# Guides to public procurement

These guides explain what a supplier needs to know to bid in Swedish and European public procurement: how to tell whether you qualify, how to price, how evaluation works, what an award decision contains and which mistakes most often cost a contract.

Updated 2026-10-27 · Source: https://useprocura.com/en/guides · Omega Software Group AB

The guides are written for people who bid now and then, not full time: owners and managers at smaller health and social care providers. They are based on the Swedish Public Procurement Act (2016:1145), LOU, and on guidance from the National Agency for Public Procurement (Upphandlingsmyndigheten). Where we refer to a section of the law, it is written out so you can check it yourself.

## Which guides are there?

- [Mandatory criteria and qualification criteria](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/mandatory-criteria): How to read tender documents and quickly see whether you qualify, with a checklist.
- [How to price a tender](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/pricing-a-tender): Step by step: the evaluation model, your own costing, previous awards and what secrecy hides.
- [Award decisions and winning prices](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/award-decision): What the decision contains, how the standstill period works and how to request documents.
- [Lowest price or best price-quality ratio](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/lowest-price-or-best-value): The three award bases in LOU and how a quality deduction is calculated, with a worked example.
- [Common tender mistakes](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/common-tender-mistakes): Ten concrete mistakes that get small companies' tenders rejected, and how to avoid them.
- [How to read tender documents](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/tender-documents): What each document in the tender pack decides, and the order to read them in to reach a no fastest.
- [Go/no-go: should we bid?](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/go-no-go): Three steps and twelve questions that decide whether a tender is worth writing, with a printable checklist.
- [What does it cost to win a public contract?](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/cost-of-a-tender): Why your share of tenders won decides the cost, and how to run the numbers on your own figures.
- [Go/no-go checklist, printable (in Swedish)](https://useprocura.com/guider/go-no-go-checklista): The checklist on one sheet: fill it in for every procurement you are considering.
- [Glossary](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/glossary): Procurement terms from A to Z, explained in plain English.

## What do all the terms mean?

Procurement has a language of its own: ESPD, standstill period, review, award basis. The glossary explains each term briefly and links on to the right guide. Start with, for example, [qualification criteria](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/glossary#kvalificeringskrav) or [award decision](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/glossary#tilldelningsbeslut), or read the whole [glossary](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/glossary).