Custom eForms integration development
eForms is the European standard for public procurement notices. Since 25 October 2023, European notices on TED are published only in eForms: structured data in XML, with rules that define what is required for each field. Appfront builds integrations that draft and validate notices in eForms from your own systems, submit them for publication, and read in eForms data from others.
What is an eForms integration?
eForms is the European Union's standard for public procurement notices, such as a contract notice, a contract award notice or a modification notice. Since 25 October 2023, European notices on TED, the EU's publication platform, are published only in eForms. A notice is no longer a form, but a file of structured data in XML, with rules that define what is required and what is allowed for each field.
Those rules are contained in a software package from the EU Publications Office, the eForms SDK, which gets a new version regularly. If you fill in notices by hand in a portal, you hardly notice this. But a contracting authority with its own procurement system, or a supplier of procurement software, has to make sure its data complies with the rules of the current version, otherwise the notice is rejected.
We build custom solutions because organisations and systems differ. The integration drafts notices from the data already in your system, validates them before they are sent, and processes the responses. Conversely, the integration can read in eForms data from others for analysis. We look at the route through which your notices are published in the first step.
From your system
Notices from the data you already have.
Validated in advance
Against the rules of the current version.
Also reading in
eForms data from others for analysis.
How we build your eForms integration
We start with your procurements: which types of notices you create, which system the data comes from, how they are published now, and where things go wrong. Then we define which fields from your system fill which eForms fields, and which data is still missing. We often start with the notice you create most often, because that is where the approach can be tested fastest. Other types of notices, the processing of responses and the reading in of data follow after that. We then keep the integration up to date when a new version of the SDK is released, and retest the notices before that version becomes mandatory.
Types, systems and the current route.
Your data to eForms.
Draft, validate, submit.
Go-live, new versions and maintenance.
What an eForms integration actually does
The components below appear in almost every eForms integration. Which ones you need depends on your role.
Preparing
From your own data.
Validation
Against the SDK.
Submission
For publication.
Responses
Rejections fed back.
Import
Data from others.
Versions
New SDK versions kept up to date.
Who we build an eForms integration for
The integration is intended for organisations that create notices in eForms or use eForms data. The more procurements you run, the more it delivers.
Contracting authorities
Own procurement system. Getting the notice right matters.
Software suppliers
Procurement software. Connecting matters.
Procurement advisers
Working for many authorities. Speed matters.
Data analysts
Mapping the market. Reading in data is the core.
Technology and integrations
This page is about eForms. For tracking tenders and open procurement data, see our page on the TenderNed integration; for UBL, on which eForms is based, see our page on the UBL integration; and for procuring software itself, see our page on procuring custom software. You can read about our approach at building software.
Why Appfront for your eForms integration?
Notices rejected because a field doesn't meet the rules of the new version, and data entered twice, cost a procurement department time in a process where deadlines matter. That's what we build on: notices generated from your own data, validated in advance, and kept up to date with new versions.
No duplicate work
From your own system.
Fewer rejections
Validated in advance.
Kept up to date with versions
Tested before it becomes mandatory.
Security and privacy in an eForms integration
The integration processes data about tenders, and before publication that data can be confidential, such as the estimate or the planning. Access is set up per role, credentials for the publication route are stored encrypted, and every notice is logged with what was sent and what came back.
The integration runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. We record the processing in a data processing agreement.
Frequently asked questions about an eForms integration
Questions that buyers and software suppliers ask before they get started.
eForms is the European standard for public procurement notices. A notice consists of structured data in XML, with rules that determine per field what is mandatory. Since 25 October 2023, European notices on TED are published in eForms only.
The software package from the Publications Office of the EU containing the schemas, fields and rules a notice must comply with. New versions are released regularly. An integration has to follow the version that applies, otherwise a notice may be rejected.
That page is mainly about following tenders and using open procurement data. This page is about eForms itself: drafting and validating notices, and reading in eForms data. The two complement each other.
Yes. The integration pulls the data that is already in your procurement or contract system, such as the contract, the lots, the deadlines and the award, and turns it into a notice. Anything that is missing is flagged so it can be completed.
That depends on your situation and on the facilities that apply to Dutch contracting authorities. In the first step we look at which route is available to you and under what conditions. Only then do we build, so you don't get stuck on a route that doesn't exist.
Yes. Published notices are structured data, so they can be read in and analysed, for example to monitor the market or compare awards. In the first step we look at which sources you want to use.
We keep the integration up to date when a new version is released, and test the notices against that version before it becomes mandatory. That way a notice isn't rejected over a rule that has just changed.
Notices in eForms from your own system?
Tell us which notices you produce, which system the data comes from, and how they are currently published. We'll show you which route is available and what the integration would look like.