Navigating the public procurement landscape

If you’ve ever tried to navigate the public procurement market, you already know how complex it can be. Thousands of tenders, contract awards, and buyer notices are published every day across Europe representing billions of euros in potential business. But for you as a supplier, the challenge isn’t the lack of opportunities; it’s how to make sense of them.

That’s where analytics and market intelligence tools become your strongest assets. By turning complex procurement data into clear insights, you can move from reacting to tenders as they appear to working proactively, planning ahead and positioning yourself strategically long before a contract is announced.

With Mercell’s Market Intelligence, you gain the tools to do exactly that, to analyze your market, anticipate opportunities, and understand the dynamics between buyers, competitors, and contracts. In the sections below, you’ll explore four key ways to work more efficiently and proactively with analytics to strengthen your public sales strategy.

 

1. Gaining an Overview of Your Market

Your first step toward working proactively in public procurement is to get a complete overview of your market. Many suppliers underestimate how vast the public sector really is or how much it actually purchases within their specific field. By using analytics, you can uncover that full picture: how many procurements have been published this year, which product categories dominate your industry, and how much of the spending happens above or below threshold values.

This perspective helps you understand how large your market truly is and where the biggest opportunities lie. You might discover that your industry has a steady rhythm of smaller, below-threshold procurements, or that most spending comes through large framework agreements. Both insights are equally valuable because they reveal how the market behaves and where you can position yourself effectively.

When you understand the size, structure, and dynamics of your market, you can make smarter decisions about where to focus your efforts. Instead of chasing random tenders, you plan strategically, aligning your resources, pricing, and timing with real data, not assumptions.

Key insights to leverage:

• Use analytics to see how large your market is and what kind of procurement activity drives it.

• Identify which product or service categories dominate and where there’s room to grow.

• Compare the share of above- and below-threshold procurements to better understand where the strongest competition and best opportunities lie.
  
  

Having a clear market overview gives you the foundation to act strategically. Without it, you’re guessing; with it, you’re planning your next move with precision.

 

2. Researching Expiring Contracts

Once you know your market, the next step is to understand its timing, and that means tracking expiring contracts. In public procurement, most contracts that end will soon more often than not be renewed. When you identify those renewal points early, you unlock a powerful way to work proactively by reaching out to customers before the tender is published again.

With analytics, you can easily see which contracts are due to expire within your field or in related industries. You can also uncover valuable insights like the average length of contracts, the number of bidders per procurement, and the average awarded contract values. This helps you forecast your sales pipeline and plan your business growth with greater accuracy.

Imagine spotting that a key public contract in your industry is set to expire in eight months. Instead of waiting for the new tender to appear, you can prepare now by reviewing the last award, analyze who won and why, and tailor your own offer accordingly. You can even begin building relationships with the buyer in advance, showing that you understand their needs and can deliver value before the next competition begins.

Key insights to leverage:

• Track expiring contracts in your target industries to anticipate when new tenders will be announced.

• Use data on bidder numbers, contract values, and lengths to evaluate competitiveness and forecast revenue.

• Identify renewal cycles so you can position your business early and prepare your bids long before publication.
  
  

Working proactively with contract data puts you one step ahead of competitors who rely on alerts alone. You’ll know when to act, who to contact, and how to prepare, giving you a genuine competitive advantage.

 

3. Researching Other Suppliers

To succeed in your industry, you need to understand more than just opportunities, you need to understand your competition. Analytics gives you a clear view of which suppliers are most active in your field, what kinds of contracts they’re winning, and what drives their success.

With Market Intelligence, you can analyze how many tenders your competitors have entered, their win rates, and what categories they dominate. You can even explore official award notices to see who was awarded each contract and, importantly, why. These details help you benchmark your performance and identify where your business has the potential to stand out.

You might notice that certain competitors consistently win contracts where sustainability or innovation plays a key role, revealing a trend you can adapt to. Or perhaps you find buyers that repeatedly award to the same few suppliers, signaling a chance for you to introduce fresh competition. By studying supplier data, you can uncover both patterns and gaps in the market, and gain insights that let you position your company strategically.

Key insights to leverage:

• Identify who holds active contracts in your industry and analyze what made their bids successful.

• Understand which competitors dominate certain sectors or regions, and where the field is more open.

• Spot patterns in tender outcomes that reveal what buyers value and how you can differentiate your offering.
  
  

When you understand who your competitors are and why they win, you can refine your bids, adjust your positioning, and focus your efforts where you have the strongest chance of success.

 

4. Understanding Your Buyers

Just as you need to understand your competitors, you also need to understand your buyers. After all, your success in public procurement depends on knowing who buys what, how often, and under which conditions.

With analytics, you can identify which public organizations are most active in your sector, how many tenders they publish, how many bids they typically receive, and which suppliers they tend to work with. This allows you to see not just where the opportunities are, but also what those opportunities look like in practice.

Studying buyer data helps you tailor your approach. If a certain municipality regularly publishes tenders that match your services but receives very few bids, that’s a signal worth acting on as fewer bidders often means higher chances of success. By analyzing historical tenders, you can also understand what specific requirements buyers emphasize, whether it’s certifications, pricing models, or sustainability criteria, and prepare for them in advance.

Key insights to leverage:

• Identify which public entities are purchasing within your industry and how active they are.
  
  

• Analyze their historical tenders to understand what requirements and evaluation criteria they prioritize.
  
  

• Find buyers with fewer bids per tender to target markets where competition is lower and opportunities are stronger.
  
  

By understanding your buyers deeply, you move from being one of many bidders to being a prepared, relevant, and trusted supplier. A Supplier that knows exactly what public entities need and when they need it.

 

Conclusion

Proactive sales in public procurement come in many forms, but all of them start with the same foundation: data.
When you use analytics effectively, you gain the visibility and foresight to make better decisions at every step, from understanding your market to anticipating future tenders, studying competitors, and building stronger buyer relationships.

Public procurement isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. Each proactive step you take today and each insight you uncover and act on  moves you closer to long-term, sustainable growth. Winning one contract is more than a single success; it’s a stepping stone toward predictable income, stronger partnerships, and a more resilient business.

So don’t let valuable opportunities pass by unnoticed. Use data to guide your next move, and make sure you’re ready when the next big opportunity appears.