Who issues the call: the authority, the Directorate or the Director

Two things decide who issues, administers and determines a call: the estimated value of the contract and the Schedule in which the contracting authority is listed. This guide follows regulation 9 and regulation 16. The figures are those printed in the consolidated text; the values that apply from 1 January 2026 are on the thresholds page.

The rule: €143,000

• Where the estimated value is less than €143,000, the procurement is issued, administered and determined by the contracting authority on its own, without the need to involve the Director (regulation 9(1)(a)). Administering that procurement is a duty of the authority (regulation 16(1)(b)).
• Where the estimated value equals or exceeds €143,000, it is issued, administered and determined by the Director of Contracts on behalf of the contracting authority (regulation 9(1)(b)).

The Minister determines the thresholds by regulations; they are equal to, and categorised in the same fashion as, those established under the European Union Directives (regulation 9(3)).

The Schedule the authority is listed in

• Schedule 2 lists the contracting authorities that fall within the competence of the Department of Contracts. Every contracting authority draws up its procurement documents; where an authority listed in Schedule 2 needs to publish a procurement that falls under regulation 9(1)(b), it forwards the document and the supporting documentation to the Director, to be vetted, published and administered by him (regulation 16(1)(c)).
• Schedule 3 lists the contracting authorities that administer their own public procurement. Their public contracts are issued, administered and determined by them without the need to involve the Director, subject to the Regulations, including the right of appeal (regulation 9(2)); this extends to procurement that meets or exceeds the threshold (regulation 16(1)(b)).
• Schedule 16 lists the contracting authorities to which regulation 9(1)(c) applies. Where a call is to be published under the open procedure and its estimated value exceeds €10,000 but does not exceed €750,000, the authority prepares the procurement documents and forwards them to the Directorate (regulation 16(2)(a)), which publishes, administers and determines the call on its own, without the need to involve the Director (regulation 9(1)(c)).

Who receives the evaluation report

The addressee of the evaluation report follows the same split (regulation 17(1)):

• for an authority listed in Schedule 2, the report goes to the Departmental Contracts Committee where the value is under the threshold of regulation 9(1)(a), and to the Director where it falls under regulation 9(1)(b);
• an Evaluation Committee appointed by an authority listed in Schedule 3 reports to that authority (regulation 17(2));
• one appointed by the Sectoral Procurement Directorate reports to the Directorate (regulation 17(3)).

What to check before drafting

1. The estimated value of the contract.
2. The Schedule in which the authority is listed: 2, 3 or 16.
3. Whether the consolidated figure is still the applicable one: see Thresholds.
4. Below the threshold, the method the value allows: see Procurement below the threshold.