Public Procurement

The sorry state of the Tenders Electronic Daily

Pedro Telles

04 Jun 2015 — 1 min read

I have never been a huge fan of the Tenders Electronic Daily. I like the idea do not get me wrong, but the implementation has always puzzled me. It looks, feels and acts like a relic from the late 90s, particularly in comparison with more modern alternatives like ContractsFinder.

The list of idiosyncrasies is long but I want to focus on three.

1. Why do I need to register to do an archive search? Having said this, they do make available CSV data files...if you know how and where to ask. Oh, and it is easier to search the same datasets via third party tools like SpendNetwork.

2. Why do the same search parameters lead to different results every time I run it? It has happened to me and other colleagues, although I would not discount that someone may have changed classifications on the backend between searches (ie, correcting manual errors).

3. Directive 2014/24/EU is over a year old. It has been fully or partially transposed in at least 2 Member States. However, if I want to do a search based on the new procedures, these are the options I have:

Can someone explain to me why I cannot search for the competitive procedure with negotiation or the innovation partnership? (Not that is easy to do that on ContractsFinder mind you...)

I used to regard TED as the gold standard in terms of making procurement data available and ease of use. Not anymore. Times change TED, and you should do too.

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