The public procurement threshold in Belgium is rising to an estimated value of 75,000 euro. On 30 April 2026, the Belgian Council of Ministers approved a preliminary draft that raises the limit for contracts of limited value. Below this threshold, an accepted invoice will soon be enough, and no formal award procedure is required. It sounds like less paperwork. But then comes the question that lingers: if the Court of Audit or the municipal council later asks whether you got value for your money, can you prove it?
The higher the 75,000 euro threshold, the more contracts fall outside formal procurement. And it is precisely those contracts that need tighter management. The procurement safety net that used to record everything now falls away. For a directing organisation that manages by contract value, the work shifts from award to management.
What did the Council of Ministers decide about the 75,000 euro public procurement threshold?
The preliminary draft raises the limit for ‘contracts of limited value’. If the estimated value stays below 75,000 euro, you do not have to follow a formal award procedure. An accepted invoice serves as proof of the agreement. Less administration, faster award, less procedural pressure for your department.
Important not to confuse: that 75,000 euro is a Belgian threshold for small contracts. The often-cited European threshold of 750,000 euro applies to social and specific services. The EU threshold for ordinary services at decentralised authorities sits at 216,000 euro. Three different amounts, three different contexts. For the daily practice of a Flemish city with a pile of small service contracts, the 75,000 euro public procurement threshold carries the most weight.
Does a higher threshold mean less accountability?
No. What disappears with the higher public procurement threshold is the formal procedure. What does not disappear is the duty of accountability. The Court of Audit, the internal audit and the municipal council will keep asking whether public money was spent correctly and whether the supplier performed as agreed.
With a classic procurement procedure, the process itself built the file: specifications, award decision, justification. That file was your safety net when questions came up later. Without a procedure, you have to organise that accountability yourself. Otherwise you are left empty-handed when someone asks: what exactly did we agree, and did the supplier deliver?
The solution does not lie in procurement law, but in what happens after the invoice or award. You have to keep agreements, obligations and performance traceable per contract, even when no specifications preceded it. Anyone who only arranges this at the moment of an audit question is too late.
Where do small contracts quietly slip out of sight?
A large procurement gets attention, a file number and someone responsible. A 40,000 euro contract for green space maintenance, or a small cleaning contract for a single site, ends up in a mailbox and a stray spreadsheet. Three months later, no one remembers where the agreements are.
Take a medium-sized Flemish city with thirty small service contracts that no longer go through procurement because of the higher threshold. The information is spread across several departments, mailboxes and spreadsheets. What goes wrong?
- Contracts that roll over automatically because no one watched the notice period.
- Indexations applied too late or twice, because the indexation formula is not recorded centrally anywhere.
- No insight into performance: did the supplier deliver the agreed quality, or are you paying for something that is not happening?
- Loss of knowledge when staff change, because everything sat in the head of one policy officer.
Each of these points costs money or credibility. And during an audit, it costs time above all, because you are gathering information that is not stored centrally. For municipalities and authorities held to account for their spending, that is a real cost.
The prohibition on splitting: a higher threshold is not a free pass
A higher public procurement threshold tempts you to split contracts. Two contracts of 40,000 euro feel like they are ‘below the limit’, while together they form a single contract of 80,000 euro. That is exactly what the prohibition on splitting counters. You have to add up the estimated value of similar contracts over twelve months. Artificially splitting to stay below 75,000 euro is not allowed.
To keep an eye on this, you need a cumulative view of what you spend with comparable suppliers and categories. Without a central overview of your active contracts, you can split unintentionally without realising it. And that is precisely the kind of mistake an audit does notice. The advice is clear: do not start with a stricter internal rule, but with one place where all categories are visible.
From award to grip: what a contract dashboard makes traceable
GRIP is not a procurement platform and does not draft specifications. GRIP manages what happens after the invoice or award: the content of the contract. For contracts that no longer go through the procurement mill because of the higher threshold, this becomes the only file you have.
In the Contract Dashboard you record per contract what was agreed, which obligations are outstanding, when the indexation is due and whether the supplier is performing. No stray spreadsheet, no mailbox, but one place where you can prove compliance at any moment.
- Agreements and obligations centralised, including for small contracts without specifications.
- Performance measurement per supplier: record whether what was agreed has been delivered.
- Automatic alerts for notice periods and indexation moments.
- Cumulative view of categories and suppliers, so you keep an eye on the prohibition on splitting.
Organisations that tackle this in a structured way save on average 30% on contract administration and around 8% per year on contract costs. GRIP works according to the CATS CM method and is ISO 27001 certified, which matters to public organisations when handling contract data. For municipalities and public authorities, that is the difference between searching after the fact and being able to demonstrate what is going on at any moment.
Frequently asked questions
What is the new public procurement threshold in Belgium?
On 30 April 2026, the Belgian Council of Ministers approved a preliminary draft that raises the threshold for contracts of limited value to an estimated value of 75,000 euro. Below this threshold, an accepted invoice is enough and no formal award procedure is required.
What is the difference between the 75,000 and 750,000 euro thresholds?
The 75,000 euro is a Belgian threshold for small contracts of limited value. The 750,000 euro is a European threshold for social and specific services. For ordinary services at decentralised authorities, an EU threshold of 216,000 euro also applies. These are three different contexts that are often mixed up.
Do I still have to account for contracts below the threshold?
Yes. The formal procedure falls away, but the duty of accountability towards the Court of Audit, internal audit and municipal council remains. You still have to be able to demonstrate what was agreed and whether the supplier performed. That calls for central and traceable contract management.
What is the prohibition on splitting in public procurement?
The prohibition on splitting forbids artificially breaking up a contract to stay below the threshold. You have to add up the estimated value of similar contracts over twelve months. A cumulative view of your contracts helps to prevent this unintentional splitting.
Is GRIP a procurement platform?
No. GRIP does not draft specifications and does not run award procedures. GRIP manages what happens after the invoice or award: the agreements, obligations, performance and indexations per contract. It complements your existing systems, rather than replacing your procurement process.
How do I keep an overview of many small contracts?
By recording all contracts centrally instead of in stray spreadsheets and mailboxes. A Contract Dashboard gives insight per contract into term, indexation, obligations and performance, with alerts for notice periods and indexation moments. That way you keep meeting your accountability duty without a procurement file as a safety net.
When does the higher threshold take effect?
This is a preliminary draft approved by the Council of Ministers on 30 April 2026. The actual entry into force depends on the further legislative process. Do not wait for that to get your contract management in order: small service contracts already call for a central overview today.
Want to see how you keep meeting your accountability duty without a procurement safety net? See how GRIP solves this and book a demo.