# How to become an ESA registered supplier as a startup

> How a startup registers on esa-star, claims SME status, finds ESA tenders and prime subcontracts, and uses ESA BIC Belgium before its first ESA contract.

- URL: https://fadec.aero/blogs/space-technologies/how-to-become-an-esa-registered-supplier
- Author: Eric Dauchy, Co-Founder and CEO, EuroGrowth
- Published: 2026-10-07
- Publisher: FADEC — Flanders Aerospace & Defence Cluster (https://fadec.aero/)

**TL;DR:** Register your company on esa-star, ESA's tendering and registration system: a Light registration lets you bid, a Full registration is needed for a contract. Claim SME status at step 6 of registration. Then watch esa-star Publication for intended and open tenders, look at prime subcontracts, and consider ESA BIC Belgium for early funding and coaching.

Registering with ESA takes an afternoon; becoming a supplier ESA actually contracts takes a plan that starts long before the first invitation to tender.

To become an ESA registered supplier as a startup, register your company on esa-star, the European Space Agency's system for registration and tendering, and claim SME status while you do it. A Light registration lets you see tenders and submit proposals; a Full registration is required before ESA can award you a contract. Registration is the easy part. Winning work then depends on finding the right tenders early on esa-star Publication, writing proposals that score well against ESA's published criteria, and often entering first as a subcontractor to a prime or through an ESA business incubation centre.

This guide walks through each step for a Belgian startup, with the official pages for every rule.

## What does "ESA registered supplier" actually mean?

There is no separate supplier licence. ESA says that [registration on esa-star](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/esa-star_open_for_business) is mandatory for any entity that wants to do business with the Agency and is not yet registered. Once your entity is registered and validated, you can follow tenders, express interest, submit proposals and, with the higher registration level, sign contracts.

esa-star has three modules, and a startup uses all three:

| Module | What it does | When you use it |
|---|---|---|
| esa-star Registration | Holds your entity data; you claim SME status here | Once, then an update every year |
| esa-star Publication | Carries intended invitations to tender (IITTs) and invitations to tender (ITTs) | Every week, to spot work |
| esa-star Tendering | Receives your proposal | For every bid |

ESA calls esa-star "the default electronic Tendering interface for ESA and its external partners". In other words, it is not only for contracts placed by ESA itself: prime contractors can publish their own subcontract tenders there too (more on that below).

## How do you register on esa-star, step by step?

ESA's [registration page](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/How_to_do/esa-star_Registration_Process) sets out a short sequence:

1. **Check whether you already exist.** Your organisation may already be registered as an entity, or as a business unit of an existing entity. A university spin-off or a company inside a group should check this first, so it does not create a duplicate.
2. **Register the entity.** If it is not there, complete ESA's online questionnaire and submit it for validation.
3. **Wait for validation.** After ESA validates the entry, you get access to esa-star's features and services.

A user manual is linked from the registration page. Prepare the company facts before you start: legal name and form, enterprise and VAT numbers, address, ownership, headcount and financial figures. The SME claim at step 6 (see the next section) needs the headcount and financial data, and group data if you belong to a group.

### Light or Full registration?

ESA uses two levels:

- **Light:** grants "access to all esa-star services up to and including proposal submission".
- **Full:** required for the award of ESA contracts.

A startup can therefore begin with a Light registration, follow tenders and submit a first proposal, and complete the Full registration once a contract is in sight. Do not leave that to the last week: the contract cannot be awarded until the Full registration is in place.

## How do you claim SME status, and why bother?

ESA follows the EU definition of a small and medium-sized enterprise (Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC). Its [SME criteria page](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/Small_and_Medium_Sized_Enterprises/Definition_of_small_and_medium-sized_enterprises_SME_and_criteria) gives the thresholds:

| Category | Staff | Turnover | or balance sheet total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micro | fewer than 10 | up to €2 million | up to €2 million |
| Small | fewer than 50 | up to €10 million | up to €10 million |
| Medium-sized | fewer than 250 | up to €50 million | up to €43 million |

The ceilings apply to the individual company, but if you belong to a larger group, group data may have to be counted. A startup majority-owned by a large industrial group may not qualify.

The claim itself is made at **step 6 of esa-star Registration, in the "SME section"**, as chapter 2.4 of the user manual describes. ESA verifies the data before granting the status. Once granted, the status appears in the public SME list and in your profile in the esa-match directory. Because entities must update their registration data every year, the status is reassessed annually.

Why it matters: ESA says that to benefit from its SME measures, "including special tendering and payment conditions where they apply", you must claim SME status during registration. ESA's [SME pages](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/Small_and_Medium_Sized_Enterprises) also list support around it:

- the **SME Office** (SME-Office@esa.int), which helps SMEs, start-ups and newcomers get involved in ESA research and development;
- **esa-match**, a free online platform for finding business partners;
- **SME training courses** through the year and the ESA Learning Hub;
- **Industry Space Days** at ESTEC in Noordwijk (the 2026 edition ran on 16 and 17 September);
- the **Open Discovery Ideas Channel** of the Open Space Innovation Platform, for submitting ideas.

## Where do you find ESA work once you are registered?

### Intended and open tenders on esa-star Publication

esa-star Publication carries two kinds of notices: **intended invitations to tender**, which signal work ESA plans to procure, and **invitations to tender** that are open now. For an open tender, you express interest, which creates a bidder's restricted area where you receive the full tender documents and later submit through esa-star Tendering.

Treat the intended invitations as your early warning. A small company that sees a relevant intended tender months ahead has time to find partners, check eligibility and prepare. One that waits for the open tender often has a few weeks.

### Subcontracts from prime contractors

Much of the hardware in a large ESA mission is bought by the prime contractor, not by ESA directly. ESA has a [Code of Best Practices](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/How_to_do/Best_practices_for_ITTs_published_by_prime_contractors) for how primes select subcontractors. It targets major procurements, such as space or ground segment above €20 million, though it may be applied to any procurement. Under it:

- ESA has full visibility and takes part in preparing the prime's tender;
- the prime appoints a tender evaluation board with ESA representatives;
- the recommended tender is the best combination of technical quality and price;
- no tender with an overall weighted mark below 60 is put forward unless the recommendation explains how to raise it.

Primes can register on esa-star as external entities and publish these tenders there. For a startup this is often the more realistic first contract: a defined part of a larger system, bought under ESA-supervised rules.

### Calls aimed at early-stage ideas

Some ESA channels are designed for newcomers rather than established suppliers. The Open Space Innovation Platform takes ideas through its Open Discovery Ideas Channel. The General Support Technology Programme works with industry to turn engineering concepts into usable products. The SME pages also maintain a list of business opportunities adapted to SMEs and a procurement dashboard.

## How does ESA buy, and how will your proposal be judged?

ESA describes its procurement in eight phases, from planning to debriefing:

1. Planning and preparatory phase
2. Initiation phase
3. Preparation of the invitation to tender or request for quotation
4. Distribution of the invitation to tender or request for quotation
5. Tendering: preparation and submission of an offer
6. Admission and evaluation of offers
7. Award and placing of contracts
8. Debriefing of unsuccessful tenderers

Ask for the debriefing if you lose. For a first-time bidder it is the cheapest lesson available.

### The scoring scale

ESA publishes a set of evaluation criteria and weighting factors with each tender. Its [evaluation page](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/How_to_do/The_evaluation_of_tenders_and_proposals_to_ESA), under Article 28 of the Contracting Regulations (ESA/REG/001 Rev.6), explains the marking scale:

| Mark | Rating |
|---|---|
| 100 | Perfect |
| 90 | Excellent |
| 75 | Very good |
| 60 | Good |
| 50 | Fair |
| 40 | Acceptable |
| 0 to 39 | Unacceptable |

ESA adds that weighting factors stop a total from being "artificially inflated" by high scores in areas where compliance is expected, such as accepting the administrative and contractual conditions. In practice, the technical and management criteria carry the weight. Read the criteria and weights first, then build the proposal around them.

### Technical submission rules that trip up newcomers

esa-star Tendering accepts PDF documents without dynamic content, unencrypted and not password protected, up to 250 MB per file. ESA recommends testing your connection, authentication and document formats with a preliminary offer before the deadline. Do that test a few days ahead, not on the morning of the deadline.

## Why does your country's ESA contribution matter to a supplier?

ESA's industrial policy aims, among other things, to "ensure equitable participation among Member States" with regard to their financial contributions, and to exploit the advantages of free competitive bidding. The [rules and regulations page](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Law_at_ESA/Highlights_of_ESA_rules_and_regulations) lists the industrial policy rules on geographical return coefficients (REG-9) and the Contracting Regulations, revision 6, in force since 1 January 2025.

The practical consequence: the more a country subscribes to an ESA programme, the more contract value the Agency aims to place with industry in that country. That makes the national subscription relevant to a Belgian startup.

BELSPO's [debriefing of the November 2025 ministerial council](https://www.belspo.be/belspo/space/doc/Presentations/20251205_CM-ESA-Bremen-2025_BELSPO-Debriefing-presentation.pdf) gives the figures:

- Belgian subscriptions at the 2025 council: **€1,109 million**, including the Ministry of Defence's subscription to optional programmes, or **5.06%** of total ESA subscriptions of €22.07 billion.
- Belgian space resources for 2025 to 2030: **€1,845 million** (a €1,277 million base, a €168 million defence participation and a €400 million one-off increase), about €369 million a year, of which about €335 million a year goes to ESA.
- Belgian Defence: investment programmes of €617 million for 2026 to 2034 in defence space applications.

In short, Belgium has subscribed to a substantial set of ESA programmes, and contracts in those programmes look for Belgian industrial participation. Knowing which programmes Belgium subscribed to tells you where your bid is most welcome. BELSPO, the federal science policy office that prepared and debriefed Belgium's subscriptions, is the place to ask which programmes those are.

## Should a startup start with ESA BIC Belgium instead?

For a very young company, a direct ESA contract may be a step too far. The ESA business incubation centres exist for that stage. According to ESA's [incubation centre page](https://access.esa.int/about-access/about-scale-up/business-incubation-centres), they offer:

- up to two years of incubation;
- **€50K of equity-free funding** for product and IP development;
- legal and IPR advice, fundraising guidance and business coaching;
- technical support from regional experts and ESA.

Applicants typically develop applications that use space-based systems (navigation, Earth observation, satellite communication), use space technology in a non-space domain, or develop new products for the space sector. Applications are always open. You contact your local centre first, submit a cover letter, business plan, incubation proposal and appendices, and successful applicants present to a tender evaluation board. Only a company can sign the incubation contract, so incorporate before signing.

**ESA BIC Belgium** is managed by Novaspace and BeCentral, with offices in Brussels. Its [website](https://space-business.be/) says applicants must be based in Belgium with a commercially viable idea that develops products using satellite applications, space data or space technology, and that it coaches start-ups on ESA and BELSPO processes. Our [funding guide for aerospace startups](/blogs/eu-programmes/funding-for-an-aerospace-startup-in-europe) puts the BIC next to the other European options.

## What should a startup prepare before its first ESA bid?

| Item | Why ESA or a prime asks for it |
|---|---|
| Full esa-star registration | Needed for contract award |
| SME status claimed and current | Unlocks SME tendering and payment conditions |
| A quality management approach | Primes and evaluators look for a working quality system |
| A costing basis | ESA uses standard price breakdown forms and costing tools |
| A clear position on background IP | ESA contracts carry intellectual property clauses |
| Named people with space heritage | Evaluators score team experience |

Two of these deserve a word. First, quality: space and aviation primes usually expect a recognised quality management system, and many suppliers work towards AS9100. Our guide on [AS9100 certification for a small company](/blogs/aerospace-manufacturing/as9100-certification-for-a-small-startup) explains the effort involved. Second, costs: ESA's "How to do business" section has guidance on its price breakdown (PSS) forms and its ECOS costing software. Learn them before your first bid; a proposal with a weak cost breakdown loses marks that a better technical team cannot win back.

## A realistic 12-month path for a Belgian space startup

| Months | Step |
|---|---|
| 1 | Register on esa-star (Light), claim SME status, create an esa-match profile |
| 1 to 3 | Read Belgium's subscriptions, contact BELSPO and the ESA SME Office, follow intended tenders |
| 2 to 6 | Apply to ESA BIC Belgium if the company is early stage |
| 3 to 9 | Meet primes and Belgian integrators; bid for a subcontract or a small ESA study |
| 6 to 12 | Complete the Full registration before a contract award; set up product assurance and costing |

FADEC brings together aerospace, space and defence companies in Flanders, with space technologies and satellite applications among its focus domains. Members use the network to meet the integrators that win ESA primes, to find partners for a joint bid and to hear about relevant tenders early. See [membership](/membership) or [get in touch](/contact) if that would help.

## Common mistakes in a first ESA bid

- **Registering too late.** Validation takes time, and a Full registration is needed for award.
- **Skipping the SME claim.** Without it, the SME conditions do not apply to you.
- **Answering the technology, not the criteria.** The evaluation follows the published criteria and weights.
- **Ignoring intended tenders.** The intended notice is your preparation time.
- **Bidding alone for work that suits a team.** Many first contracts come as subcontracts to an experienced prime.
- **Not asking for a debriefing.** Phase 8 of ESA's process exists for unsuccessful tenderers.

## Quick answers

**Do I have to register before I can bid for ESA work?**
Yes. ESA says registration on esa-star is mandatory for any entity that wants to do business with ESA and is not yet registered. A Light registration covers everything up to and including submitting a proposal.

**What is the difference between a Light and a Full esa-star registration?**
A Light registration grants access to all esa-star services up to and including proposal submission. The award of an ESA contract requires a Full registration.

**How does a startup get SME status with ESA?**
By claiming it in the SME section at step 6 of esa-star Registration. ESA uses the EU SME definition, verifies the data before granting the status, and reassesses it each year when entities update their registration.

**Where are ESA tenders published?**
On esa-star Publication, which carries intended invitations to tender and open invitations to tender. Expressing interest in an open tender creates a restricted area for your bid.

**What does ESA BIC Belgium offer a startup?**
ESA business incubation centres offer up to two years of incubation and €50K of equity-free funding for product and IP development. ESA BIC Belgium is managed by Novaspace and BeCentral in Brussels.

## Sources

1. [esa-star registration process (ESA)](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/How_to_do/esa-star_Registration_Process)
2. [esa-star: open for business (ESA)](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/esa-star_open_for_business)
3. [Definition of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and criteria (ESA)](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/Small_and_Medium_Sized_Enterprises/Definition_of_small_and_medium-sized_enterprises_SME_and_criteria)
4. [Small and medium-sized enterprises (ESA)](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/Small_and_Medium_Sized_Enterprises)
5. [The evaluation of tenders and proposals to ESA (ESA)](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/How_to_do/The_evaluation_of_tenders_and_proposals_to_ESA)
6. [Best practices for ITTs published by prime contractors (ESA)](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/How_to_do/Best_practices_for_ITTs_published_by_prime_contractors)
7. [Highlights of ESA rules and regulations (ESA)](https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Law_at_ESA/Highlights_of_ESA_rules_and_regulations)
8. [Business incubation centres (ESA ACCESS)](https://access.esa.int/about-access/about-scale-up/business-incubation-centres)
9. [ESA BIC Belgium (space-business.be)](https://space-business.be/)
10. [CM-ESA Bremen 2025 debriefing, December 2025 (BELSPO)](https://www.belspo.be/belspo/space/doc/Presentations/20251205_CM-ESA-Bremen-2025_BELSPO-Debriefing-presentation.pdf)