Tightening of public procurement regulations following new European threshold amounts from January 1, 2026
On October 23, 2025, the new European threshold amounts that tighten public procurement regulations were published in the European Official Journal. When awarding public procurements, the contracting authority must take into account a number of threshold amounts.
The European threshold amounts indicate whether or not a public procurement is subject to the European regime, and in particular to the European rules on publication, references in the tender documents, remedies, etc.
Public procurements with an estimated value equal to or higher than the European thresholds will be subject to European publication. This means that the public procurement must be published in the European Official Journal and in the Belgian Bulletin of Public Procurement (Bulletin der Aanbestedingen/ Bulletin des adjudications).
Public procurements whose estimated value is below the European thresholds are subject to Belgian publication only. In this case, they only need to be published in the Belgian Bulletin of Public Procurement.
In addition to serving as a threshold for European publication, the European thresholds are also used as a benchmark for the application of certain awarding procedures. For example, in the case of public procurements for supplies and services where the estimated contract value is below the European threshold, negotiations, and more specifically the competitive procedure with negotiations or the simplified negotiated procedure with prior publication, may be used.
To determine the value of the public procurement, specific estimation rules must be used. In any event, there must be no artificial division to circumvent the application of the rules.
The European threshold amounts for public contracts for 2026-2027 are (excluding VAT):
| Sector | Type of public procurement | ‘Old’ threshold amounts (valid until December 31, 2025) | ‘New’ threshold amounts (valid from January 1, 2026, until December 31, 2027) |
| Classical sectors | Works | 5.538.000 euro | 5.404.000 euro |
| Supplies and services to decentralised authorities | 221.000 euro | 216.000 euro | |
| Supplies and services to centralised/federal authorities | 143.000 euro | 140.000 euro | |
| Special sectors and defense and security | Works | 5.538.000 euro | 5.404.000 euro |
| Supplies and services | 443.000 euro | 432.000 euro | |
| Concessions | (Public) works | 5.538.000 euro | 5.404.000 euro |
| Services | 5.538.000 euro | 5.404.000 euro |
In contrast to previously (with regards to the threshold amounts for 2024-2025), there has been a decrease in the threshold amounts, which means that the regulations have been tightened once again.
The new threshold amounts will apply from January 1, 2026, and, as usual, have been set for a period of two years. They will therefore apply until December 31, 2027.
The new amounts will have to be transposed into Belgian legislation by means of a ministerial decree amending the various royal decrees adopted in implementation of the Public Procurement Act (and the Concession Act).
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