How to apply — portal by portal: registration, signature and fees across Europe compared
5 portal families compared: 0 work with text form and no signature, 0 require a qualified signature, 0 a national eID to log in. Every entry comes from the operator's manual.
A bid in another EU country rarely fails on price and often on technicalities: the wrong signature type, a missing national identity, a tool that only runs with Java. This table puts the requirements side by side; every row leads to the step-by-step guide.
Requirements compared
| Portal family | Countries | Read without account | Identity | Signature | ESPD | Fees | Foreign companies | checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cosinex Vergabemarktplatz / DTVP cosinex GmbH (Bochum); Länderinstanzen im Auftrag der Länder | Germany | yes | company account | set per procedure | not documented | kostenlos (DTVP Basic 0 €; Länderportale „kostenfrei“); kostenpflichtige DTVP-Zusatzpakete nur für Suchprofile/Alerts; kostenlos; kostenlos, ohne Login | equal access | 04/09/2026 |
| e-Vergabe des Bundes (evergabe-online.de) Beschaffungsamt des Bundesministeriums des Innern (BeschA), Bonn | Germany | yes | user account | set per procedure | not documented | kostenlos; nur ein Signaturzertifikat, wenn die Vergabestelle es verlangt, ist separat zu kaufen; kostenlos („Die Nutzung der Vergabeplattform ist für Unternehmen kostenfrei“); kostenlos („Gebühren für Vergabeunterlagen … entfallen“) | equal access | 04/09/2026 |
| e-Zamówienia (Polen) Urząd Zamówień Publicznych (UZP), Warschau | Poland | yes | company account | set per procedure | not documented | kostenlos (§ 2 (2)); kostenlos (§ 8 (2) Regulamin); kostenlos (§ 6 (3)) | special route needed | 04/09/2026 |
| PLACSP — Plataforma de Contratación del Sector Público (Spanien) Ministerio de Hacienda, Dirección General del Patrimonio del Estado | Spain | yes | user account | set per procedure | not documented | kostenlos („de forma gratuita“) | special route needed | 04/09/2026 |
| PLACE — Plateforme des achats de l'État (Frankreich) Direction des Achats de l'État (DAE), Ministère de l'Économie | France | yes | user account | set per procedure | not documented | kostenlos; kostenlos; kostenlos (DCE auf der Consultation-Seite) | equal access | 04/09/2026 |
Entries from the operators' manuals and help pages as of the check date; not legal advice. The manual and the procurement documents of each procedure are authoritative.
What repeats — and what does not
Three patterns hold across borders: registration with company data is free everywhere, the ESPD initially replaces all evidence, and documents are free to read. The differences sit in two fields — which identity registration demands and which signature submission demands. Those two fields decide whether a foreign bidder fails on submission day.
Frequently asked questions
On which portals do I not need an electronic signature?
According to the checked manuals every compared portal requires a signature.
Where is a qualified signature mandatory?
None of the compared portals prescribes it generally per manual.
Where do I need a national electronic identity?
None of the compared portals requires a national eID.
Does participation cost money?
Registration and reading are free on all compared portals; where a bid or documents cost, the table says so with a source.
How current is the comparison?
5 families, each with a check date in the table. Portals change without notice — the linked manual is authoritative.