The European Commission has launched a tender for the procurement of sovereign cloud computing services.

The contract, valued at €180 million ($209.09m), will span six years and see the awarded company providing European Union (EU) institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies with sovereign cloud services.

As revealed by the European Commission on October 10, 2025, the contract will fall under the Cloud III Dynamic Purchasing System - the EU's procurement framework for cloud computing services.

It will measure "sovereignty" across several criteria: strategic, legal, operational, and environmental considerations, supply chain transparency, technological openness, security, and compliance with EU laws.

According to the commission, the contract is hoped to serve as "a reference point for cloud providers and a catalyst for the growth of the EU cloud market, especially in the public sector."

It is expected that the contract will be awarded between December 2025 and February 2026.

During its recent earnings call, OVHcloud did not comment on whether it would go for the contract, but CEO Octave Klaba said of the tender: "It takes time, but we're happy to see the market is moving in the right direction."

The issue of digital sovereignty - particularly in the European public sector - has become increasingly discussed in recent years. With many European governments heavily reliant on US cloud providers, their data is subject to the CLOUD Act, which enables the US government to request access to any data hosted by US companies.

The three big US hyperscalers - Google, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft - have all made efforts to reassure European customers about the sovereignty of their data, but despite controls, it likely remains subject to the CLOUD Act.