01
Initiated does not mean awarded.
A catalogue purchase may be accepted, refused or closed without award. The count preserves these different states.
Public procurement · Romania · 2025
One leu below the line
In the electronic catalogue, 1,397 direct purchases were initiated at exactly 270,000 lei. At 269,000 lei there were 136. At 271,000 lei, one.
The figure alone does not prove that the law was circumvented. It does show how strongly an administrative limit can shape declared values.
frequent valueexcluding VAT
270,000 lei
1,397records at the exact value
10.3×as many as at 269,000
120lei to the ceiling
Instrument
What does the amount change?
Choose the category and enter the estimated value excluding VAT. The ruler shows the minimum route required by Article 7 of Romania's Public Procurement Law.
goods and services
Electronic catalogue or public notice required
The purchase remains a direct award, but the authority must use the electronic catalogue or publish a notice in the dedicated section.
120 lei to the direct-award ceiling.
This is an educational reading of the general thresholds. A real purchase depends on a correctly estimated value, the complete object of the need and any other applicable rules.
The register
Thresholds leave traces.
Each group compares three exact values: the notch itself, 1,000 lei below and 1,000 lei above. The count covers purchases initiated in the electronic catalogue in 2025.
Bar height shows frequency within each group, not a share of all purchases. Zero means the query found no record at that exact value.
The legal line
The first ban beyond it.
At the ceiling, the difference between two almost identical values changes the regime. The law says “less than”, so a value equal to the ceiling falls outside direct award.
270,119.99 lei
Electronic catalogue or public notice required
270,120.00 lei
Direct award is no longer available
Persistence
The same notch, three years.
The 270,000 lei value is not an isolated exception. The 2026 series is partial and ends on 18 August.
20241,472full year
20251,397full year
20268091 January–18 August
How to read it
The spike is a question, not a verdict.
Prices can cluster near thresholds for legitimate or problematic reasons. The register shows where closer investigation may be useful; it cannot establish intent on its own.
02
An exact value does not prove splitting.
Such a conclusion requires linking similar needs of the same authority, the period, suppliers and the complete object of the purchase.
03
The estimate must cover the whole need.
The law bars estimating or dividing a purchase with the purpose of avoiding the procedure that its real value would require.