Finding Small-Value Procurement Opportunities: The Underrated Route for SMEs
Awarda Editorial · · 6 min read
Below-threshold contracts are numerous, less competitive, and a perfect track-record builder — but they require knowing where to look. Here's how to monitor them efficiently.
What are small-value contracts?
In EU public procurement, contracts below certain value thresholds are exempt from the full EU directive requirements. In Lithuania, these are: goods and services contracts below €30,000 (excl. VAT) and works contracts below €100,000 (excl. VAT). Each member state has its own thresholds and simplified-procedure rules.
Because they are below the EU advertising thresholds, small-value contracts do not have to be published in TED. They are typically published on national portals (like CVP IS) or, in many cases, directly on the contracting authority's own website — which makes them harder to discover systematically.
Why small-value contracts are worth your attention
Three reasons: volume, competition, and track record. There are far more below-threshold contracts than above-threshold ones; competition is lighter because larger firms often don't bother with small awards; and every completed contract builds the reference project history that procurement evaluators look for in qualification rounds.
Winning a series of smaller contracts in your target sector is often the most reliable path to qualifying for larger, higher-value awards later.
The discovery problem — and how to solve it
Because below-threshold contracts are scattered across CVP IS, municipal websites, and individual authority portals, manual monitoring is disproportionately time-consuming. A company that checks CVP IS daily may still miss notices published elsewhere.
Awarda aggregates these fragmented sources and applies your CPV-code and value filters, delivering a unified daily digest. You can set a maximum contract value in your profile to see only below-threshold opportunities — saving your bid team from evaluating notices that fall outside your current capacity.
Getting started
The Awarda Starter plan (€79/month, 5 CPV codes) is well suited to below-threshold monitoring. A 3-day free trial lets you see what's available in your sector before committing.
Set your CPV codes, configure your value range, and let Awarda deliver the opportunities every morning. Use the time you save from manual searching to write better bids.