What is the ESPD?

An ESPD works in two steps. The supplier makes its declaration on exclusion and selection when it submits, and the supporting documents follow later, when the buyer requests them. In EU public procurement, the ESPD counts only as preliminary evidence, and the supporting documents are not attached to it. Its meaning ends at qualification: whether the supplier may take part at all, and whether it meets the selection criteria the buyer has set.

What the European Single Procurement Document asks

The European Single Procurement Document asks a bidder to describe itself, declare its position on the exclusion grounds, answer the selection criteria the buyer has set and sign a closing statement. It does so in the fixed sequence of parts set by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/7.

The parts of the form

Part I identifies the procurement procedure and the contracting authority running it. Part II covers the bidder: who it is, its role and its partners where it bids as part of a group, and any other entity whose capacity it relies on.

Part III sets out the exclusion grounds, and the bidder declares whether any apply to it. Part IV covers the selection criteria. Part VI closes the form with the bidder's declaration that it can provide the supporting documents on request and without delay. That declaration carries two exceptions, both for documents the buyer can get another way.

Selection criteria set by the notice

The bidder fills in Part IV only for the selection criteria the buyer has actually required in its notice or procurement documents. Two ESPDs for two different buyers can therefore ask quite different questions in Part IV, even though the form itself is the same.

A buyer may also choose, or a member state may require, to cut Part IV to a single question: does the bidder, yes or no, meet all the required selection criteria? The answer gets shorter. The commitment doesn't, because the buyer can still follow up with requests for information or documents.

Signatures on one ESPD

Where several people sit on the bidder's administrative, management or supervisory body, or hold powers of representation, each of them may have to sign the same ESPD. Whether they must depends on national rules, including data protection rules.

A signature may not be needed at all where the channel used to send the ESPD already ensures its authenticity.

When one bid needs several ESPDs

One bid can need several ESPDs: one for each lot or group of lots with the same selection criteria, one for each entity whose capacity the bidder relies on, and one for each member of a group bidding together. The Implementing Regulation sets out each case.

Lots with different selection criteria

Where the selection criteria differ from lot to lot, an ESPD is filled in for each lot. One ESPD can cover lots that share the same selection criteria.

As an example, a bid for three lots, two of which share the same criteria, needs two ESPDs. The count follows the criteria, not the number of lots.

Entities whose capacity is relied on

A bidder that relies on other entities' capacities submits its own ESPD and, with it, a separate ESPD for each entity relied on.

The entity fills in and signs that separate ESPD, not the bidder. It covers Sections A and B of Part II and the exclusion grounds in Part III, so the entity declares its own identity and its own exclusion position.

Groups of operators bidding together

Where a group or temporary association bids together, each participating operator gives its own ESPD covering Parts II to V. In Part II, each one states its role in the group and names the other members.

Under Directive 2014/24/EU, a buyer may not require a group to take a specific legal form before it bids or asks to participate. The buyer may require one after award, where that is necessary for the contract.

Where the ESPD sits in the procedure

The ESPD goes in with the first submission: with the bid in an open procedure, and with the request to participate in the other procedures. Within the stages from notice to award, it opens qualification, and the request for evidence comes later.

Submission without supporting evidence

The European Court of Auditors' special report 28/2023 puts it plainly: bidders confirm in the ESPD that they meet the criteria and don't need to attach supporting evidence. Only successful bidders are asked for it.

At the submission deadline, then, the ESPD is a set of statements. The certificates, accounts, and references behind them are tested later in the procedure.

Evidence at shortlisting or before award

Before award, the buyer must ask the bidder it has decided to award the contract to for up-to-date supporting documents. As a rule, it asks only that bidder. Contracts based on certain framework agreements are an exception.

In a two-stage procedure, the directive allows an earlier request. A buyer that limits the number of candidates it invites may ask for the supporting documents at shortlisting, before it sends invitations to the next stage.

Documents the buyer can obtain itself

The first exception in the Part VI declaration covers documents the buyer can get directly from a free national database in any member state. It applies only where the bidder has given, in the ESPD, the details the buyer needs to access that database.

The second covers documents the buyer already holds. In both cases, the buyer obtains the evidence itself rather than asking the bidder for it.

The rules that define the ESPD

The ESPD document rests on two EU instruments, and both apply to procurements under Directive 2014/24/EU in the EU member states.

Directive 2014/24/EU

Article 59 of the directive establishes the ESPD as the document buyers accept at submission, and it allows a bidder to reuse an earlier one. Each member state applies the directive through its national law.

The directive's mandatory exclusion grounds reach beyond the company itself. They also apply where a person convicted by final judgment sits on the bidder's administrative, management or supervisory body, or holds powers of representation, decision or control in it.

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/7

The Implementing Regulation sets the standard form. Annex 2 contains the form itself, and Annex 1 contains the instructions, including when one bid needs several ESPDs.

Where the regulation leaves a choice to Member States, the same form can ask for different things from one Member State to the next.

Filling in and reusing an ESPD

Bid teams fill in an ESPD through a national ESPD service and can reuse a saved one from an earlier procedure. The European Commission's own ESPD service closed on 2 May 2019, but the obligation to use the ESPD remains.

National ESPD services

The European Commission's ESPD page confirms the closure and the continuing obligation. It directs users to national ESPD services, which almost all EU countries now provide.

The Bulgarian national ESPD service lets a bidder save an eESPD and import it later to continue working on it or reuse it.

Reusing a saved ESPD

A bidder may reuse an ESPD from an earlier procedure, provided it confirms the information is still correct.

To enable reuse, the Implementing Regulation's instructions say the completed ESPD should be saved in a suitable electronic format, such as .xml. Copying and pasting from the bidder's own stored information also works.

Resubmitting documentation across systems

Bidders are often forced to resubmit documentation requested through a procurement procedure, according to a 2025 European Commission staff working document.

The same document links this to integration: only 18 member states have integrated digital procurement with other systems.