Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security market in Europe: size, suppliers and public contracts
Market size and key facts
In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 15 supply contracts for business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security through award notices on TED; the 8 of them that state a value (53.3%) add up to €52.1 million.
- Since November 2023, 44 companies have won 138 public supply contracts for business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security in 30 European countries, in 30 award notices from 28 public buyers.
- 9.4% of these awards went to a company registered in a different country from the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Finland.
- The five companies that win most often hold 39.1% of all awards across Europe.
- 5.3% of the awards whose notice states the number of tenders received a single bid.
In proportion
All public purchasing in the EU-27 — general government spending on goods, services and investment, the measure the OECD and the European Commission use for public procurement — came to €2.93 trillion in 2025, 15.5% of GDP (Eurostat). Award notices on TED cover only the contracts above the EU thresholds, so they show who wins, not the whole of that spending.
Source: Eurostat, government finance statistics (gov_10a_main, gov_10a_exp) and GDP (nama_10_gdp), retrieved 9 November 2026.
Updated · counted daily from contract award notices on TED and Eurostat international trade data · figures as JSON · free to quote with attribution (CC BY 4.0)
How to cite: Cresques, "Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security market in Europe", https://cresques.com/markets/europe/790-business-services-law-marketing-consulting-recruit, from TED contract award notices (© European Union) and Eurostat Comext, updated 13 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
CPV group 790 across the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein: how much public buyers award, who wins, where from, and how the market splits by country.
The market in numbers
Public supply contracts in Europe: award notices published on TED from 2023-11 to 2026-11, by publication year.
- Contracts awarded
- 138
- in 30 award notices
- Awarded value
- €63.5M
- from 10% of awards with a published value
- Winning companies
- 44
- with at least one award
- Public buyers
- 28
- hospitals, cities, agencies
Table view
| 2024 | 111 |
| 2025 | 15 |
| 2026 | 12 |
Table view
| 2024 | €5.9M |
| 2025 | €52.1M |
| 2026 | €5.6M |
Table view
| Cities, regions and central administration | 127 |
| Economic affairs | 2 |
| Universities, schools and research | 2 |
| Hospitals and health services | 2 |
| Culture, sport and religion | 2 |
| Electricity utilities | 1 |
| Police, fire services and prisons | 1 |
| Urban transport operators | 1 |
- Sweden10918 companies
- Germany88 companies
- Norway54 companies
- Netherlands43 companies
- Ireland44 companies
- Poland32 companies
- Denmark22 companies
- Lithuania11 companies
- Spain11 companies
- Belgium11 companies
Table view
| Sweden | 109 |
| Germany | 8 |
| Norway | 5 |
| Netherlands | 4 |
| Ireland | 4 |
| Poland | 3 |
| Denmark | 2 |
| Lithuania | 1 |
| Spain | 1 |
| Belgium | 1 |
- Large companies
- Medium-sized
- Small
- SME (size not stated)
- Size not stated
Table view
| Large companies | 10 · 7.2% |
| Medium-sized | 10 · 7.2% |
| Small | 2 · 1.4% |
| SME (size not stated) | 2 · 1.4% |
| Size not stated | 114 · 82.6% |
- Finland11
- Canada1
- Germany1
Table view
| Finland | 11 |
| Canada | 1 |
| Germany | 1 |
Awards to companies registered in the buyer's own country
90.6%
13 awards went to companies registered elsewhere.
Share of the 5 biggest winners
39.1%
Of all awards; a high share means a concentrated market.
Lots with a single bid
5.3%
Among 133 awards whose notice states the number of tenders.
How we count: one award per procedure, lot and winning company, from live contract award notices; a joint procurement counts on every buyer's market. Values are the awarded amounts published in the notice (framework ceilings and estimates are never added), converted to euro at the ECB yearly average. Company size is the SME flag of the notice (eForms BT-165). Read the methodology.
Country pages
Countries with fewer than 25 winning companies in this group have no separate page; their awards are counted above.
Watch this market
One e-mail a week with the new public contract awards for business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security across Europe: what was bought, by whom, who won. Free, no account needed.
The address is used only for this e-mail; unsubscribe with one click in any issue. Details in the privacy policy.
Pick a country and see who wins there
A Cresques market map for one country and this category shows the companies that win these contracts there: how often, for how many buyers and for how much, and whether the leading ones are distributors or manufacturers.
Choose a country for this category — freeFree account, no card: one market map, showing the first 5 companies with their contract awards. Paid plans show every company.
After sign-in the new-market form opens with Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security filled in; you choose the country.
Questions
- How big is the business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security market in Europe?
- In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 15 supply contracts for business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security through award notices on TED; the 8 of them that state a value (53.3%) add up to €52.1 million.
- How many public contracts for business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security are awarded in Europe?
- Since November 2023 public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 138 supply contracts for business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security in 30 TED award notices; the 14 awards with a published value add up to €63.5M.
- Which countries buy the most business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security through public tenders?
- Sweden (109 awards), Germany (8 awards), Norway (5 awards) lead; 44 companies won at least one award across Europe.
- How often do foreign suppliers win business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security contracts?
- 9.4% of the awards went to a company registered in another country than the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Finland.
Source: contract award notices on TED — Tenders Electronic Daily (ted.europa.eu), © European Union, published since November 2023; processed by Cresques. Numbers updated 2026-11-13.