Summary
- Bundestag: 23 April 2026. Bundesrat: 8 May 2026. Entry into force: 1 July 2026.
- The federal direct award threshold rises from €15,000 to 50.000 € — more than tripled.
- Negotiated award up to €100,000, restricted tender without a competitive call up to €150,000.
- Electronic processing becomes the standard — if you only subscribe to one portal, you will systematically lose visibility from July.
- Digital sovereignty is now a permissible award criterion — no longer just a marketing argument.
The Public Procurement Acceleration Act is through. After the Bundestag on 23 April, the Bundesrat approved it on 8 May 2026. It enters into force on 1 July — and it changes which contracts are still tendered visibly at all and which are quietly awarded below the threshold.
For companies that regularly bid on public contracts, this is no minor footnote. The new value thresholds shift how a considerable share of public contract volume is awarded — and with it, who gets the chance to submit a bid at all.
What the Act Specifically Changes — 5 Points for Bidders
1. Federal direct award: up to €50,000 without a publication requirement. Previously, the limit was €15,000. For mid-sized purchases, contracting authorities no longer run formal tenders — they approach 2–3 suppliers directly. If you are not on a contracting authority’s radar, you won’t feature in this segment from July onwards.
2. Negotiated award up to €100,000. Contracting authorities don’t need public competition, but select directly from known suppliers. Speed and existing relationships decide.
3. Restricted tender without a competitive call up to €150,000. Here too: no open competition, no publication obligation. The contracting authority invites a defined group of companies.
4. Electronic processing becomes the standard. Market consultations run primarily digitally, often only via links rather than full notices. If you subscribe to a single central portal today, you will cover only part of the market from July.
5. Digital sovereignty is now a permissible award criterion. Contracting authorities can in future openly include GDPR compliance and German infrastructure as a requirement in their evaluation. In procurement law, this is a new category — until now it was legally difficult to enforce.
For Your Bid Process
How many of your top 5 contracting authorities awarded contracts under €150,000 in the last 12 months? That is your visibility risk from 1 July — and at the same time your growth lever, if you get there before the competition.
Point 4 is the invisible lever
The higher value thresholds are the obvious part. The structurally more significant effect lies in point 4: awards will in future be announced but no longer fully published — often only as a link in a collective notice, or not at all, because direct awards no longer carry a publication requirement.
If you organise your tender monitoring through a single portal today, you will systematically miss contracts from July — not because you bid too slowly, but because you never see them. From 1 July, multi-source monitoring is no longer a convenience feature. It is a basic prerequisite for maintaining your contract volume.
We expect the contract volume below €150,000 — that is, the entire range without an open publication requirement — to grow by 30–40%. That sounds like an opportunity. For companies without the corresponding visibility, it is first and foremost a risk.
What Point 5 Means for Providers of Digital Services
Alongside the Procurement Acceleration Act, the Bundestariftreuegesetz was passed — a new mandatory field in every federal tender. Anyone who cannot provide the required collective-agreement compliance declaration is formally excluded.
And with point 5: if you offer software, data or digital infrastructure and can rely on German hosting locations and GDPR compliance, you can assert this as an evaluation-relevant criterion from July. “Made in Germany” is now legally robust under procurement law — it wasn’t before.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Public Procurement Acceleration Act 2026
When does the Procurement Acceleration Act apply?
The act enters into force on 1 July 2026. The Bundestag and Bundesrat approved it in April and May 2026. Direct awards up to €50,000 without a publication requirement are possible from that date.
Which value thresholds apply to the federal government from July 2026?
Direct award without publication: up to €50,000. Negotiated award: up to €100,000. Restricted tender without a competitive call: up to €150,000. These thresholds apply to the federal government; states and municipalities can set different rules.
What does the change mean specifically for bidders?
Contracts below the new thresholds will no longer be publicly tendered. Companies that are not actively on contracting authorities’ radar will not receive an invitation. If you want to hold on to volume there, you need to be visible to the relevant bodies — before the need arises, not only when the request arrives.
Conclusion
The Procurement Acceleration Act doesn’t just speed up procurement processes on the contracting authority side. It increases selection pressure on the bidder side. If you aren’t visible in the relevant segments below €150,000 and lack multi-source coverage, you lose contract volume — not because of weaker bids, but because of missing visibility.
The new criteria for digital sovereignty and the Bundestariftreuegesetz are additional filters that well-positioned providers can use as a lever.
How does this change your bid process in practice?
Over the past few weeks, we have discussed with mid-sized companies in mechanical engineering, leasing and landscaping what they make of the new value thresholds. If you want to work this through for your industry — 15 minutes is enough for a concrete assessment.
Philipp Hennig
Founder & Managing Director, aiconver GmbH — LinkedIn