Questions and Answers – Workshop for reusers of TED data

14 May 2025

These are the revised Questions and Answers, i.e. replies to questions posted before and during the workshop have been reviewed and may have been regrouped or modified for this written version to allow for a more cohesive and complete response.

Please note that some answers may no longer be accurate, as the Publications Office has followed up on comments made and may have modified its approach accordingly. The recordings of the workshop and the slides of the presentations are available in the “Agenda” tab.

The recordings of the workshop and the slides of the presentations are available in the “Agenda” tab.

TED Search API

Can you please share the links to access the search API?

Answer:  The URLs to access the online documentations are as follows:

- TED Search API https://ted.europa.eu/api/documentation/index.html

- TED Public API https://api.ted.europa.eu/swagger-ui/index.html

The endpoints to execute search operations via TED search API are as follows:

- Primary URL: https://api.ted.europa.eu/v3/notices/search

Secondary URL: https://tedweb.api.ted.europa.eu/v3/notices/search

in the Search API, it is sometimes difficult to match the data of lots to their correct lot representations (especially when there are multiple values of a field inside a lot)

Answer: Indeed. The reason is that the TED search API is based on the notice, but not on the data of the notice. We invite you to have a look at this useful post on GithHub https://github.com/OP-TED/eForms-SDK/discussions/1199

In a near future, once TED Open Data Service will be ready, users will be able to make queries on TED data using SPARQL. For more information, read https://docs.ted.europa.eu/ODS/latest/data_index.html

Please find here a link to execute a comprehensive query in SPARQL to list the winners of the notice 39846-2025 . Link https://api.triplydb.com/s/ChKbpmgz7. Another option, which provides basic information can be found here: https://api.triplydb.com/s/IxuNwmYqF

I use the procedure ID to search the API for linked notices and extract their numbers. This helps me check against our own list to see if we’ve worked on them. But during scans, I often hit the API limits. 

Answer: Indeed, we put some limits to protect the system. Please check the fair usage policy on TED and the API limits here https://ted.europa.eu/en/simap/developers-corner-for-reusers-fair-usage-policy-TED. If you respect the limit you will not have issues.  

I hit the API limits because I couldn’t find a way to fetch related notices in bulk — so I had to send a separate request for each one. Is there a more efficient way to handle this?

Answer: Please provide more details by contacting the TED Helpdesk https://ted.europa.eu/en/contact

eForms

I use the eForms to use the data. Before in the XML files, I could find the related notices, and now in eForms there is no similar way. Will that be fixed soon?

Answer: In eForms, the procedure identifier is the main way to link together all notices in a procedure. But some other fields are also used to link notices for specific needs, such as links to previous notices in the previous format or to the previous Planning notice (which do not have procedure identifiers).

Prior the eForms, there was an TED_EXPORT scheme which was different to the data being submitted by the contracting authorities. why did that change?

Answer: Prior the eForms, the TED schema notices scheme was different to the data being submitted by the contracting authorities because our internal production system added some metadata to find notices on the previous version of the TED website. With the current TED website, the OP decided to index all metadata fields.

TED Open data service

1. When testing on https://data.ted.europa.eu/, we can only get functional "result formats" in XML or CSV format. JSON format is mentioned, but it does not provide the service. It’s only in download but not in the IHM

Answer: Currently we have deployed a pre-release version of the TED SPARQL Editor. Some features may not be fully functional, including the support of some result formats.

Is the data behind the data project (https://data.ted.europa.eu/) already completely up to date? - i.e. would it theoretically be possible to use this in a production environment right now, or does it contain test data?

Answer: Currently all notices 10-24 and 29, all competition notices are fully in production and can be used. No test data in Cellar, everything is in production.

Is there a tutorial for beginners available? I am a brand-new user and I wonder if there is a tutorial on how to find the perfect tender.

Answer: For the TEDSWS, please check TED Open Data: TED Developer Docs

Can you please confirm if it will still be possible to download all daily xml-files in zip-format?

Answer: Yes, it is still possible. Please find here the link to download the notices in bulk https://ted.europa.eu/en/simap/xml-bulk-download

Miscellaneous

I need help to reach the tenders on your website in order to apply, do you have any steps I can follow to reach what I need?

Answer: You can use the advanced search page to find business opportunities.

Link: https://ted.europa.eu/en/advanced-search

If you need more help or guidance, please visit the help page https://ted.europa.eu/en/help/search-browse#search-for-notices Or you can watch our video tutorial on the Advanced search.

Is there a newsletter for TED reusers?

Answer: There is no TED email newsletter, but we kindly invite you to follow our latest news directly on the TED website in the what’s new section.