Mainframe operating system software package

Choose 48621000 only when the operating system targets a mainframe. The sibling codes exist precisely to keep machine classes apart: a minicomputer OS is 48622000, a microcomputer OS is 48623000, a PC OS is 48624000, and open-systems operating systems sit at 48625000. An estate of x86 servers or desktops almost certainly belongs in a different branch.

The practical trigger is the iron. Contracting authorities that still run a central mainframe, typically pension funds, social-security institutions, tax administrations and large banks, use this code to renew the system software that keeps that machine running. Because mainframe system software is licensed on fixed renewal cycles, the same small set of authorities tends to return to this code year after year.

One boundary to watch: this code is the software layer. The mainframe hardware itself, and pure maintenance of that hardware, belong under their own codes. Where a single contract bundles the OS licence with the box or with support, set the primary CPV code by whichever element is the dominant purpose of the contract.

This is a narrow, platform-locked market, and you should size it that way before bidding. Mainframe operating systems are tied to the hardware platform, so the realistic field is the platform owner and a short list of certified partners and resellers; a generalist software house has little to offer here. The disclosed mean of about €3.3M (TED 2009-2026) makes each award worth chasing, but there are only a handful per year across the whole EU.

What carries a bid is platform certification, a credible support and licensing relationship, and the ability to handle usage-metered licensing and renewal. Incumbency is heavy: the authority running a Z-series machine is renewing what it already depends on, and switching the underlying OS is rarely on the table. Price competition tends to happen at the reseller margin, not on the software itself.

Neighbouring bidders arrive from the open-systems operating-system code (48625000) and from clustering software (48626000), but those are different machine classes and different buyers. If you are not already inside the mainframe ecosystem, this is a hard code to win cold.