The complete guide to EOJN: Croatia's government procurement portal

What is EOJN?

EOJN (Elektroniçki oglasnik javne nabave — Electronic Public Procurement Journal) is Croatia's centralised e-procurement portal, accessible at eojn.nn.hr. Operated by Narodne novine (the official gazette publisher) on behalf of the Ministry of Economy, EOJN is the mandatory publication channel for all Croatian public procurement notices above statutory thresholds.

Since Croatia joined the EU in 2013, its procurement system has been fully aligned with EU directives. EOJN serves as the national equivalent of TED (Tenders Electronic Daily), with above-threshold notices automatically forwarded to TED for pan-European visibility.

What EOJN publishes:

• Contract notices (Obavijest o nabavi) — new procurement opportunities from contracting authorities across Croatia
• Contract award notices (Obavijest o sklopljenim ugovorima) — outcomes of completed procedures including winning bidder and contract value
• Prior information notices (Prethodna informacijska obavijest) — advance notices of planned procurement exercises
• Corrigendum notices — corrections and modifications to existing tender notices and specifications
• Design contest notices — competitions for architectural, engineering, and creative design services

Above-EU-threshold contracts are simultaneously published on TED, making them visible across the entire European Union. Below-threshold national procedures appear only on EOJN.

Budget spending analysis

Croatia's procurement thresholds are aligned with EU directive values. The system operates on two tiers: national thresholds (EOJN only) and EU thresholds (EOJN + TED). The governing law is the Zakon o javnoj nabavi (ZJN) — the Public Procurement Act.

Below the national thresholds, contracting authorities use simplified procurement ("jednostavna nabava") governed by internal regulations. These micro-procurements are generally not published on EOJN and are invisible to the broader market.

Note: Croatia adopted the euro as its currency on January 1, 2023, replacing the kuna (HRK). Older procurement data and some references may still use HRK values (at the fixed rate of 1 EUR = 7.53450 HRK).

Who spends the money?

• Central government — approximately 30% of total procurement spend. Ministries, central agencies, and state enterprises.
• Local and regional government (županije, gradovi, općine) — approximately 35% of total spend. Counties, cities, and municipalities handling infrastructure, education, healthcare, and public services.
• Utilities and sectoral entities — approximately 20% of total spend. Energy (HEP), water, transport, and postal operators procuring under sectoral directive rules.
• EU-funded projects — approximately 15% is directly attributable to EU structural and cohesion fund co-financed projects.

Top procurement sectors

• Transport infrastructure — motorway construction and maintenance (Hrvatske ceste, HAC), rail modernisation (HŽ Infrastruktura), port and airport development. Heavily EU-funded.
• IT and digital transformation — e-government platforms, digital public services, cybersecurity, and national data infrastructure. Growing under Croatia's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO).
• Healthcare — hospital equipment, e-health systems, pharmaceutical procurement. HZZO (Croatian Health Insurance Fund) and hospital centres are major buyers.
• Energy — HEP (Hrvatska elektroprivreda) group procures across generation, distribution, and renewables. Grid modernisation and renewable energy projects drive significant tender volumes.
• Water and environment — EU-funded water supply and wastewater treatment projects. Croatia has significant investment needs to meet EU environmental standards.
• Defence — military modernisation under Croatia's defence development plan. Procurement through MORH (Ministry of Defence) and the Croatian Armed Forces.

Budget calendar

Croatia's fiscal year runs from January to December. The annual budget (državni proraçun) is submitted to the Sabor (parliament) in autumn and adopted before year-end. Key timing:

• October–December: Budget debate and approval. Agencies prepare procurement plans for the coming year.
• January–March: New budget year begins. First wave of tender publications. Contracting authorities publish annual procurement plans (plan nabave) on EOJN.
• April–June: Peak tender publication period. EU structural fund projects launch procurement processes.
• July–September: Mid-year execution. Supplementary procurements and multi-year project phases.
• October–December: Year-end spending push. Agencies commit remaining budget before fiscal year close.

EU structural fund programming cycles (currently 2021–2027) and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO, worth EUR 6.3 billion) drive significant additional procurement waves. Croatia faces absorption pressure to spend EU funds within set deadlines, creating predictable surges in tender volume.

Who buys on EOJN?

Understanding which entities buy what is critical for targeting the right opportunities. Here are the most significant contracting authorities on EOJN:

How to register on EOJN

To participate in Croatian public procurement, suppliers must register on the EOJN platform. The process is open to both Croatian and foreign companies.

What you need:

• EOJN account — create an account at eojn.nn.hr. Registration is free.
• OIB (Osobni identifikacijski broj) — Croatia's personal/corporate identification number. Croatian companies already have one. Foreign companies may need to obtain an OIB through the Tax Administration (Porezna uprava) or may use their EU VAT identification number.
• Qualified electronic signature — Croatian procurement requires bids to be submitted electronically with a qualified electronic signature. EU-issued qualified signatures are accepted under eIDAS.
• ESPD (European Single Procurement Document / EOJN) — a standardised self-declaration used at the bidding stage. Generated via the EOJN platform's integrated ESPD module.
• Company registration documents — extract from the Croatian Court Register (sudski registar) or equivalent foreign registration documentation.
• Tax clearance certificate — certificate of no outstanding tax obligations from the Porezna uprava (Tax Administration) or equivalent foreign authority.

Foreign company access: Under EU procurement directives, companies from EU/EEA member states and GPA signatory countries have equal access to above-threshold procurements. No Croatian subsidiary is required. Documents in foreign languages must be accompanied by certified Croatian translations.

Registration on EOJN is straightforward and typically takes 1–2 business days. Ensure your qualified electronic signature is set up before attempting to submit bids.

The language challenge

EOJN and all Croatian procurement documentation operate primarily in Croatian (hrvatski). Tender notices, specifications (dokumentacija o nabavi), and correspondence are published in Croatian. This creates a barrier for international vendors unfamiliar with the language.

Key Croatian procurement terms you will encounter:

Above-EU-threshold notices are also published on TED in English summaries, but the full tender documentation remains in Croatian. Effective participation requires either Croatian language capability or professional translation support.

Understanding Croatian procurement procedures

Croatian public procurement is governed by the Zakon o javnoj nabavi (ZJN) — the Public Procurement Act, which transposes the EU procurement directives (2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU) into Croatian law. The most recent comprehensive revision entered into force in 2017, with subsequent amendments.

Key procurement procedures under the ZJN:

• Otvoreni postupak (Open procedure) — the most common procedure. Any interested supplier can submit a bid. Used for the majority of above-threshold contracts.
• Ograniçeni postupak (Restricted procedure) — two-stage process. Suppliers first submit requests to participate; the contracting authority shortlists candidates, then invites them to bid.
• Natjecateljski postupak uz pregovore (Competitive procedure with negotiation) — for contracts requiring negotiation on technical or contractual terms.
• Natjecateljski dijalog (Competitive dialogue) — used for complex contracts where the contracting authority cannot define technical specifications upfront.
• Partnerstvo za inovacije (Innovation partnership) — for developing and purchasing innovative products or services not available on the market.
• Pregovaraçki postupak bez prethodne objave (Negotiated procedure without prior publication) — direct award without competition. Strictly limited to circumstances defined in the ZJN.

Disputes are heard by DKOM (Državna komisija za kontrolu postupaka javne nabave — State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures). DKOM decisions can be further appealed to the High Administrative Court (Visoki upravni sud).

How to search EOJN effectively

The EOJN platform provides a public search interface for all published procurement notices. However, its native search is keyword-based and operates in Croatian — which means you need to know the right Croatian terms to find relevant opportunities.

Tips for effective searching:

• Search by CPV codes (Common Procurement Vocabulary) — language-neutral EU-standard codes. For example, 72000000 for IT services, 45000000 for construction works. CPV codes are the most reliable cross-language search method on EOJN.
• Use NUTS codes to filter by geography — Croatia uses HR codes (e.g., HR01 for Continental Croatia / Zagreb, HR02 for Adriatic Croatia). Essential when targeting specific counties (županije).
• Search by contracting authority name (naruçitelj) to track specific buyers. Large entities like Hrvatske ceste and HEP Group publish regularly.
• Check annual procurement plans (plan nabave) — contracting authorities publish these on EOJN. They reveal upcoming opportunities before formal tender notices appear.
• Monitor TED in parallel — above-threshold Croatian contracts appear on TED with English-language summaries, providing a complementary search channel.
• Review contract award notices (obavijest o sklopljenim ugovorima) to understand what specific authorities have recently bought, at what prices, and from which suppliers.

The fundamental limitation: EOJN's search requires Croatian-language keywords, and procurement terminology often differs from commercial language. A cloud infrastructure project might be described as "usluge informacijske tehnologije" (IT services). Hook solves this with semantic search in English — you describe what you sell, and Hook finds matching Croatian tenders regardless of the exact wording used.

Common questions for vendors

How Hook helps with Croatian procurement

Hook is an AI-powered search tool that sits on top of EOJN and TED. Instead of navigating a Croatian-language interface with keyword search, you ask Hook in plain English.

Example queries Hook understands:

• "Show me road construction tenders from Croatian government agencies"
• "What IT contracts has the City of Zagreb awarded above EUR 500K this year?"
• "Find energy infrastructure tenders in Croatia closing in the next 30 days"
• "Which Croatian hospitals are procuring medical equipment?"

Hook returns structured results: notice number, contracting authority, title (translated), estimated value, procedure type, and deadline — formatted for direct import into your CRM or pipeline. No Croatian language skills required. No manual TED cross-referencing.

Hook also monitors EOJN continuously. New notices appear in Hook within minutes of publication. For vendors targeting Croatia's EUR 5–7 billion annual procurement market, this replaces daily manual checks across EOJN and TED.