Contract value checker

The explanations on this page were generated with the help of an AI system. The calculations are tested as described in how we check.

Whether the EU procurement rules apply depends on the buyer's estimated value of the whole procurement, net of VAT, compared with the thresholds in Article 4. Article 5 says what counts: options, renewals, prizes, all the lots together, and special rules for services without a total price and for leasing. This checker applies those rules to the figures you enter and tells you which rule produced each part of the total.

Your figures stay in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or stored.

What it can't do: the estimate is the buyer's, made when the call for competition is sent (Article 5(4)), so your own figure may differ from the one that counts. It doesn't apply national thresholds or rules below the EU thresholds. Background: EU procurement thresholds 2026–2027.

1. What is being bought, and by whom

Contract and buyer

Type of contract Works Supplies Services Social and other specific services (Annex XIV)

Buyer Central government authority (listed in Annex I) Other public buyer (sub-central: regions, municipalities, most public bodies) The two thresholds for supplies and services depend on this. If you're not sure, the documents or the notice usually say which kind of authority the buyer is.

2. How the procurement is structured

Structure

One contract

Divided into lots

A framework agreement, dynamic purchasing system or innovation partnership

3. The values, net of VAT

Euros net of VAT, using a dot for decimals (for example 45000 or 45,000.50). The figures start with the cleaning-contract example from our thresholds guide.

How the price is expressed

Price model A total price for the whole contract A value per year Services with no total price (a monthly value) Leasing, hire, rental or hire purchase of products Regular supplies or services, or ones renewed within a period

Total payable for the whole contract (€) For insurance, banking or design services, include premiums, fees, commissions, interest and other remuneration (Article 5(13)).

Value per year (€)

Initial term in years

Renewal or extension years set out in the documents Count them even if the buyer may never use them. Renewals "explicitly set out in the procurement documents" are part of the value (Article 5(1)).

Monthly value (€)

The contract has a fixed term

Term in months, including extensions

The lease or hire has a fixed term

Term in months

Total payable over the term (€)

Estimated residual value (€), counted if the term is over 12 months

Monthly value (€)

Basis Similar contracts in the previous 12 months or financial year, adjusted Successive contracts in the 12 months after the first delivery

Value on that basis (€)

Added to the value

Options set out in the documents (€, optional) For example extra quantities or services the buyer may order. Don't enter renewal years again here.

Prizes or payments to candidates or tenderers (€, optional)

Supplies and services the buyer makes available for the works (€, optional)

Check the value

The rules behind it

Article 5(1) sets the starting point: "the total amount payable, net of VAT, as estimated by the contracting authority, including any form of option and any renewals of the contracts as explicitly set out in the procurement documents". The other paragraphs say how to count particular kinds of contract. The method can't be chosen to avoid the Directive, and a purchase can't be split to keep it under the threshold unless there are objective reasons (Article 5(3)).

What the checker covers

• Options and renewals (Article 5(1)), and prizes or payments to candidates or tenderers.
• Works: supplies and services the buyer makes available that are necessary for the works (Article 5(7)).
• Lots: the value of all lots together. If the total reaches the threshold, the Directive applies to each lot. Lots under €80,000 (supplies or services) or €1 million (works) may be awarded outside it, up to 20% of the total value of all lots (Article 5(8)–(10)).
• Frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems and innovation partnerships: the maximum value over the whole term (Article 5(5) and (6)).
• Regular or renewable supplies and services (Article 5(11)), leasing of products (Article 5(12)) and services without a total price (Article 5(14)).

What it doesn't cover

Separate operational units of a buyer (Article 5(2)), which depend on how the buyer is organised. National thresholds and rules below the EU thresholds. Utilities, concessions and defence contracts, which have their own Directives and thresholds. For supplies bought by central government authorities in the field of defence, the €140,000 threshold applies only to the products in Annex III (Article 4(b)).

How it is tested

Amounts are handled in whole cents, so nothing is rounded. The tests reproduce the examples in our thresholds guide, check the edges of each rule (a value exactly at the threshold, 48 against 49 months, 12 against 13 months of leasing), and compare the results with a separately written program on 4,000 random cases. See how we check.