Framework agreements and mini competitions

Three typical situations in construction. Recurring smaller works whose volume is not known in advance.

Maintenance and repair works ordered as the need arises.

Similar works across several sites, where tendering each site separately would be unreasonable. One agreement then covers them all.

A framework agreement saves procedures, because the main competition takes place once. Later ordering happens either directly or through a mini competition, depending on the terms of the agreement.

Here is the September change that affects framework agreements directly. It concerns the rules for mini competitions.

Rules	When exclusion grounds must be checked
Until 31.08.2026	every time a mini competition exceeds the simplified threshold
From 01.09.2026	only where a mini competition exceeds the international threshold

The law in force to date obliged an authority to check tenderers' exclusion grounds each time a mini competition was run under a framework agreement and its value exceeded the simplified threshold. The new rules make the check mandatory only where the estimated value of the mini competition also exceeds the international threshold.

For all mini competitions below the international threshold the authority may decide whether to provide for an exclusion check in the procurement documents. The check does not disappear, it becomes the authority's decision.

The practical effect is substantial, because for construction works the international threshold is €5,404,000, so the great majority of mini competitions fall outside the mandatory check. Mini competitions are run often and the check is time consuming.

Three consequences. Recurring administrative burden falls for the authority where mini competitions are frequent.

Repeated submission of documents may fall for the tenderer, where the authority does not provide for a check. The check is then made once.

The procurement documents become decisive, since that is where it is decided whether a check takes place. They must be drafted with care.

The third point matters to tenderers: the existence of a check must be read from the procurement documents, not assumed from the law. Practice may therefore differ between authorities, and this must be checked for each framework agreement separately. A cautious authority will provide for the check; one optimising administrative burden will not.

Three things remain. The exclusion grounds themselves do not disappear. A tenderer must still meet the requirements, even where they are not checked each time. The absence of a check is not an exemption from the condition.

Concluding a framework agreement is a full procedure, whose value is calculated for the whole period. The calculation covers the whole term.

The technical specification must be sufficient for later orders to be placed without a new procurement. An incomplete specification blocks mini competitions.

The third point is the hardest in construction, because the content of future works is not precisely known. An overly general framework agreement generates later disputes about what falls within it, and that dispute usually arrives when the work already needs doing.

One point is worth flagging, and this article does not resolve it. It concerns price adjustment.

Framework agreements can run for years. The date a framework agreement was concluded and the date a mini competition is run may therefore fall under different versions of the law.

Which rules apply to the mini competition must be checked against the adopted text of the law and, if necessary, with the Ministry of Finance. The exact wording of the transitional provisions was not available at the date of checking, and this is not a matter to settle by assumption: a wrong assumption means either needless administrative burden or a mandatory check left undone.

A framework agreement is an agreement on terms under which later orders are placed, and it saves procedures because the main competition takes place once. From 1 September 2026 the exclusion check at a mini competition is mandatory only above the international threshold, €5,404,000 for construction works, so the great majority of mini competitions fall outside the duty and the check becomes the authority's decision.

Four rules: read the exclusion check from the procurement documents, do not assume it from the law. Calculate the value of a framework agreement for the whole period. Draft the technical specification precisely enough that later orders fall within the agreement. Clarify the transitional question where the framework agreement was concluded before September.