How to bid for public contracts in France.

French public procurement in one paragraph

All French public contracts follow the Code de la commande publique (CCP), in force since 1 April 2019. It brings the EU procurement directives into French law and adds French rules on top. Above the EU thresholds, buyers run a formal procedure and publish on TED. Below them, most use a simpler procédure adaptée (MAPA). Small contracts can be awarded without any competition at all. The State, local authorities and public hospitals all buy this way, and so do public enterprises such as SNCF and EDF under the utilities rules.

Where French tenders are published

There is no single bidding portal yet. The notice tells you which buyer profile hosts the tender. Typically, French tenders give 33 days from publication to deadline.

The thresholds in 2026

EU thresholds (from 1 January 2026, excluding VAT). Above these, a formal procedure and TED publication are mandatory:

French rules below them:

The no-competition limits rose in 2026: works from €40,000 to €100,000 on 1 January, and supplies and services to €60,000 on 1 April. Small contracts below them are found by being known to the buyer, not by searching notices.

How contracts are procured

• Procédure adaptée (MAPA): below the EU thresholds, and for social and specific services at any value. The buyer designs the process and can negotiate. Just over half (54%) of contracts of €40,000 or more are MAPAs.
• Appel d’offres ouvert (open tender): anyone can bid. A third of contracts. The minimum time to bid is 35 days, or 30 days when bids can be submitted electronically, which is now the norm.
• Appel d’offres restreint (restricted tender): candidates apply first, at least 30 days, and those selected then bid, usually at least 30 days, or 25 electronically.
• Procédure avec négociation and dialogue compétitif: for complex needs, where the solution isn’t known in advance.
• Accords-cadres (framework agreements): up to 4 years, or 8 for utilities. They make up 41% of French contracts by number and 74% by value, so getting onto a framework often matters more than winning a single tender.

What you submit

Your application. Buyers must accept the DUME, France’s version of the European Single Procurement Document, at any value. Many still use the French forms DC1 (application letter) and DC2 (candidate’s declaration). You declare that you don’t fall under the exclusion grounds and show you have the capacity: turnover, references, staff and equipment. Since January 2026, a buyer can’t ask for annual turnover of more than 1.5 times the contract value (it was twice). You don’t have to resend documents the buyer can get free from a government database or a digital safe.

Documents from the winner. Before signing, the winning bidder provides proof that taxes and social contributions are paid up (the URSSAF attestation de vigilance, renewed every six months, and a tax certificate) and a company registration extract (Kbis). Foreign firms provide the equivalents from their own country, or a sworn statement where none exists.

Language. Contracts with French public bodies are drafted in French, and buyers can require French translations of both your application and your bid. Plan to bid in French unless the documents say otherwise.

Electronic bidding and signature. From €60,000, when a notice is published, bids go in electronically through the buyer profile. You usually don’t need to sign when you submit; the winner signs the contract. When a signature is required, it must be an advanced electronic signature with a qualified certificate, or a qualified signature.

How bids are assessed

Contracts go to the offre économiquement la plus avantageuse: the most economically advantageous tender, judged on price and quality criteria with weightings published in advance. Since 2026, variants (alternative solutions) are allowed by default unless the buyer excludes them.

On formal procedures, losing bidders are told why, and the contract can’t be signed for 11 days after the rejection notice is sent electronically (16 days otherwise). During that standstill you can bring an urgent challenge, the référé précontractuel, before the administrative court. After signature, any bidder harmed by the award can still challenge the contract within two months of its publication.

Getting paid

• Payment deadlines: 30 days for the State and local authorities, 50 days for public hospitals, 60 days for public enterprises. Late payment automatically earns interest at the ECB’s main rate plus 8 points, plus a €40 fee.
• Advance payment (avance): mandatory when a contract is over €50,000 and lasts more than two months, normally between 5% and 30% of the value. For SMEs it is at least 30% on State contracts, and at least 10% with large local authorities and State bodies.
• Retention: buyers may hold back up to 5% as a guarantee, but large public buyers can hold back no more than 3% from SMEs since 2025.
• Invoicing: every invoice to a public buyer goes through Chorus Pro, the State’s e-invoicing portal. Foreign suppliers register with their EU VAT number or a non-EU identifier; no French company number is needed.

Bidding from outside France, including from India

From the EU or EEA, you have exactly the same rights as a French firm.

From outside the EU, it depends on your country:

1. WTO Government Procurement Agreement countries, such as the US, the UK, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Switzerland, have guaranteed access to the contracts the agreement covers.
2. Other countries have no guaranteed access. In the Kolin judgment of 22 October 2024, the EU Court of Justice ruled that firms from countries without a procurement agreement with the EU can’t rely on EU rules to demand equal treatment. The buyer may admit them or exclude them.
3. India is in the second group. It is an observer to the WTO agreement, not a party. The EU–India free trade agreement concluded on 27 January 2026 has no government procurement chapter, and it isn’t yet signed or in force. So it gives Indian companies no new rights to French tenders, and EU companies none to Indian ones.

Two EU-wide rules also apply to foreign bidders:

• Foreign subsidies: on contracts worth €250 million or more, bidders must declare financial support from non-EU governments of €4 million or more per country over three years.
• The International Procurement Instrument currently restricts only one case: Chinese bidders for medical devices tenders of €5 million or more, from June 2025.

In practice, for an Indian company:

• Bid in French, with your home-country certificates and their French translations.
• Team up. A joint bid (groupement) with a French or EU firm, or a role as a declared subcontractor (form DC4), adds local references and makes it much less likely the buyer will use its discretion to exclude you.
• Start with tenders open to everyone. MAPAs and smaller contracts rarely face the question at all, and a first French reference makes the next bid easier.

What changed in 2025–2026

• 1 January 2025: SME retention capped at 3% with large buyers. The share of design-and-build and performance contracts that must go to SMEs rose from 10% to 20%.
• 1 January 2026: new, slightly lower EU thresholds. Works can be awarded without competition up to €100,000. Turnover demands capped at 1.5× the contract value. A buyer can turn to the runner-up if the winner can’t perform.
• 1 April 2026: the no-competition limit for supplies and services rose to €60,000, and so did the threshold for mandatory electronic tendering.
• 26 May 2026: the economic simplification law made PLACE mandatory for State and hospital buyers by 2030, allowed variants by default, and let buyers reserve lots for young innovative companies.
• Coming: the EU proposed a single Public Procurement Act on 9 September 2026, to replace the three procurement directives with one regulation. It is a proposal, not yet law.

France tenders closing soon

Open now, closing soonest first.

See every open tender in France

Questions

Sources

• DAJ: publication of two decrees on public procurement (décrets 2025-1383 and 2025-1386, 30 December 2025)
• DAJ: new European thresholds from 1 January 2026
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152: thresholds for Directive 2014/24
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2487: thresholds for defence and security contracts
• DAJ: essential-data (DECP) declaration thresholds kept at €40,000 and €25,000
• DAJ: the European Single Procurement Document (DUME)
• DAJ: eForms publication forms from 25 October 2023
• CNCP / OECP: economic census of public procurement (figures for 2024)
• Chorus Pro: managing structures (registration for non-French suppliers)
• Court of Justice of the EU: Kolin, C-652/22 (22 October 2024)
• European Commission: EU–India agreements, text of the agreements
• Banque des Territoires: what the 2026 economic simplification law changes in public procurement

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.