EU Procurement Thresholds 2024–2025: Current Values and What They Mean

EU procurement thresholds define when a contracting authority must comply with the full requirements of EU Directive 2014/24/EU, including mandatory OJEU publication, minimum tender periods and formal evaluation procedures. Below these thresholds, national rules apply — typically the OGP guidelines for services and supplies, or the Capital Works Management Framework for construction.

The thresholds are set in euros and revised every two years by the European Commission based on changes in the Special Drawing Rights currency basket. Contracting authorities should note that VAT-exclusive contract values are used for threshold comparison.

For works contracts (construction and civil engineering), the EU threshold for central government contracting authorities stands at €5,538,000 (VAT exclusive) for the 2024–2025 period. Sub-central contracting authorities — including local authorities and health bodies such as the HSE — apply the same threshold for works. This figure represents a significant capital commitment and most infrastructure projects of scale will exceed it.

Ireland's Capital Works Management Framework applies to all publicly-funded construction and infrastructure projects. For projects below the EU works threshold, contracting authorities still follow CWMF guidance on procedure selection, though they are not bound by the OJEU publication obligations.

For supplies and services contracts, the threshold differs by type of contracting authority. Central government authorities face a lower threshold of €143,000 for supplies and Part B services. Sub-central authorities and utilities apply €221,000. Light-touch regime services (health, education, legal) have a significantly higher threshold of €750,000 before full OJEU publication is required.

The OGP maintains a live threshold table on its website. Contracting authorities should review this at the start of each procurement to confirm whether above or below-threshold rules apply, particularly for multi-year contracts where the estimated contract value must include all option periods.

Contracting authorities must aggregate related contracts when calculating value. A common audit finding is that an authority split a contract artificially across multiple smaller awards to fall below the threshold — a practice known as 'contract splitting' that is expressly prohibited by S.I. 284/2016 and carries legal risk. The estimated total value must include optional extensions and renewal periods.

GovIQ's routing engine performs threshold checks automatically against the current EU values and flags when a procurement crosses from below to above-threshold territory — including detecting when related lots should be aggregated. This protects contracting authorities from inadvertent breaches.