: construction insurance and guarantees
- Qualibat: trade qualifications for building firms
- ANSSI: SecNumCloud providers, qualified and in qualification
- Service-Public: apostille and legalisation of French documents
- Chorus Pro: managing structures and users
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.