CHF 2.6M of chocolate pudding: Switzerland's strangest public tenders
Every Swiss public tender above a threshold lands on simap.ch, the federal procurement platform. The dataset goes back to 2008 and covers federal offices, cantons, cities, hospitals, railways and the army. Most of it is roads, IT and consulting. Some of it is chocolate pudding.
We went through 137,000 awarded contracts worth a combined CHF 240 billion and picked the ones that stopped us mid-scroll. Everything below is a real, completed public tender with a named winner and a published price.
CHF 2.6 million of chocolate pudding
The procurement database lists it as "Dessertcrème Schokolade in Portionen": individual chocolate dessert cups, the kind you peel open in a canteen. Armasuisse awarded CHF 2,594,400 to Guma AG for the contract in June 2025. The Swiss army feeds roughly 100,000 people during annual training weeks, which puts the per-portion cost at a few cents.
Black shoe polish: CHF 1.9 million
In November 2016, armasuisse spent CHF 1,942,800 on "Schuhcreme schwarz für Kampfstiefel 90": black shoe polish for the combat boot model 90. The contract went to Frike Chemicals AG. When your army has 140,000 reservists and every pair of boots has to shine for inspection, the tubes add up.
The railway also buys socks
SBB's corporate textiles department ("Konzerneinkauf Textilien") awarded CHF 1,179,900 for "Socken" in May 2019, split between Jacob Rohner AG and Würth AG. The same Rohner. SBB employs about 34,000 people, many of whom wear uniforms and company-issued footwear. The socks come with them.
Toilet paper for the entire federal administration
The Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics (OFCL) manages procurement for the entire federal administration. Its November 2008 contract with Cartaseta-Friedrich + Co, worth CHF 3,762,000, covered "Papier hygiénique": toilet paper. A multi-year framework for every federal building in the country.
Half a million francs in Swiss Army knives
Victorinox AG received CHF 500,000 from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (DEZA) for "Beschaffung Victorinox Taschenmesser": pocket knives. DEZA distributes them as official gifts during diplomatic missions. The February 2025 contract was a direct award, permitted under federal rules when only one supplier makes the specified product.
A church organ for CHF 1.5 million
Orgelbau Kuhn AG, based in Männedorf on Lake Zurich, has been building organs since 1864. Its latest public contract: CHF 1,500,000 for an "Orgelneubau in bestehendem Gehäuse" (a new organ built into the existing case) at the Reformed Church of Herzogenbuchsee in canton Bern, awarded in June 2026. A public tender for a church organ is unusual: it means the parish is publicly funded or the amount exceeds the cantonal threshold for ecclesiastical bodies.
What the list says about Swiss procurement
The oddities are genuine, but they sit inside a system that is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. Switzerland publishes every major contract, no matter how ordinary or how strange. A framework deal for chocolate pudding, a church organ, or a pair of socks gets the same transparency as a highway tunnel. That is the point: the system does not decide what deserves scrutiny, it publishes everything and lets the public decide.
The numbers are framework totals, spread over several years and sometimes several suppliers. A CHF 7.3 million sock contract covers every pair issued to every soldier over the life of the deal. A CHF 2.6 million dessert contract covers every chocolate cup served in every military canteen. Per unit, the prices are unremarkable.