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Basic glossary

Depending on the size:

  • BELOW THRESHOLD CONTRACTS: Small contracts than don’t have the same amount of regulation, publicity, procedures and control as the normal ones. Normally, they are assigned directly to a contractor and the only information we have is the amount, the date, the object and the winner.

  • ORDINARY CONTRACTS: Those above threshold but below the EU control.

  • EU CONTROLLED CONTRACTS: the ones affected by the EU directive and that are published in TED. These contracts are interesting because we could, if needed on the investigations, work not only with the four countries data, but also with a general overview of the biggest contracts for the whole Europe. According to the directive, the threshold for them is:

Article 4

Threshold amounts

This Directive shall apply to procurements with a value net of value-added tax (VAT) estimated to be equal to or greater than the following thresholds:

(a)  ►M2  EUR 5 548 000  ◄ for public works contracts;

(b)  ►M2  EUR 144 000  ◄ for public supply and service contracts awarded by central government authorities and design contests organised by such authorities; where public supply contracts are awarded by contracting authorities operating in the field of defence, that threshold shall apply only to contracts concerning products covered by Annex III;

(c)  ►M2  EUR 221 000  ◄ for public supply and service contracts awarded by sub-central contracting authorities and design contests organised by such authorities; that threshold shall also apply to public supply contracts awarded by central government authorities that operate in the field of defence, where those contracts involve products not covered by Annex III;

(d) EUR 750 000 for public service contracts for social and other specific services listed in Annex XIV.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02014L0024-20180101

Depending the procedure (for all except for minor contracts):

  • OPEN TENDER: Any operator can participate.

  • CLOSE TENDER: Only selected operators can participate. It could be with or without prior publicity.