NACE Rev. 2.1 · Section P
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security
Ministries, local authorities and social security bodies buy through public tenders: NACE P scope and how to follow their calls for tenders across the EU.
What the section covers
Section P covers activities that are governmental by nature: making and interpreting laws and regulations and administering the programmes based on them, taxation, defence, public order and safety, justice, immigration, foreign affairs, and compulsory social security. It has a single division (84).
What counts is the activity, not the legal status. Running the school system – rules, inspections, curricula – is public administration, but teaching itself is education, and a military hospital is health (R). Public hospitals, schools, transport networks and water services are classified with their activity, even when a public body runs them.
Within 84, classes separate general public administration (84.11), the regulation of health care, education, cultural and other social services (84.12), the regulation of business activities (84.13), foreign affairs (84.21), defence (84.22), justice (84.23), public order and safety and fire services (84.24, 84.25), and compulsory social security (84.30).
Divisions
- 84Public administration and defence; compulsory social security
Official labels: European Union, NACE Rev. 2.1.
Who sells to this section
- IT services, software and cloud providers with public-sector offers
- Building works, maintenance, energy and cleaning contractors
- Consultancies for studies, audits, training and communication
- Suppliers of vehicles, equipment, furniture, uniforms and supplies
- Defence and security equipment makers, under the specific rules for defence procurement
Buying signals that matter here
Call for tenders
Declared needThe key signal. Public bodies publish what they want to buy, with the scope, the deadline and often the estimated value. Findingbase collects calls for tenders from TED for every EU country, and German notices from the national procurement data service, so you follow buyers and subjects instead of prospecting them cold.
Contract won
Indirect signalAward notices (TED across the EU, DECP data in France) show who won and for how much: the incumbent to beat next time, when the contract may come back to market, and winners that may subcontract part of the work.
AI hypothesis
AI hypothesisOur AI can read a notice against your offer and explain why it may or may not fit. It is a hypothesis: the tender documents and their requirements remain the reference.
Example searches
Calls for tenders for IT services from public bodies across the EU
- CountryAny EU country (tenders)
- SignalCall for tenders
Calls for tenders from public buyers in one German state (pilot)
- CountryGermany (pilot)
- RegionBavaria
- SignalCall for tenders
Recent award notices, to identify incumbents before the next round
- CountryAny EU country (tenders)
- SignalContract won
Coverage
In France (live), companies of this section are found through their NAF code, translated from NACE Rev. 2.1 with INSEE’s official correspondence table. In Germany (pilot), coverage is partial (companies visible in public procurement, larger companies with an LEI) and no activity code is published: any NACE code is inferred by AI and labelled as such. Other countries are planned. See coverage.
Public bodies are not prospected like companies. They buy under public procurement rules: above set thresholds, the need is published as a call for tenders open to all. Findingbase reaches them through those notices – TED for every EU country, plus the German national procurement data service – rather than through cold outreach. Smaller purchases follow lighter procedures, are not always published, and are not covered in every country. See public-sector suppliers.
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