What is public procurement?
Public procurement refers to all contracts entered into for consideration by public buyers to meet their needs in works, supplies, and services. It covers two broad families of contracts: public contracts, where the buyer pays the supplier directly, and concessions, where the supplier earns some of its return from operating the service or facility. Public procurement generally follows constant principles: free access, equal treatment of bidders, and transparency of procedures (in the United States, under the Federal Acquisition Regulation; in the United Kingdom, under the Procurement Act 2023).
These principles explain the shape of tenders: a published need, rules announced in advance, competition open to anyone who meets the conditions. They are the reason behind the documents, deadlines, and criteria every company encounters when it responds.
What is a public contract?
A public contract is a contract entered into between a public buyer and an economic operator, to meet a need in works, supplies, or services, in exchange for a price, as defined by the procurement rules applicable in each market. It differs from a concession in how the supplier is paid: in a public contract, the buyer pays the contractor; in a concession, the contractor earns most of its revenue from operating the service. The public contract is the form a company most often encounters when responding to a tender.
A public contract has three defining features: a buyer subject to public-procurement rules, a need defined in a specification, and a competitive procedure whose scale depends on the contract's value and nature.
Who are the buyers subject to public-procurement rules?
Buyers subject to public-procurement rules are public bodies and certain private organizations pursuing a public-interest mission. This typically includes the state and its agencies, local and regional government and their bodies, public hospitals, as well as private-law entities when they are created to meet a public-interest need and are funded or controlled by a public body. It is the status of buyer, not legal form alone, that triggers the rules in each market.
Knowing whether the organization publishing a tender is a buyer subject to these rules tells a company which framework applies: formal documents, published criteria, a right to information if rejected.
Public contract and concession: what is the difference?
A public contract and a concession differ in how the contractor is paid and how risk is transferred. The table below links each contract type to what characterizes it for the responding company.
| Contract | How the contractor is paid | Who bears the operating risk |
|---|---|---|
| Public contract | a price paid by the buyer | mainly the buyer |
| Concession | operation of the service or facility | mainly the concessionaire |
This distinction shapes the response: a public contract is won on technical value and the price of the service, a concession is also won on a long-term operating model.
Do you need to master all of public-procurement law to respond?
To respond to a tender, a company does not need to master all of public-procurement law: it needs to understand the tender documents and meet their requirements. A careful read of the documents, helped if needed by generic AI to unpack the vocabulary, is enough to grasp the framework of a simple contract. Detailed legal knowledge becomes useful on complex contracts, consortium bids, or challenges: there, support from a specialist avoids costly mistakes. The line is the stakes: the more a contract commits you, the more legal precision matters.
How to place a tender within public procurement, step by step
- Identify the buyer: check whether it is subject to public-procurement rules.
- Identify the contract type: public contract or concession, based on how payment works.
- Identify the subject matter: works, supplies, or services, which sets the applicable framework.
- Identify the procedure: its form depends on the contract's value and nature.
- Read the tender documents: find the requirements, criteria, and deadlines there.
On the Optivalue.ai platform, which publishes this site, 85 specialized agents (72 subject-matter agents, 12 sector-specific agents, 1 librarian agent) read the tender documents and extract their requirements, helping a company respond without first having to master all the legal vocabulary.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between public procurement and a public contract?
Public procurement is the whole body of purchasing contracts entered into by public bodies; a public contract is one form of it, where the buyer pays the contractor directly. A concession is another form.
Can a private company respond to a public contract?
A private company can respond to a public contract as long as it meets the application conditions and falls under no ground for exclusion. Public procurement rests on free access to the tender.
Are all public bodies buyers?
Most public bodies are buyers subject to public-procurement rules, as are certain private-interest organizations funded or controlled by a public body. It is the status of buyer that triggers the rules.
Do these definitions apply outside France?
Public procurement and the public contract are defined differently across jurisdictions. Each country has its own public-purchasing framework; check the rules that apply in the market in question.
Understand a real public tender
Bring a real set of tender documents. You will see requirement-extraction coverage, sources cited on every page, and a gap analysis of your response, not a prepared demo.
Written by the compliance and presales team at Optivalue.ai. Last reviewed: 5 September 2026. This page does not constitute legal advice.
Sources cited
- Public procurement rules defining the public contract (in the United States, the Federal Acquisition Regulation; in the United Kingdom, the Procurement Act 2023); the applicable rule in each market should be verified.