Bureaucracy and the problems associated with public tenders are no longer a marginal issue for many companies, but a real obstacle, especially in the communications and creative industries. Although transparent tendering procedures make sense in principle, the formalities, evidence and effort required are often disproportionate to the order volume.

Problems and bureaucracy start right at the beginning

Let's imagine we need a new company car - let's say an electric van for around €65,000, including optional extras.
And let's imagine we were to formulate such a ‘public tender’:

Dear Car Dealerships
We are pleased that you are taking part in the public tender. Please submit the following documents with your offer:

Overview of qualifications, including language skills and certificates of your employees, suppliers, etc.
Turnover figures for the past three years
Proof of insurance (minimum €5 million coverage)
Excerpt from the commercial register
Evidence of minimum wage payment and adherence to collective bargaining agreements
Confirmation that the management has no criminal convictions, no associations with Scientology, and no partnerships with Russian entities
A 20-page proposal that covers all costs for the next 6 years, along with a plan for positioning your model in the mobility landscape
Three references from clients, including their contact details
Submit a material sample of the seat covers in a sealed envelope
A 30-minute vehicle presentation by the managing director in Berlin (since our CEO will be in the city with his family on the planned date)
A 15-minute discussion on the pros and cons of the presented model

Deadline for submissions is in two weeks, at 10:00 AM. You can only participate if you’ve registered in writing.

We look forward to receiving your offer!

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That would be absurd, right?

€12,000 worth of bureaucratic effort and work for free

Well – that’s exactly the reality for agencies facing all the bureaucracy and numerous issues in public tenders related to communication, design, and marketing. Even with budgets around €20,000. And since we’re talking about numbers:
On average, a pitch costs each agency €12,000 – even before they are selected as a finalist. If we also assume that five agencies are invited (in most cases, it’s many more), we quickly arrive at the following equation:

€12,000 x 5 agencies = €60,000.
€60,000, going to waste, not contributing to the GDP, just fading away! Such a paradox! And that’s not even enough.
Each frderal state – in some cases, each municipality – has its own platform (https://evergabe.nrw.de/VMPCenter/company/welcome.do). Digitalisation? Sadly, often just in theory. Those who navigate the maze of tender portals might, with a bit of luck, gain access to 15–20 poorly formatted Word or PDF documents. Fillable? Sometimes. Digital signature? Often unavailable. The standard procedure: Print, sign, scan, upload. Welcome to Germany in the 21st century!

What needs to change in public tenders: Reducing bureaucracy

It’s about appropriate proportionality: Evidence of competence and experience (https://gipfelgold.de/portfolio/) are definitely essential and sensible for certain budget sizes – after all, the world’s longest bridge shouldn’t be built by a drywaller – but they must remain within reasonable limits.
Unified, central platforms – intuitive, digital, transparent.
Proportionality of requirements – depending on volume and complexity.
Real digitalisation, not a digital alibi.

Otherwise, access to the public market remains closed to many good small agencies – not due to incompetence, but because of a lack of time and cost-effectiveness.