In public procurement, thresholds are the amounts above which a particular procedure is prescribed. They therefore determine how openly a contract must be tendered — and for suppliers, whether a contract becomes publicly visible at all. The term WTO thresholds points to the highest tier: the values from the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Agreement, above which covered procurement applies.
The underlying logic
The legislator pursues two opposing goals. On one hand public procurement should be transparent and competitive, which argues for a formal, open procedure. On the other, routing every small purchase through a months-long tender would be disproportionate. Thresholds resolve that tension by tying the degree of formality to economic significance. The higher the contract value, the more open the prescribed procedure — from direct award through the invitation procedure to the open procedure in covered procurement.
Why there is no single figure
There is no single number to memorise. Thresholds differ by contract type — supplies, services and construction work are treated differently, and construction sometimes differentiates further between main and ancillary trades. They also differ by level and awarding body, and separate values apply in the utilities sector. On top of that the amounts are reviewed and adjusted periodically. A practical rule follows: thresholds belong looked up in their current version for every procedure and never quoted from memory.
Covered procurement
Above the thresholds from the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, a contract sits in what is called covered procurement. There the strictest requirements on transparency, equal treatment and non-discrimination apply, and market access is at its widest — including for suppliers from other contracting states. For a Swiss company that means two things: larger contracts are reliably publicly visible, but the competitive field is correspondingly broader. Below covered procurement, procedures are leaner and the field is often more regional.
How contract value is determined
What governs is not the price of an individual bid but the estimated total value of the contract. For a multi-year agreement the value across the term counts; for a framework agreement, the estimated total volume of all call-offs. Where a project is split into lots, the total value of the project generally governs rather than the individual lot, which is meant to prevent a project being pushed below a threshold by splitting. Such artificial splitting to circumvent thresholds is not permitted — a point relevant to suppliers because it constitutes a possible ground of appeal.
What happens below the thresholds
Suppliers regularly underestimate the area below the thresholds. Numerous awards happen there in invitation or direct-award procedures, and they are often more accessible to smaller and regional firms than the large, heavily contested procedures. A firm known in that space and registered with awarding bodies as a capable supplier receives invitations. The route there does not run through a search engine, however, but through visibility, references, and a willingness to handle smaller contracts carefully.
Practical consequence
Three points hold for daily work. First, the procedure type follows from contract value, and knowing the procedure tells you how much formality to expect. Second, the values change and must be checked in their current form. Third, a suspicion that a project was wrongly awarded in a closed procedure is a possible ground of appeal — the choice of procedure is itself reviewable. Knowing that, you read the procedure line of a publication with different eyes.