How custom software is specified, bought and handed over
Bespoke software is bought as a delivery capability rather than as a product, and the tender documents that matter are rarely the functional requirements. They are the schedules covering intellectual property, source code and exit. Public buyers in this category normally require assignment of the code they pay for, or a licence broad enough to let another supplier maintain it, together with documented handover and a transition period at the end of the term. A bidder proposing a proprietary platform the buyer cannot leave is answering a different question from the one asked.
The delivery structure has converged on phased, incremental work: a discovery or inception phase that is separately priced and separately assessed, then build phases that can be stopped at defined points. Pricing is commonly a capped rate card by role rather than a fixed price for a fixed specification, because the specification is expected to change. That places weight on the rates themselves and on the blend of seniority a bidder proposes, and it is why these competitions frequently include a worked scenario or a technical assessment instead of relying on references alone.
Three compliance requirements sit outside the code and sink otherwise strong bids. Accessibility conformance is generally mandatory for anything citizen-facing and is tested on delivery, not promised at bid. Independent security testing before go-live, with remediation at the supplier's cost, is standard. And hosting, data residency and the separation between the development supplier and the operating environment are usually fixed by the buyer rather than proposed by the bidder. Suppliers who treat these as boilerplate discover at contract signature that they have priced none of them.
This section describes how this category is bought generally, across the public buyers that publish it. The figures elsewhere on this page are measured for this market alone.
Who buys software development in Croatia?
GlobalGov holds 855 software development records from 186 distinct buying organisations in Croatia. The most frequent publishers are Hrvatski Zavod Za Mirovinsko Osiguranje (24 records); HEP d.d. (21 records); Grad Zagreb (20 records); Hrvatska elektroprivreda d.d. (20 records); Ministarstvo Zdravstva (19 records); Financijska agencija (18 records). Between them the 6 largest account for 14% of everything published, so buying here is spread across many separate authorities.
| Buying organisation | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Hrvatski Zavod Za Mirovinsko Osiguranje | 24 | 2.8% |
| HEP d.d. | 21 | 2.5% |
| Grad Zagreb | 20 | 2.3% |
| Hrvatska elektroprivreda d.d. | 20 | 2.3% |
| Ministarstvo Zdravstva | 19 | 2.2% |
| Financijska agencija | 18 | 2.1% |
What are software development contracts worth in Croatia?
791 of the 855 records publish a contract value. The median is $532,800 and the largest single published value is $210.3M. By size, 16 under $100k, 554 between $100k and $1M, 210 between $1M and $10M, 11 above $10M. The remaining 64 publish no value at all, so every figure here describes the priced subset only, and values are as stated by the buyer rather than as finally awarded.
| Contract size | Records | Share of priced |
|---|---|---|
| under $100k | 16 | 2.0% |
| between $100k and $1M | 554 | 70% |
| between $1M and $10M | 210 | 27% |
| above $10M | 11 | 1.4% |
How long do bidders get to respond to software development tenders in Croatia?
Across the 344 Croatia software development notices that publish both a publication date and a closing date, the median response window is 32 days. A quarter of them allowed 30 days or fewer and a quarter stayed open for more than 34. Short turnarounds are the exception rather than the rule here: only 8 (2.3%) closed within a fortnight of being published.
How often are software development tenders published in Croatia?
Croatia publishes about 8 notices a month in this category, 95 in the last twelve months. That is 45% fewer than the 173 published in the twelve months before that. Over the last three years there were 424, spread across 76 separate months of activity since 12 July 2016. June is historically the busiest month. The most recent was published 15 September 2026.
How does Croatia compare with other software development markets?
Among the 50 countries where GlobalGov holds a comparable software development market, Croatia ranks 21st by number of records. The largest is Germany (7,606 records against 855 here). Within Croatia itself, software development is the 4th largest of the 48 procurement categories tracked here.
Where do the Croatia software development records on this page come from?
These 855 records are collected from 2 official sources: TED (799), EOJN (56). GlobalGov is an independent aggregator and is not affiliated with any of them; each record links back to the notice on its issuing portal. The set is rebuilt nightly, and the counts on this page were taken on 2026-10-01.
Open Software Development tenders in Croatia
Showing 10 of the 17 notices open in this category today. Openness uses the same definition as the Croatia market page: active, not marked awarded, cancelled, closed or expired, and either closing in the future or published within the last 90 days with no stated closing date.
Croatia – General utility software package
Croatia – Software maintenance and repair services – Nabava resursa za slanje tekstualnih poruka
Croatia – Maintenance of information technology software – Usluga održavanja Certificirane Database Platforme s inkorporiranim IBM Informix programskim proizvodima u ESA modelu za informacijske sustave u visokom obrazovanju i znanosti
Croatia – Software development services – Nadogradnja Taric, TMS, Taric Input Bridge modula radi osiguravanja visoke dostupnosti
Croatia – IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support – Usluge podrške pri održavanju komponenti Platforme Fondovi EU za potrebe programa NPOO
Croatia – Custom software development services – Podrška i održavanje Programskog sustava „Airport Software“ za prihvat i otpremu, putnika, zrakoplova i tereta
Croatia – Software development services – Optimizacija programske podrške za tržište električne energije
Croatia – Programming services of application software – Usluga nadogradnje OOTS platforme (Once-Only Technical System) u svrhu izdavanja PuB-EAA potvrda atributa
Croatia – Maintenance of information technology software – Usluga održavanja IT infrastrukture - serverska infrastruktura i podrška
Other procurement categories in Croatia
Software Development procurement in other markets
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