Hand over the response to a public contract and exchange with the public buyer

Verified 01 April 2026 - Entreprendre Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

All exchanges between the public purchaser and the applicant company must be dematerialized where the amount of the public contract is equal to or greater than €60,000 HT. The applicant company must submit its response to the public procurement on a platform called profile of buyers. Where the amount of the contract is less than €60,000 HT, the use of the buyer profile is not mandatory.

The candidate's response to a public contract shall consist of a tender dossier and an offer.

This response must be transmitted in a dematerialized where the public contract is for an amount equal to or greater than €60,000 HT. Below this amount, the buyer defines the means of transmission.

The method of transmission of the response depends on the amount of the contract:

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Market less than 40 000 € HT

The dematerialization of the procedure is not not required. This means that the public purchaser is not obliged to use a buyer profile to receive applications and offers.

In the case of a contract of less than €60,000 HT, the buyer defines the means of transmission of the response. It may decide to use a dedicated mailbox with the sending of an acknowledgement of receipt indicating the date and time of receipt. It also has the possibility to choose to go through its buyer profile to facilitate the management and traceability of exchanges.

Where the buyer has not provided for anything, the applicant company is free to use the format of its choice.

Please note

Dematerialization is not mandatory for defense or security contracts, regardless of the amount.

Market equal to or greater than 40 000 € HT

The offer is mandatory transmitted in dematerialized.

As a result, the use of email to transmit an offer is not possible. You have to go through the buyer profile. It is a dematerialization platform enabling buyers to make the consultation documents available to economic operators electronically and to receive the documents submitted by candidates. Only the buyer's profile meets the requirements of confidentiality and optimal security.

All documents must be submitted on the buyer profile except models, scale models, prototypes and samples that cannot be dematerialized.

Please note

Replies sent in paper format are inadmissible.

Current exchanges (requests for information or questions/answers) between theeconomic operator and the public purchaser during the procurement procedure can be realized using the buyer profile. This platform also ensures the security, confidentiality, integrity and traceability of exchanges.

If the buyer does not pass through a buyer profile, exchanges of information can pass through a dedicated mailbox.

The deadline for submitting the application and the tender varies according to the type of contract.

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Adapted procedure contract (Mapa)

In a Mapa, the public purchaser shall determine freely the time limit for receipt of applications and tenders.

However, this time limit must be reasonable and sufficient to enable interested companies to prepare their applications and offers properly.

The public purchaser shall take into account a number of factors in setting the time limit:

  • Subject matter of the proposed contract
  • Amount
  • Urgency to conclude the contract
  • Nature of services
  • Need for an on-site visit
  • Importance of documents required of candidates

Too short a time frame could benefit the outgoing candidate.

Formalized procedure

Deadlines differ depending on whether the contract is awarded through open tendering, restricted tendering or through negotiation or competitive dialog.

Open tender

The call for tenders is open when a candidate submits his application (Dume: titleContent or forms DC1, DC2, DC4) and a offer (response to the need expressed by the public purchaser) at same time.

The candidate must submit his/her application within the following deadlines:

  • 35 days from the date of dispatch of thecontract notice in case of deposit by post.
    This period may be reduced to 15 days if the public purchaser has published a pre-information notice or a periodic indicative notice which has not been used as a call for competition notice.
  • 30 days from the sending of the contract notice if applications and tenders are sent electronically
  • 15 days in case of emergency

FYI  

In practice, the 35-day period is no longer used because it concerns sending by post only. Applications and tenders must now be sent electronically.

Restricted RFP

Restricted tendering is a public procurement procedure in which the consultation takes place in 2 distinct phases :

  • Application phase on: contracting authority publish a notice and any company may apply. Only companies that meet the required technical, financial and professional capabilities are pre-selected and eligible to submit a bid.
  • Offer Phase : only companies selected in the first phase are invited to submit a full offer. They have access to consultation documents (WFD) and can offer their solution and prices.

During the application phase, the applicant company must submit its application (Dume: titleContent or forms DC1, DC2, DC4) within the following deadlines:

  • Where the public purchaser is a contracting authority : 30 days from the date of sending thecontract notice or the invitation to confirm interest. In case of urgency, the contracting authority may reduce this time limit for receipt of applications but it must be at least 15 days.
  • Where the public purchaser is a procuring entity : 15 days from the date of dispatch of the contract notice or the invitation to confirm interest.

During the offer phase, the pre-selected applicant company must submit its tender within the following deadlines:

  • Where the public purchaser is a contracting authority : 30 days from the date of dispatchinvitation to tender. This period may be reduced to 10 days if the buyer publishes a pre-information noticewhich has not been used as a notice of call for competition.
    The contracting authority may reduce this minimum period to 25 days if tenders are or can be submitted electronically.
    In case of emergency, this period may be set at 10 days from the date of dispatch of theinvitation to tender.
  • Where the public purchaser is a procuring entity : it may fix the deadline for the receipt of tenders by mutual agreement with the selected candidates, provided that this date is the same for all. In the event of no agreement, it shall set a time limit which shall not be less than 10 days from the date of dispatch of the invitation to tender.
Procedure with negotiation

The procedure with negotiation allows, after a selection phase, negotiations between the public purchaser and the candidates.

  • The minimum time limit for filing applications for the company is 30 days from the date of dispatch of thecontract notice by the contracting authority. When a emergency situation makes this minimum time impossible to meet, it can be reduced to 15 days. The minimum period of submission of tenders shall also be 25 days in the case of transmission by electronic means.
  • The minimum time limit for filing applications is of 15 days for the contracting entitiesfrom the date of dispatch of the contract notice. For the reception of offers, the deadline may be set by mutual agreement with the selected candidates, provided that the deadline is the same for all.
Competitive dialog

Competitive dialog is a procedure whereby the public purchaser dialogs with the candidates admitted to participate in this procedure to define or develop solutions that meet the needs of the purchasers and on the basis of which these candidates are invited to submit an offer. This procedure requires a cumbersome and complex process and concerns large and relatively complex contracts. For example, this procedure can be used for the construction of a connecting infrastructure between two motorways crossing a river or for the construction of a station in an urban environment. Competitive dialog is also used for ‘smaller’ markets such as logistics and IT services.

Competitive dialog is necessarily a "restricted procedure", i.e. the buyer must review the applications before soliciting bids.

The candidate cannot submit his file before a deadline of 30 days from the date of dispatch of thecontract notice.

When the buyer considers that the dialog has come to an end, the buyer informs the remaining participants and invites them to present their final offer.

The delay is counted in calendar days including public holidays, Saturdays and Sundays.

He starts on the day after the day of dispatch of the notice of advertising and ends at the end of the last hour of the day on which it expires.

Warning  

The deadline is set in the consultation regulation. After this period, the offers and applications submitted must be eliminated by the buyer.

In principle, the tender must be sent in only once. However, if several offers are transmitted successively, only the last offer received is opened by the buyer.

It is therefore possible to modify an already submitted offer by submitting a new offer before the end of the reply period. The entire amended offer must be submitted. This will be taken into account and bids received previously will be rejected without having been opened.

FYI  

This principle also applies in the case of successive transmissions of applications of the same candidate. If a document is forgotten or a bad file is transmitted, it is possible to re-submit it before the deadline. Only the last application received within the deadline set for their submission is open, regardless of the method of transmission.

The backup copy is a copy of the electronic response of the candidate.

It may be carried out by the applicant company but is not mandatory. The public purchaser may not require the applicant company to make a backup copy.

FYI  

When theeconomic operator transmits both an electronic letter and a backup copy within the time limits set for consultation, the buyer opens only the electronic letter.

How do I send a backup copy?

The company wishing to send a backup copy must send it within the time period specified in thecontract notice or in the consultation documents.

The backup copy can be transmitted in one of the following ways:

  • Paper support or electronic physical medium (USB stick, CD). The copy must be placed in a cover marked "backup copy". It can be delivered against receipt to the address indicated by the buyer in the consultation documents, or sent by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt by the Post Office.
  • Electronic channel. This possibility may be allowed in the consultation documents. The copy shall be transmitted by means of tools ensuring certain minimum requirements. In particular, they must guarantee the identity of the buyer, the exact time and date of receipt of the documents or access limited to authorized persons only. This is for example a cloud platform or a digital safe.

The backup copy must include the same information as the original.

When is the backup copy used?

She is open and used only if a abnormality or difficulties occurred during the submission of the application files and the transmission of tenders by electronic means. It therefore takes the place of the electronic offer in the following cases:

  • The buyer detects a virus in the offer submitted by dematerialized means.
  • The electronic offer is received incomplete.
  • The dematerialized offer is sent out of time and the company can prove that the start of the transmission took place before the deadline expired.
  • The dematerialized offer cannot be opened by the buyer.

FYI  

If the backup copy is not used, it is destroyed by the buyer at the end of the procedure.

The forms of application Dume: titleContent or DC 1, DC 2, do not have to be signed, whether in a handwritten or electronic manner.

The signature of the offer is not imposed by regulation either. It is mandatory only for the final offer, which is the final contract. It is for example a act of commitment (ATTRI 1). This contract is optional at the stage of filing the response, unless the buyer requires it. The buyer may require an electronic signature for the final offer.

For more information on the electronic signature, refer to the fact sheet ‘sign the act of commitment in the event of the award of the contract’.

The electronic signature is the equivalent of the handwritten signature for a dematerialized document.

To use the electronic signature, the company must satisfy several prerequisites :

  • It must have acquired a signature certificate that is nominative and the corresponding software application that is often offered by the buyer profile. It guarantees the identity of the signatory and the integrity of the electronic document, i.e. it can no longer be modified once signed. The certificate is issued for a period of 1 to 3 years to a natural person and not to a company. It is generally in the form of a USB key.
  • It must have specified its internal organization and designated the persons authorized to sign on its behalf: its holder must have the capacity to engage the business or have a delegation of power.

The electronic signature certificate is paid. It is marketed by qualified private electronic certification providers. It can take several days to obtain, the request must be anticipated in relation to the response time indicated in the contract notice.

FAQ