Every step to bid in Greece.

This guide is the checklist behind a Greek bid: every document and step, in the order a tender asks for them, with who can lawfully do each one. For how Greek procurement works overall (thresholds, procedures, who may bid, how bids are assessed, payment and appeals), see How to bid for public tenders in Greece.

Before you bid

1. Your company’s account on ESIDIS. The e-tendering system is mandatory for procedures above €30,000 and runs on the Promitheus portal. Registering is free: the operating rules state no fee. Credentials and access rights come from the ESIDIS Administrator at the General Secretariat of Commerce.

• How you identify: a Greek company signs in with its own GSIS (TAXISnet) credentials; an EU company without a Greek VAT number fills in an online form and its VAT number is checked in VIES, or uses an eIDAS eID; any other company sends the Administrator a digitally signed declaration in Greek or English, or a translated registry certificate showing its tax number.
• Who does it: your representative authenticates with the company’s own credentials or eIDAS, or signs the declaration. For a non-EU company, the declaration or registry certificate can be prepared for you.
• More users: everyone who works on your bids, such as the person preparing them, is a certified user of your company with their own access rights, which you request from the Administrator.

2. A signature backed by a qualified certificate. The electronic bid folder, any participation request and the PDFs that ESIDIS generates are signed at least with an advanced electronic signature supported by a qualified certificate, from a provider on the EU trusted lists. It costs the market price, takes days to obtain and lasts as long as the certificate.

• Who does it: your legal representative, or an authorised person such as a lawyer acting under a power of attorney, each with their own certificate.
• From abroad: any EU qualified certificate works. The operating rules give non-EU bidders no separate alternative, so check the notice.

3. Following KIMDIS. Notices, direct-award invitations (open for at least 5 days) and decisions appear on KIMDIS, the Central Electronic Registry of Public Contracts, and a challenge to a notice runs from the day it is published there. Following it is free and can be done for you.

4. Greek translations and the apostille, for a foreign company. Bid documents are in Greek or carry an official Greek translation. Foreign public documents need an apostille, or an e-apostille if they are electronic. Paper apostilled originals have to reach the buyer before bid opening, unless a lawyer has certified copies of them.

• Who does it: the Translation Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or a Greek lawyer translates; a lawyer certifies the copies, so the originals stay with you; your home-country authority issues the apostille. You provide the originals.
• Cost and time: market price; days.

With your bid

5. The ESPD (ΕΕΕΣ). Your self-declaration, which stands in for evidence when you bid. It is free and serves that one procedure. Since October 2025, evidence is presumed valid as of the date the ESPD is signed.

• Who does it: it can be completed for you; your legal representative or authorised person signs it with their own qualified certificate.

6. Solemn declarations (Υπεύθυνη Δήλωση, Law 1599/1986), when the tender asks for them. Standard statements, for example on your representatives, on no changes or on commitments you make. They are issued digitally on gov.gr with the declarant’s own credentials, or signed with a qualified signature. Free; the same day; each is valid for the use it is made for.

• Who does it: the wording can be drafted for you; the declarant issues or signs it personally.
• From abroad: your representatives sign with a qualified signature, or make a sworn declaration before a notary or authority in their own country.

7. Proof of authorisation, if the signer isn’t the legal representative shown in GEMI. Either a digital authorisation (εξουσιοδότηση) issued on gov.gr, ready the same day, or a notarial power of attorney (πληρεξούσιο), which takes days. Its validity follows the scope it grants.

• Who does it: a lawyer drafts it; your legal representative grants it on gov.gr with their own credentials or before a notary; the authorised person, a lawyer for example, then signs the bid with their own qualified certificate.
• From abroad: a foreign notarial power of attorney, apostilled, with a Greek translation.

8. Consortium documents, for a joint bid. Groups may bid together; the members are jointly liable and each one files an ESPD. A lawyer drafts the documents, which hold for the contract, and every member signs with its own qualified certificate.

9. The participation guarantee (εγγυητική επιστολή συμμετοχής), when the tender requires it. Up to 2% of the estimated value, from a bank, financial institution or insurer operating in the EU, the EEA or a GPA state, from ΤΜΕΔΕ (the Engineers’ and Public Works Contractors’ Fund) or from the Deposits and Loans Fund. The issuer charges its market commission and needs days; the guarantee is valid as the tender sets.

• Prefer an e-guarantee. A paper original goes in a sealed envelope and must reach the buyer before bid opening, or the bid is rejected.
• Who does it: the issuer; you sign the facility.

10. Submitting on ESIDIS. You upload separate sub-folders, one for participation and technical documents and one for the financial offer, and sign them together with the PDF the system generates. The bid’s status then changes from “Draft” to “Active” and you receive an email confirmation. Unless the documents say otherwise, the deadline ends at 23:59:59, and until then you can withdraw the bid and submit it again. Submission is free.

• Who does it: the folders can be prepared for you; a certified user of your company uploads them; your signatory signs with their own qualified certificate.

If you become the provisional winner

The buyer invites you to upload the award documents (δικαιολογητικά κατακύρωσης) through ESIDIS by a deadline set in the invitation. Your certified user uploads them and your signatory signs.

Keep the tax and social-security clearances current after award: they are needed again for every payment.

Before the contract and the first invoice

The performance guarantee (εγγυητική επιστολή καλής εκτέλεσης). Required on every contract: 4% of the contract value excluding options for supplies and services, 5% for works and studies. It comes from the same issuers as the participation guarantee, for the market commission, within days, and covers the contract. An advance payment needs a guarantee of the same amount, and a warranty guarantee can be up to 5%. You sign the facility. After the standstill you lodge it, and your legal representative or authorised person signs the contract.

A Greek tax number (ΑΦΜ). You don’t need one to register on ESIDIS or to bid, but it is generally needed at contract and payment stage.

Electronic invoicing. Contracts are invoiced electronically (B2G e-invoicing); an accountant issues the e-invoices and provides the clearances each payment requires.

The ESIDIS levy. 0.02% is withheld from every payment on contracts within ESIDIS’s scope, so build it into your price.

Who does what

The professionals involved

If your company is from abroad

You don’t need a Greek company or a Greek tax number (ΑΦΜ) to register on ESIDIS and bid, though an ΑΦΜ is generally needed at contract and payment stage; who may bid from abroad, and on what terms, is explained in How to bid for public tenders in Greece. For the paperwork:

• ESIDIS: an EU company uses its VAT number, checked in VIES, or eIDAS; a non-EU company sends the Administrator a signed declaration in Greek or English, or a translated registry certificate showing its tax number.
• Company record: your home trade-register certificate, apostilled, with a Greek translation, instead of the GEMI certificates; a lawyer’s translation and certification is accepted.
• Tax: a home-state certificate or a sworn declaration. Once you have an ΑΦΜ, Greek tax clearance is needed for payments.
• Social security: the home-state equivalent; workers posted to Greece need an A1.
• Criminal records: your home-state record, apostilled and translated, or a sworn declaration where none is issued.
• Solemn declarations: signed with a qualified signature, or sworn before a notary or authority in your country.
• Power of attorney: a foreign notarial one, apostilled, with a Greek translation.
• Financial and experience evidence: translated into Greek.
• Guarantees: the issuer must operate in an EU, EEA or GPA state.

Pitfalls

• Never hand over your TAXISnet/GSIS credentials, your gov.gr login or your signature. Anyone else who works on ESIDIS for you does it as a certified user with their own access rights.
• Prove the signer’s authority. If the person signing isn’t the legal representative shown in GEMI, attach the authorisation to the bid.
• A paper guarantee that arrives after opening sinks the bid. Ask for an e-guarantee from an EU, EEA or GPA issuer, ΤΜΕΔΕ or the Deposits and Loans Fund.
• Use lawyer-certified copies of apostilled foreign documents, so no paper originals have to travel.
• Count the days. A pre-judicial appeal to EADISY has a 10-day window, and a contract signed during the standstill is null.
• Price in the 0.02% ESIDIS levy.
• One lawyer can’t act for two competing bidders in the same procedure.

Doing it with askTender

In Greece, your askTender Partner is added as a named user on your company’s account on ESIDIS and works under their own login (askTender confirms this with the portal before your first bid). You keep your own login, and sign only what the law reserves to you: the registration with your company’s own credentials, the authorisation of anyone who signs for you, the guarantee facilities and, unless an authorised person signs, the ESPD and the bid folders. Your representatives obtain their own criminal records. The askTender Desk prepares the ESPD, the declarations and the bid folders and coordinates the certificates; askTender Partners, such as a lawyer, a notary or an accountant, do the steps their licence covers.

Questions

Sources

• ESIDIS operating rules, decision 78072/8-10-2025 (taxheaven.gr)
• ESIDIS operating rules, decision 64233/2021 (taxheaven.gr)
• Law 4412/2016, art. 92: documents submitted with the bid (taxheaven.gr)
• Law 4412/2016, art. 72: guarantees (taxheaven.gr)
• Law 4412/2016, art. 25: economic operators and groups (taxheaven.gr)
• Law 4412/2016, art. 36: ESIDIS and KIMDIS (taxheaven.gr)
• Law 4412/2016, art. 363: the fee for a pre-judicial appeal (taxheaven.gr)
• Law 5218/2025, art. 15: the ESPD and award evidence (taxheaven.gr)

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.