EU and National Procurement Thresholds 2026 in Finland

The threshold determines which rules apply to a public procurement. Below the national threshold, small purchases are tendered under the contracting authority's own guidelines. Between the national and EU thresholds, the Finnish Procurement Act's national procedures apply. Above the EU threshold, the stricter rules of the EU procurement directives take over.

At the start of 2026 the EU thresholds fell by roughly two per cent, while the Finnish national thresholds stayed the same. All values in the table are exclusive of VAT and are compared against the estimated contract value.

The national threshold is the lower limit for applying the Procurement Act. Purchases below it are small-value procurements outside the Act, although the principles of transparency, equal treatment and non-discrimination still apply.

Above the threshold, the procurement must be advertised on Hilma and bidders gain the right to appeal to the Market Court. This makes the national threshold a significant line for bidders' legal protection: small-value procurement decisions cannot be appealed to the Market Court.

National thresholds are set in the Procurement Act itself, so they do not follow the EU's two-year revision cycle. They have remained unchanged since the Act entered into force in 2017.

Procurements above the EU threshold are advertised EU-wide on TED in addition to Hilma. The procedure then includes the ESPD form, longer tender periods and a 14-day standstill period before the contract can be signed.

The European Commission confirmed the new thresholds in October 2025 through Delegated Regulations (EU) 2025/2152 (classical directive), 2025/2150 (utilities) and 2025/2151 (concessions). The values apply for 2026–2027.

The limits fell by roughly two per cent from the previous period, which means some procurements that were previously tendered nationally now move to EU procedures. The €750,000 threshold for social and other specific services comes directly from the directive and is not affected by the currency-based revisions.

Contracting entities in the water, energy, transport and postal sectors follow the Utilities Procurement Act (1398/2016). It contains only EU-level thresholds – there is no national threshold, so utilities purchases below the limit fall outside the Act.

Defence and security procurement is governed by its own act (1531/2011), which sets both national and EU-level thresholds. With NATO membership and rising defence budgets, the volume of defence procurement in Finland is growing, making these limits increasingly relevant for defence industry suppliers.

For a bidder, the thresholds tell you where a tender is published, how much time you have to prepare an offer and what legal remedies are available. The three tiers differ clearly.

Thresholds are compared against the estimated value of the procurement, calculated under Sections 27–31 of the Procurement Act. The basis is the maximum total consideration payable, excluding VAT, covering the full contract period and all option and extension clauses.

If a service contract has no total price and runs indefinitely or for more than 48 months, the value is calculated on a 48-month basis. For framework agreements, the estimate covers the maximum value of all procurements planned under the framework.

A procurement may not be split into parts or its value calculated with exceptional methods in order to circumvent the rules (Section 31). Unlawful splitting can lead the Market Court to overturn the procurement decision.

The Commission revises the EU thresholds every two years based on the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, tracking the exchange rate between the euro and the SDR currency basket. The next values will be confirmed in late 2027 and take effect on 1 January 2028.

Finnish national thresholds change only through an amendment to the Procurement Act. They have stayed the same since 2017, although raising them is discussed from time to time. The values on this page are kept up to date, so you can bookmark it as a threshold checklist.