New thresholds for EU procurement from 2026

In the new year, the EU thresholds for all Europe-wide procurement procedures will be lowered.

Every year, the German public sector awards contracts worth hundreds of billions of euros to companies. 1 January 2026 In public procurement law, the new EU thresholds apply to all Europe-wide They are different from the previous Thresholds light lowered The new values ​​are relevant for all procurement procedures published from January 1, 2026, or for procedures without a publication requirement, where the invitation to submit a tender is then issued.

Effective January 1st 2026 The thresholds will be adjusted as follows:

• Directive for traditional public contracts:

• Construction services: EUR 5.404.000 (instead of the previous 5.538.000 euros)
  
  
• Deliveries/Services: 216.000 euros (instead of the previous 221.000 euros)
  
  
• Central government agencies: 140.000 euros (instead of the previous 143.000 euros)

• Sectoral Directive:

• Construction work: 5.404.000 euros (instead of 5.538.000 euros)
  
  
• Deliveries/services: 432.000 euros (instead of the previous 443.000 euros)

• Concession Directive:

• 5.404.000 euros (instead of the previous 5.538.000 euros).

All threshold amounts are Net values without VAT. Implementation by the German legislator is no longer necessary, as the EU regulations are implemented through the dynamic references in the procurement regulations apply immediately. However, their validity is for the next two years, so until December 31, 2027 limited.

The thresholds are for estimating the Order value relevant, which contracting authorities must determine before the start of a procurement procedure. If the Net order value If the services to be awarded exceed the threshold value, the contracting authority is obliged to provide a Europe-wide procurement procedure to be carried out. The order value determination is carried out according to Section 3 of the Procurement Ordinance. After that, all lots and all options, especially those for contract extension, but also those for contract expansion, must be added together.

Source: ZDH

Procurement law 
Procurement law includes all provisions that govern public sector must be observed when purchasing goods and services. There is no uniform law for the award of public contracts; it is based on a multitude of regulations. Whether a service is to be tendered Europe-wide depends on whether certain contract thresholds are exceeded, whereby the Total value of the tendered project, not the individual lot.

The award above the EU thresholds In Germany, among other things, they regulate the Law against Restraints of Competition and the Regulation on the award of public contracts, only for construction contracts the VOB/A.

For awards below of EU values, the Sub-threshold Public Procurement Ordinance (UVgO), For ConstructionHowever, awards remain in Subthreshold area the VOB/A In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Collective Bargaining and Public Procurement Act and other state regulations also apply.

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