Guidance to public authorities on awarding low value contracts

On 24 July 2006 the European Commission published guidance on how public authorities should award fairly contracts which are of low value. While these contracts do not fall within the EU's public procurement regime, the Commission advises that they should nevertheless be awarded in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner where there is a potential for cross-border interest in the contracts.

The Commission's guidance is not binding but suggests best practice for public authorities on how to award contracts in a transparent and non-discriminatory way.

The guidance applies to public authorities' services or supplies contracts with a value of less than EUR137,000 (for central government bodies) or EUR211,000 (for other public bodies) or works contracts under EUR5,278,000. The guidance is also relevant to services contracts which fall within the EU's public procurement directives but to which only a very limited set of rules apply ("Part B services").