diff --git a/apps/api/src/tenders/geo/nuts-bundesland.ts b/apps/api/src/tenders/geo/nuts-bundesland.ts
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+/**
+ * NUTS-1 -> Bundesland derivation (FILTER-02, D-02, Pitfall 1).
+ *
+ * `Tender.bundesland` is 100% NULL in the live DB (0/1671 rows, verified)
+ * because the Phase-10 normalizer explicitly deferred NUTS->Bundesland
+ * mapping to this phase (`tender-normalizer.service.ts` previously set
+ * `bundesland = null` unconditionally). Without this derivation the
+ * Bundesland filter would return a constant zero result and look like a
+ * bug rather than an empty column.
+ *
+ * `region` holds a EU NUTS code (e.g. `DE212`); the first 3 characters
+ * (`DE` + one Bundesland-level digit/letter) form the stable NUTS-1
+ * region — the standardized, deterministic EU classification scheme,
+ * unlike a PLZ-range heuristic (PLZ zones cross Bundesland borders).
+ *
+ * Validated against real region samples pulled from the live DB
+ * (`docker exec tessera-ctl-db-1 psql`, Assumption A1):
+ *   DE212 (60 rows) -> Bayern (Oberbayern)
+ *   DE300 (56 rows) -> Berlin
+ *   DE600 (38 rows) -> Hamburg
+ *   DE712 (34 rows) -> Hessen (Darmstadt)
+ *   DEA22 (24 rows) -> Nordrhein-Westfalen (Köln)
+ */
+
+export const NUTS1_BUNDESLAND: Record<string, string> = {
+  DE1: 'Baden-Württemberg',
+  DE2: 'Bayern',
+  DE3: 'Berlin',
+  DE4: 'Brandenburg',
+  DE5: 'Bremen',
+  DE6: 'Hamburg',
+  DE7: 'Hessen',
+  DE8: 'Mecklenburg-Vorpommern',
+  DE9: 'Niedersachsen',
+  DEA: 'Nordrhein-Westfalen',
+  DEB: 'Rheinland-Pfalz',
+  DEC: 'Saarland',
+  DED: 'Sachsen',
+  DEE: 'Sachsen-Anhalt',
+  DEF: 'Schleswig-Holstein',
+  DEG: 'Thüringen',
+};
+
+/**
+ * Derive the Bundesland name from a NUTS region code's NUTS-1 (3-char)
+ * prefix. Null-safe: null/undefined/empty region (17%+ of live rows) and
+ * unrecognized prefixes return `null` instead of throwing — never crash
+ * on the common missing-region case.
+ */
+export function bundeslandFromRegion(region?: string | null): string | null {
+  if (!region) return null;
+  const prefix = region.slice(0, 3).toUpperCase();
+  return NUTS1_BUNDESLAND[prefix] ?? null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Reverse lookup: Bundesland display name -> NUTS-1 prefix, used by the
+ * query builder for `region: { startsWith: nutsPrefixFor(bundesland) }`
+ * as a fallback path (and available even independent of the backfilled
+ * `bundesland` column).
+ */
+export function nutsPrefixFor(bundesland: string): string | null {
+  for (const [prefix, name] of Object.entries(NUTS1_BUNDESLAND)) {
+    if (name === bundesland) return prefix;
+  }
+  return null;
+}