Selling to Polish hospitals and public buyers: go direct or through a distributor?

A German manufacturer looking east usually asks the same question first: should we bid for Polish hospital tenders ourselves, or find a Polish distributor? The public record gives a clear answer. Here is how Polish public buyers purchase supplies, why the winners are almost always companies registered in Poland, and how to find and approach the right one.

Putting it simply: Polish public procurement runs in Polish, electronically, under the Public Procurement Law of 11 September 2019. Nothing stops a German company from bidding, but in award notices for supplies on TED 98.7% of awards went to companies registered in Poland, and medical equipment and pharmaceuticals are by far the largest category. The practical route is a Polish distributor that already wins in your category. You can find it by name in the award notices, but you may not send it a cold e-mail.

How Polish public buyers purchase supplies

The Public Procurement Law (Prawo zamówień publicznych, Pzp) applies to contracts of public contracting authorities worth PLN 170,000 or more excluding VAT (article 2(1) with article 28). That national threshold has applied since 1 January 2026. Below it, the Act does not apply.

Above the EU thresholds, procedures follow the EU directives and award notices go to TED. From 1 January 2026, the thresholds for supply contracts are EUR 140,000 for central government authorities and EUR 216,000 for other contracting authorities (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152).

Between the two sits a large national layer. Notices for these procedures are published in the Biuletyn Zamówień Publicznych (BZP), the bulletin of the Public Procurement Office (UZP). The BZP is reached through e-Zamówienia, the national procurement platform, where anyone can browse notices and procedures. The buyer must publish a result notice in the BZP within 30 days of the end of the procedure (article 309).

A few rules shape every procedure:

• Electronic. Communication, including bids, runs by electronic means (article 61). Bids are submitted in electronic form, meaning with a qualified electronic signature; below the EU thresholds a Polish trusted or personal signature is also accepted (article 63).
• A tender deposit is possible. The buyer may require a deposit (wadium) of up to 3% of the contract value (article 97).
• Product evidence. The buyer may ask for evidence that the product meets the specification, such as certificates, test reports or data sheets (articles 105 and 106).
• Equal treatment. The buyer must treat bidders equally and keep competition fair (article 16). A German company is a lawful bidder.

The procedure is in Polish

Article 20(2) Pzp is short: "Postępowanie o udzielenie zamówienia prowadzi się w języku polskim". The procedure is conducted in Polish. Only "in justified cases" may the buyer accept a bid or other documents in a language commonly used in international trade (article 20(3)).

The implementing regulation draws the consequence. Documents drawn up in a foreign language, including the product evidence, are submitted with a translation into Polish, unless the buyer has accepted another language under article 20(3) (Prime Minister's regulation of 30 December 2020, § 5).

For a foreign supplier that means more than translating one form. You read the specification and the draft contract in Polish, ask your questions in Polish, translate certificates and data sheets, and follow the procedure on a Polish platform. Then you deliver to the ward, handle complaints and wait for payment. A public buyer that is a healthcare provider (podmiot leczniczy) may agree a payment term of up to 60 days from delivery of the invoice (article 8(2) of the Act on excessive delays in commercial transactions), so someone has to finance that. A company that already bids in Polish for the same buyers carries none of these costs as a newcomer.

Who wins: Polish-registered companies

Our analysis of TED award notices for supplies published from 2 November 2023 to 30 October 2026 counts 64,933 award notices from buyers in Poland, with 326,068 awards and 9,812 distinct winning companies. An award is one winner on one lot. Of those awards, 98.7% went to companies registered in Poland (methodology).

Companies registered in Germany won 885 of the 326,068 awards, and 122 German-registered companies won at least one.

"Registered in Poland" is the company's country of registration as published in the notice. It includes the Polish subsidiaries of foreign groups, among them German ones. So the figure does not say that every winner is an independent distributor. It says that Polish buyers buy from companies established in Poland. For a manufacturer that means two kinds of winners: distributors you could sign, and the local subsidiaries of manufacturers you compete with. Telling them apart is the first job (what a contract award tells you about a distributor).

Medical supplies dominate

The same analysis counts notices by CPV division. A notice can count in several divisions.

Source: Cresques analysis of TED contract award notices for supplies, 2 November 2023 – 30 October 2026.

Division 33 is by far the largest. Our medical supplies page covers how hospitals buy across Europe.

TED shows only the larger contracts. Below the EU thresholds, our count of BZP notices for delivery contracts published from 24 October 2025 to 31 October 2026 finds 53,725 notices, with 73,553 contracts that name a winner, won by 6,871 companies (sole traders not counted). If you look only at TED, you miss that layer.

How to find who sells your category

1. Pick your CPV codes. Choose the codes that describe your range at the level of a class or category, not a whole division (CPV codes explained).
2. Read the award notices on TED. Filter by buyer country Poland, your CPV codes and result notices. Note the winners, the buyers and the lots (how to read a TED award notice).
3. Read the BZP. Result notices (ogłoszenie o wyniku postępowania) are one of the notice types the buyer places in the BZP (article 267(2)). They show who wins the smaller contracts.
4. Rank by repeat wins. A company that wins your category for many hospitals in several regions is a candidate. One award is a hint, not a pattern.
5. Check what each company is. Read its website and the Polish company register. Drop manufacturers and the subsidiaries of your competitors.

First contact, lawfully

Poland, like Germany, does not allow a cold commercial e-mail to a company. Article 398 of the Electronic Communications Law of 12 July 2024 (Prawo komunikacji elektronicznej, PKE) prohibits using automated calling systems or telecommunications terminal equipment, in particular through interpersonal communication services (the category that covers e-mail), to send commercial information, including direct marketing, to a subscriber or end user "chyba że uprzednio wyraził on na to zgodę": unless they have consented in advance. The law defines an end user as any entity that uses a publicly available electronic communications service for its own needs (article 2 point 86), so a distribution company is protected. Sending without consent is an act of unfair competition (article 398(4)) and a petty offence punishable by a fine, prosecuted at the request of the injured party (article 448).

A German team will recognise the rule: under § 7(2) no. 2 UWG, advertising by e-mail without the recipient's prior express consent is also always an unreasonable nuisance. Our Germany guide covers it.

What works in Poland: a short letter by post to the management board (zarząd), in Polish, with a one-page product sheet and a clear reason why your range fits what the company already wins; the sector's trade fair; or an introduction through a chamber of commerce or an existing customer. Once the distributor has written to you or agreed to hear from you, e-mail is fine. The Poland market page sets out the rule in full. This is a summary, not legal advice; check your outreach plan with an adviser.

What a Polish distributor will expect

Polish labels and instructions where the law requires them. For medical devices, the Polish Medical Devices Act of 7 April 2022 sets the language. A device for lay users must have labels, instructions for use and user interface in Polish, or harmonised symbols or recognised codes, and the EU declaration of conformity in Polish or translated into Polish (article 12(1)). A device for professional users may have labels and instructions in Polish or English, except information meant for the patient, which must be in Polish or given by harmonised symbols or codes (article 12(4)). Even where English is allowed on the device, documents submitted with a bid still need a Polish translation unless the buyer accepts another language (§ 5 of the 2020 regulation).

Entries in the Polish register. Since 1 July 2023 (article 148), a distributor established in Poland that first makes a medical device available in Poland must apply for access to the list of distributors kept by the President of the Office for Registration of Medicinal Products, Medical Devices and Biocidal Products (URPL). It must enter each device it brings into Poland for the first time within 7 days of bringing in the first unit, including its Basic UDI-DI from Eudamed, its type and trade name, and the manufacturer's name and address (article 21). Have those data ready. Under Article 14 of the EU Medical Devices Regulation, the distributor must also verify the CE marking, the EU declaration of conformity, the information supplied with the device and, where applicable, the UDI before it sells.

Price lists in złoty. Settlement in a foreign currency is an option the buyer has to state in the tender documents (Pzp articles 134(2) and 281(2)). Where it does not, the contract is settled in złoty, so the distributor needs your prices in złoty, or a clear exchange-rate rule, with a margin that survives a competitive tender.

Tender support. Translated certificates and data sheets on request, answers to technical questions before the bid deadline, samples, and a position on price changes over a multi-year contract. Our guide to what distributors expect lists the rest.

Step by step

1. Choose the CPV codes for your range and check the size of public demand in Poland.
2. Read Polish award notices on TED and result notices in the BZP for those codes.
3. Build a list of companies that win repeatedly, and drop manufacturers and competitors' subsidiaries.
4. Prepare Polish documents: product sheet, translated certificates and declarations, labels and instructions where required, a złoty price list.
5. For medical devices, collect the data a distributor must enter in the Polish list: Basic UDI-DI, device type and trade name, manufacturer details.
6. Write to the management board by post, meet at the trade fair or ask for an introduction. No cold e-mail.
7. Agree territory, exclusivity, tender support and payment terms, then start with one tender.

Where Cresques fits

Cresques reads the same TED award notices. Create a market for Poland with your CPV categories (a market map is 10 credits) and you see the companies that won supply contracts in them, with the notices behind each name; the Free plan shows the first five. A full company profile (4 credits) shows every award and an AI-researched role: independent distributor, manufacturer, manufacturer's subsidiary, or both. A first message in Polish (1 credit) is drafted for the lawful channel, which in Poland means a letter or another route that is not a cold e-mail. Below-threshold contracts from Poland's BZP are included in the Growth plan (one market) and Scale (three). See what you get and pricing.

What this means for a German manufacturer

Bidding directly is lawful but rarely how Polish public contracts are won. Find the Polish distributors that already win your category, tell them apart from your competitors' subsidiaries, prepare Polish documents and a złoty price list, and open with a letter, not an e-mail. Our Poland playbook covers payment terms, invoicing and buyers' annual plans in more detail.