Swiss public tenders draw more competition than Europe's, but half the money stays in the home canton

Neuchâtel, 26 September 2026 – Swiss public tenders attract far more competition than those in the European Union, but half of cantonal and communal contracts go to firms from the buyer's own canton. That is the finding of the first analysis of every award published on simap.ch since January 2025, by the federal government, cantons, communes and public companies: 19,710 awards worth CHF 47.3 billion.

• Competition: 9.9% of open tenders received a single bid; the European Court of Auditors measured 41.8% across the EU in 2021. Neuchâtel (19.8%) and federal buyers (14.3%) are the exceptions; Thurgau (5.1%) and Lucerne (5.2%) have the most bidders.
• Home advantage: 51% of cantonal and communal awards go to a firm from the same canton, 61% in construction. Ticino keeps 70% at home, Zug 23%.
• Without a tender: CHF 4.5 billion was awarded directly because only the incumbent or the maker could deliver, among them the Lausanne m2 metro control system (CHF 352 million) and SBB's rail-control partnership with Siemens Mobility (CHF 280 million). 16% of direct awards publish no reason.
• Speed and access: a tender takes a median of 111 days to be awarded, from 70 in Graubünden to 152 in Vaud. Firms founded in the last five years won 2.8% of the award value.

«Switzerland does better than its reputation on competition: a public tender typically draws four bids. The cost sits elsewhere, in contracts that stay in the home canton and in systems that only their maker can maintain. For a company owner, a book of public contracts is proof of competitiveness, and also a dependency that a buyer from another canton does not inherit.»

Background

The federal procurement report published on 18 September 2026 covers the federal administration, about CHF 6.7 billion a year. Cantons and communes have no comparable report. Awards from open and selective procedures must be published on simap.ch (Art. 48 IVöB/BöB); direct awards only above the international thresholds, so the published direct-award figures are a lower bound.