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Reference · Sub-threshold procurement

Sub-threshold public procurement in Europe: where to find it

Most European public contracts never appear on TED. They sit below the EU thresholds, follow national law, and are published only on the buyer's own portal — more than 75 of them across the continent. This page lists what exists per country, which portal carries it, and how many procedures are open right now. All figures measured on 2 September 2026.

The thresholds that draw the line

€221,000 for supplies and services (€143,000 for central government bodies), €5,538,000 for works. At or above these values, EU-wide publication on TED is mandatory. Below them, each member state applies its own rules — and the notice lives on a national or regional portal only.

In our live corpus: 23,630 of 90,231 currently open procedures are sub-threshold. Historically we hold 11,624,508 sub-threshold notices — the single largest such collection we are aware of.

Country by country: what is open right now, and where it is published

CountryOpen sub-thresholdNational portal(s) carrying them
Germany4,919service.bund.de · cosinex marketplaces of the federal states (DTVP, Brandenburg, RLP, Lower Saxony, MV) · RIB meinauftrag · evergabe-online · HAD Hessen · AI-AG Vergabe@Net (Saxony, Bremen, Saarland, MV)
Spain3,823PLACSP — including contratos menores (minor contracts), published as daily open data
Poland3,700BZP / ezamowienia.gov.pl (isTenderAmountBelowEU flag)
France3,644BOAMP (MAPA and FNS procedures) · buyer profiles (PLACE, Maximilien, Atexo)
Greece3,472KIMDIS / promitheus.gov.gr
Belgium1,067e-Procurement / TED-linked national notices
Italy780ANAC PVL — since 2024 every Italian platform publishes here by law, incl. affidamenti diretti
Bulgaria377EOP (Centralised Automated Information System)
Romania375SICAP / e-licitatie (direct acquisitions)
Finland365Hilma (national and small-value procurement flags)
Latvia235IUB open data (procedureLegalBasis distinguishes below/above)
Estonia233Riigihangete register
Hungary194EKR (Nemzeti = national procedures)
Netherlands182TenderNed (europees=false marks national procedures)
Ireland111eTenders

"Open" means a submission deadline in the future, measured daily. Coverage differs per country and we say so: the full source list with volumes and freshness is on the facts page. Countries not listed here are covered above threshold via TED but not yet at national level.

Why this matters for small and foreign bidders

Sub-threshold procedures are where small companies realistically start: lighter formal requirements, often self-declarations instead of certificates, and measurably fewer competitors. They are also the part of the market that is hardest to monitor — which is precisely why most bidders never see them.

Legal form is no barrier anywhere in the EU (Art. 19 Dir. 2014/24/EU): sole traders and freelancers may bid. See Do I need a limited company? No.

Frequently asked

What counts as sub-threshold procurement in the EU?
Any public contract below the EU thresholds — currently €221,000 for supplies and services (€143,000 for central government authorities) and €5,538,000 for works. Below those values there is no EU-wide publication duty: national procurement law applies, procedures are lighter, and the notice appears only on the buyer's national or regional portal.
Why doesn't TED show sub-threshold tenders?
Because TED implements the EU publication duty, which starts at the thresholds. TED is complete and authoritative above them and shows nothing below by design — that is not a gap in TED, it is its scope.
Where can I find sub-threshold tenders across Europe in one place?
Friedrich & Clement aggregates national and regional portals into one search: currently 90,231 open procedures from 27 countries, of which 23,630 are sub-threshold and therefore not on TED. Search is free and requires no account. The alternative is to work each national portal separately — over 75 of them, each with its own search interface and language.
How many sub-threshold contracts are there in total?
Our historical corpus holds 11,624,508 sub-threshold notices out of 20,626,274 total, alongside 14,904,428 contract awards. By count — not by value — sub-threshold contracts are the majority of European public procurement.
Is sub-threshold procurement easier to win for small companies?
Usually yes, for two measurable reasons: fewer bidders compete, and procedures are lighter (often self-declarations instead of certificate stacks). Legal form is never a barrier — Art. 19 of Directive 2014/24/EU forbids rejecting a bidder for being a natural rather than a legal person.
Can a company from another EU country bid on sub-threshold tenders?
Yes. Below the thresholds there is no EU-wide advertising duty, but there is also no ban on foreign bidders — national rules and the general principles of non-discrimination apply, and home-country evidence and references count. It happens rarely: in German construction awards of the past three years, 649 of 238,564 recorded contracts went to foreign firms.

Figures are measured daily from the sources listed above, not estimated. Methodology and known gaps: /fakten. Legal statements are general information, not individual legal advice.

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