BOAMP: the public contracts you find there, and those you don't

What is the BOAMP?#

The BOAMP is the Bulletin officiel des annonces des marchés publics, the official bulletin where public buyers publish their contract notices. Its website, boamp.fr, carries the same name. Its data is under an open license, with the Prime Minister as producer and the DILA (Direction de l'information légale et administrative, France's legal and administrative information directorate) as distributor.

The BOAMP lists public purchases, not those of private companies. It shows what a public agency has decided to buy when it opens bidding.

Who publishes? The national government, local authorities, and their public bodies, according to the dataset page on data.gouv.fr.

You will find calls for tenders, adapted-procedure contracts and award notices. It also lists public-private partnership contracts, public service concessions, and defense or security contracts.

What notices does the BOAMP carry?#

The BOAMP dataset classifies each announcement by type. Three types account for most notices (dataset count as of November 6, 2026):

• the contract notice (1.17 million announcements): the buyer opens bidding and invites companies to submit bids;

• the award notice (470,000), listed as résultat de marché in the BOAMP: the contract has been awarded, and the notice identifies the winner;

• the correction notice (72,000): the buyer corrects a previously published notice (date, document, lot).

Other, much less common types include cancellation notices (which end the procedure), notices of intent to award, information notices, and notices modifying an existing contract.

Over twelve months (November 2025 to October 2026), the BOAMP published 82,716 contract notices: 53% for services, 26% for works, 21% for supplies. 55% concern contracts above the European thresholds, 37% contracts between €90,000 excl. VAT and those thresholds, 8% adapted-procedure contracts (MAPA) below €90,000 excl. VAT.

Publication follows buyers' schedules: 4,757 notices in August 2026 and 8,103 in October. The annual volume is declining: 109,018 contract notices in 2019, 94,785 in 2025. In practice: monitoring has to run all year, and the summer lull does not mean purchasing stops.

A sales rep reads the contract notice first. It gives the buyer's name, the subject of the contract, its type (works, supplies or services), the département and the response deadline. The notice also says where to get the tender file (DCE, dossier de consultation des entreprises, the set of documents that describe the need).

An award notice answers a different question. It does not invite new bids: it reports a completed purchase. For monitoring purposes, it provides a reference date rather than a current opportunity.

How do you search for a tender on the BOAMP?#

Start your search with a keyword, a geographic area, and a contract type. Each notice also has BOAMP topic labels, such as "Bâtiment" (construction) and "Prestations de services" (services). Over twelve months, the most frequent labels are "Prestations de services" (10,507 notices), "Etude" (studies; 3,604), "Maintenance" (3,530), "Maîtrise d'oeuvre" (design and construction supervision; 3,373), and "Electricité (travaux)" (electrical work; 3,303); a notice can have several labels. For service businesses, "Nettoyage de locaux" (building cleaning) appears on 1,737 notices and "Informatique (prestations de services)" (IT services) on 1,407. Combining these filters helps you avoid reading hundreds of notices unrelated to what you sell.

The site offers an alert service that sends you new notices. It requires an account on boamp.fr, which is free, and allows up to 10 alerts.

You can apply your own filters to the openly accessible BOAMP dataset on data.gouv.fr, which is available under an open license. Announcements are made available on the day they are published, twice a day, seven days a week. An API lets you query them without going through the site.

The time available to prepare a bid matters too. Half of the notices allow 32 days or more from publication to the bid deadline; 41% allow 30 days or less, and 9% allow less than 21 days (79,602 notices over twelve months). In practice: a daily alert avoids finding out about a notice too late.

How many companies bid on a public contract?#

Each buyer publishes essential data (données essentielles) on data.gouv.fr for its contracts worth €40,000 excl. VAT or more; this data shows how many bids each contract received (234,937 contracts awarded in 2025 with a known bid count).

When the contract was put out to competition (adapted procedure, call for tenders or negotiated procedure), 1 in 5 (20%) received only one bid. The median number of bids is 3, and 55% of contracts receive 3 or fewer (219,341 contracts). Across all contracts, the share rises to 1 in 4 (25%): contracts awarded without advertising receive only one bid in 89% of cases.

In practice: competition is often weak. For a contract put out to competition, 1 in 5 has only one bidder.

Who wins public contracts?#

43% of contract-winning companies won only one contract in 2025. The most active 1% take 16% of the contracts won.

Size. In the Insee Sirene database (Insee is France's national statistics office), we matched 62,332 contract-winning companies to their employee counts.

Insee's business size classification considers employee count, revenue, and total assets for an enterprise as defined by decree no. 2008-1354; that enterprise may include several legal entities within the same corporate group. Under this definition, small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) win 58% of contracts, representing 33% of the total contract value.

Proximity. Nearly one contract in two (46%) goes to a company in the same département as the buyer. 23% go to a company in the same region but another département, and 31% to a company in another region. The median distance between the buyer and the winning company is 40 km.

Sectors. Construction and public works companies win 36% of contracts (24,425 companies), followed by architecture and engineering firms at 12%, wholesalers at 11%, and cleaning and landscaping companies at 4%. These sectors are defined using Insee's NAF codes (French business activity codes, also known as APE codes).

Buyers. 7,760 communes award 34% of contracts. The median buyer awards 4 contracts; 1 buyer in 10 awards 41 or more.

Before bidding, look up the buyer in the essential data on data.gouv.fr: you can see its past contracts, who won them, how many bids it received and for what amount. If you sell to the companies that win these contracts (subcontracting, supplies, software), you can compile their details into a prospect list.

What a contract notice says, and does not say, about award criteria#

We read 520 contract notices from the last twelve months, chosen at random. First finding: 2 in 3 notices (65%) do not specify the weight assigned to price in the award decision.

Specifically, 43% name no award criteria, 20% refer to the bidding instructions, 2% list the criteria without their weights, and 34% give the weight of each criterion; 1% of notices were unreadable.

Among notices that specify the weight assigned to price (144 notices), the median weight is 40%. The most frequent weight is 40% (52 of the 144 notices).

In practice: before deciding to bid, open the tender file (DCE). A low price does not win on its own.

Publication thresholds: at what amount is a contract published?#

Two rules of the public procurement code (code de la commande publique) decide what gets published. The first says when the buyer can skip all advertising. The second specifies where the buyer must publish a notice once that threshold is reached.

The exemption threshold. Below a certain amount, the buyer can conclude a contract without prior advertising or competition (article R2122-8). Decree no. 2025-1386 of December 29, 2025 changed this threshold, according to the commentary by the law firm Landot Avocats. The text appeared in the Journal officiel of December 30, 2025. As of November 6, 2026, it stands at (article R2122-8):

• €100,000 excl. VAT for works, a threshold made permanent by the decree from January 1, 2026;

• €60,000 excl. VAT for supplies and services, since April 1, 2026.

For supplies and services, the threshold goes from €40,000 to €60,000 excl. VAT. Law no. 2026-403 of May 26, 2026 also raises the one for works: from January 1, 2027, a works contract can skip advertising up to €140,000 excl. VAT (Service-Public page checked on August 21, 2026). Below these amounts, a contract may therefore leave no trace in the BOAMP.

The BOAMP publication threshold. For supplies and services between the exemption threshold (€60,000 excl. VAT) and €90,000 excl. VAT, the buyer tailors how it publicizes the contract. It depends on the nature and amount of the contract (article R2131-12 1°). This is called a MAPA, a marché à procédure adaptée (adapted-procedure contract).

From €90,000 excl. VAT, the notice appears in the BOAMP or in a legal-notices newspaper (JAL, journal d'annonces légales). The buyer chooses the medium (article R2131-12 2°).

The summary as of November 6, 2026:

This table applies to the State, its public bodies other than industrial and commercial ones, local authorities, their public bodies and their groupings; other buyers publish only in the Official Journal of the European Union above the thresholds (article R2131-16 2°). Until December 31, 2026, contracts for heat pump installation or connection to a district heating network can be awarded without advertising up to €140,000 excl. VAT (decree no. 2026-792 of August 15, 2026). Sources: Légifrance (articles R2122-8, R2131-12, R2131-16) and Service-Public, page F23371, checked on August 21, 2026.

What the BOAMP does not show: the smaller contracts awarded#

The BOAMP also publishes award notices: 34,119 over twelve months. The public procurement essential data (données essentielles) covers contracts whether or not they were advertised. Each buyer must publish its contracts of €40,000 excl. VAT or more there (article R2196-1). For 2025, the dataset records 270,541 contracts awarded by 15,126 buyers to 76,411 companies. Of these, 49,789 are worth less than €40,000 excl. VAT: simplified reporting applies from €25,000 excl. VAT to contracts awarded without advertising, and reporting below that amount is optional; contract values are known for 263,712 contracts of all types, including 262,135 for works, supplies or services (the base for the calculation below), and bid counts for 234,937.

45% of reported contracts with a known amount (117,444 of 262,135) were below the threshold for a mandatory notice: €90,000 excl. VAT for supplies and services, €100,000 excl. VAT for works in 2025. These contracts can appear in the BOAMP, but nothing requires it. Since the smallest contracts are not all reported, the real share is at least 45%.

By procurement method, 55% of contracts were awarded under adapted procedures, 36% through calls for tenders, 2% through negotiated procedures or dialogue, and 6% (17,169 contracts) without advertising or competition.

In practice: monitoring limited to the BOAMP mostly sees the big contracts.

Buyer profiles, PLACE, TED: where else to look besides the BOAMP?#

The BOAMP does not see everything. A buyer can publish in a JAL rather than in the BOAMP, or announce a MAPA on its own buyer profile. The buyer profile is an online procurement portal where the buyer posts its solicitation documents and receives bids.

PLACE is the State's public procurement platform. Companies use it to read and respond to notices from national government departments, national public bodies, and social security organizations. It offers its own alerts, daily or weekly.

TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) is the supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union. Notices for contracts above the European thresholds appear there, in addition to the BOAMP, except for buyers who publish only in the Official Journal of the European Union (see the thresholds table).

A serious monitoring setup therefore combines several sources. The BOAMP is the foundation for monitoring French public buyers, but it does not provide complete coverage.

These sources all list public buyers. Purchases by an auto repair shop, a restaurant, or an SCI (a French property-holding company) are outside public procurement and do not appear in these sources.

How do you use these figures to decide where to bid?#

Aim for nearby buyers. 54% of contracts are won within 50 km of the buyer.

Your line of business#

The business activity is that of the winning company, as identified by its Insee activity code. The "BOAMP notices" column counts notices from the last twelve months with the closest matching topic label. The typical amount is the median contract value. A "—" indicates that no BOAMP topic label closely matches the business activity.

Insurance and transportation have the highest shares of contracts receiving a single bid: 37% and 34%. Contracts for auto repair, electrical work, plumbing, and landscaping are mostly won by companies in the buyer's département, accounting for 64% to 69% of contracts; for insurance and IT, the shares won within the département are only 12% and 20%, respectively.

Your region#

French overseas territories (collectivités d'outre-mer) with fewer than 1,000 contracts are not shown.

In Île-de-France, only 22% of contracts are won within the département. In mainland France, single-bid contracts are most common in Corse (34%) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (28%). In the overseas regions, 73% to 85% of contracts are won within the département.

Prepare your bid. The median contract value is €112,500 excl. VAT. 39% are framework agreements, which set the terms for orders placed over several years. 34% include environmental considerations and 13% include social considerations; consult the tender file for details.

The vocabulary#

• Contract notice (avis de marché): the notice through which the buyer opens bidding.
• Award notice (résultat de marché): a notice identifying the company awarded the contract.
• MAPA: marché à procédure adaptée, an adapted-procedure contract, for amounts below the formal-procedure thresholds.
• DCE: dossier de consultation des entreprises, the tender file, the set of documents that describe the need.
• Legal-notices newspaper (JAL, journal d'annonces légales): a newspaper authorized to carry legal notices, where the buyer can publish instead of the BOAMP.
• Buyer profile (profil d'acheteur): the buyer's online procurement portal, where it posts solicitation documents and receives bids.
• Framework agreement (accord-cadre): a contract that sets the terms of orders placed afterward.
• Essential data (données essentielles): the data the buyer publishes on data.gouv.fr for each contract of €40,000 excl. VAT or more.

Frequently asked questions#

Is the BOAMP free?#

Yes. You can read notices without an account. The free alert service lets you set up to 10 alerts (boamp.fr).

Can you bid on a tender through the BOAMP?#

No. The BOAMP publishes the notice; you submit your bid through the buyer's procurement portal, whose address is listed in the notice (PLACE for the national government). The public procurement code defines it as the platform that electronically receives documents from prospective bidders (article R2132-3).

Are all public contracts published in the BOAMP?#

No. In 2025, 45% of reported contracts with a known amount (at least 45% of all contracts, since the smallest are not all reported) were below the threshold for a mandatory notice in the BOAMP or in a legal-notices newspaper. See the smaller contracts awarded.

What is the difference between the BOAMP and the JOUE?#

The BOAMP is the French bulletin. The Official Journal of the European Union (JOUE) publishes, through its TED supplement, notices for contracts above the European thresholds. For the State, its public bodies other than industrial and commercial ones, and local authorities, these contracts appear in both places; other buyers publish only in the Official Journal of the European Union.

How long do you have to respond to a tender?#

Half of the notices allow 32 days or more from publication to the bid deadline; 9% allow less than 21 days.

How many bids does a public contract receive?#

The median is 3 bids; 1 in 5 competitively bid contracts receives only one.

Where can you find the SIRET number of a winning company?#

The essential data gives the winner's SIRET number (the French ID of a business location). To find it from a name, see how to find a SIRET number.

What other sources say#

Method#

We read the BOAMP contract notices (DILA API, November 6, 2026) and the 2025 public procurement essential data, linked to the Scalon graph and to the Sirene register.

Cite this study#

Sources#