below the tender threshold: how Polish public buyers purchase under PLN 170,000, and when to bid at all

Below PLN 170,000 net, a Polish public buyer purchases outside the procurement act’s procedures, under its own internal rules, inside a budget approved the year before, and often by asking a few suppliers for quotes or ordering from someone who already holds a contract. For a security vendor that means the sale is won by being findable, priced and ready when the request lands, through a partner the buyer already knows. The second half of this guide is a bid or no-bid discipline you can apply to that small request and to every larger tender after it.

What follows describes the Polish Public Procurement Law (Prawo zamówień publicznych, Pzp), consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 poz. 793, and Polish public finance law as of November 2026. It is not legal advice, and a buyer’s internal rules can differ from everything below.

what the law says under the threshold

Article 2(1)(1) of the Pzp applies the act to classic contracts awarded by public authorities whose value equals or exceeds PLN 170,000. The amending act of 25 July 2025 (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1173) raised that threshold from PLN 130,000, in force since 1 January 2026. Article 28 sets the basis: the contractor’s total estimated remuneration without VAT, established with due diligence.

Under that value the act’s procedures do not apply. The buyer still reports these purchases: Article 82(1) includes classic contracts below in the annual report every authority sends to the Public Procurement Office (UZP).

Two other sets of rules remain. Public finance law, Article 44(3) of the ustawa o finansach publicznych, requires public spending to be purposeful and economical, aiming for the best results from the outlay, and Article 44(1) allows spending only on purposes and amounts set in the budget or financial plan. And the buyer’s internal rules, often a document called regulamin udzielania zamówień, decide how many quotes it needs, where it publishes a request, and who signs. Those rules vary from one municipality, hospital or university to the next, so ask for them early.

If the purchase sits inside an EU-funded project, the funding rules can add their own competitive procedure. The coordinating authority’s published position is that beneficiaries outside the Pzp run the competitiveness principle in the Baza Konkurencyjności, and on no other purchasing platform. Check the project’s own rules before you assume either way.

how a purchase under the threshold usually runs

The steps follow the money and the buyer’s own rules more than any statute.

A purchase below PLN 170,000, step by step

step 1the need enters a budgetThe item has to be in the budget or financial plan, usually approved the year before.
step 2the value is estimatedNet of VAT, with similar supplies added up. This decides whether the act applies at all.
step 3the internal rules set the routeA single quote, several quotes, a published request, or an order under an existing contract.
step 4quotes are comparedAgainst what the request asked for, often price, delivery and support terms.
step 5the order or contractSigned by whoever the internal rules name. A missing form or a late quote ends your chance here.

The estimate in step 2 is where a small purchase either stays small or becomes a tender. Internal rules differ between buyers, so step 3 looks different at every authority.

For you the practical consequence is timing. If the line item is not in this year’s plan, the person who wants your product needs a budget before procurement can do anything. A security purchase that a buying committee agreed in October may only become money in the next financial year.

the value estimate decides which rulebook applies

The Pzp is strict about how the value is counted, and that matters to a seller more than the threshold number itself.

No splitting to avoid the act. Article 29(1) bars the buyer from understating the value to avoid the act, and Article 29(2) bars dividing a contract into separate contracts where that leads to the act not being applied, unless objective reasons justify it.
Similar supplies are added up. Article 30(2) makes the value of planned similar supplies their total, even when they are bought in parts.
Options and renewals count. Article 31(2) requires the largest possible scope, including options and renewals.
Recurring purchases look back or forward 12 months. Article 35(1) bases recurring supplies and services on the previous 12 months or budget year, or on what the buyer plans over the next 12 months.
One buyer, one total. Article 33(1) adds up all organisational units, except financially autonomous units buying for their own activity, under Article 33(2).

The consequence for the buyer’s staff is personal. Article 17(1)(2) of the act on liability for breaches of public finance discipline makes it a breach to set the value of a contract against procurement rules where that affected whether, or which, rules applied.

So never suggest a buyer split licences across quarters or departments to stay under PLN 170,000. If your three-year subscription with options adds up to more, the honest move is the step-up: a basic procedure under the act, or a framework agreement. Article 311(1)(2) lets a buyer conclude a framework agreement below EU thresholds through the basic procedure, and Article 311(3) limits it to four years in principle. The rules for that contest are in the guide to why a vendor with the better product loses a Polish tender.

The step-up contest is not crowded. The UZP report on 2025 shows an average of offers in procedures below EU thresholds, with of contracts receiving a single offer, 43.03% for supplies, and of those procedures run as the basic procedure. Those figures cover purchases from the old PLN 130,000 threshold upward. UZP says it will analyse the effects of the new PLN 170,000 threshold in its report on 2026.

what to have ready before the request arrives

Small requests come with short deadlines and little room for questions. The vendor that answers well has done the work earlier.

Be in your partner’s catalogue. The buyer usually asks a reseller or integrator it has bought from before. If your product is not on that partner’s price list, with authorisation to sell to the public sector, you are not in the comparison.
A quote pack in Polish. Unit prices that hold for a quarter, licensing explained in plain terms, a one-page datasheet, support terms, and the standard declarations a buyer’s internal rules ask for.
Budget timing. Find out when the buyer drafts next year’s plan, and give the person who owns the need a realistic figure before that date, including renewals.
The procurement plan. Article 23(1) requires public finance sector units and state organisational units without legal personality to publish a plan of procedures for the year within 30 days of adopting their budget or financial plan. It lists the procedures under the act, so it shows you which small purchases are about to grow into tenders.
A route into frameworks. Find out which frameworks and call-off contracts your target buyers use, and which partners hold them.

Treat the person who prepares small purchases as a long-term contact. They need prices that do not move and answers that survive their own audit, which is what procurement is measured on everywhere.

bid or no bid: score it before you write

Every request costs presales hours, partner hours and price approvals. A short scoring habit stops you answering everything and winning little. Score each item from 0 to 2 before anyone drafts a response. The weights and cut-offs here are illustrative, so tune them to your own win and loss history.

Criterion	The question	0	2
Fit	How many mandatory requirements do you meet as standard?	One or more you cannot meet	All, or all with documented equivalence
Influence before publication	Did you or your partner talk to the buyer, or answer a consultation?	First contact is the published request	The need, budget and evaluation were discussed earlier
Competitor in the spec	Do requirements copy another product’s parameters?	Yes, and clarification is unlikely to change them	No, or equivalence is allowed and testable
Evaluation criteria	How will offers be compared?	Price only, and you are not the cheapest	Quality criteria you can score well on
Partner capacity	Can a partner bid, deliver and support it?	No partner, or the partner is stretched	A partner with references and time

A total of 8 to 10 is a bid. A total of 4 to 7 is a bid only if one specific action, a clarification question or a partner commitment, can raise a score this week. Below 4, decline in writing and record why. These cut-offs are illustrative.

Two of the criteria combine into a quick read of where you stand.

Where a request sits before you score the rest

influence before publication →

high influence, low fitUse clarification questions on the gaps, or pass and come back earlier next time.

high influence, high fitBid, and put your best partner on it.

low influence, low fitWalk away and record why.

low influence, high fitBid if the criteria are not price-only against a cheaper product.

fit with the specification →

Fit and influence decide most bid choices. The other three criteria in the table move a request within its quadrant.

Influence before publication has legal limits in a tender under the act. Market consultations, and what you may and may not do in them, are covered in the guide to a POC inside a public tender.

when to walk away

Walking away is a decision with a record. Decline when:

a mandatory requirement only another product meets survives the clarification round;
the request names a product without allowing an equivalent, and you cannot offer that product;
the deadline leaves no time for the partner to get pricing approved and the declarations signed;
the order value cannot cover the hours to answer it, and nothing suggests a repeat order or a step-up;
no partner will commit to delivery and support at the price the buyer can pay.

Send the buyer a short note saying why you are not bidding. A buyer that learns its requirement shut out every product but one may write the next one differently. For a public deal that stalls after the quotes are in, the no-decision deal check helps you tell whether the buyer is waiting on budget or simply unsure.

the next request for a quote

Take the last public request your partner answered or ignored, and run it through the five criteria. If it scores below 4 and you answered it anyway, decide now which requests you will stop answering. If it scored high and nobody saw it in time, start with the procurement plans.

questions

Does the Polish Public Procurement Law apply to purchases below PLN 170,000?

As of November 2026, Article 2(1)(1) of the Pzp applies the act to classic contracts awarded by public authorities from PLN 170,000, net of VAT. Below that value the act's procedures do not apply, and the buyer follows its internal rules and public finance law, although it still reports these purchases in its annual report under Article 82(1). This is not legal advice.

Can a Polish public buyer split a purchase to stay below the threshold?

No. Article 29(2) of the Pzp bars dividing a contract into separate contracts where that leads to the act not being applied, unless objective reasons justify it, and Article 30(2) adds up the value of similar supplies even when they are bought in parts. Under Article 17(1)(2) of the act on liability for breaches of public finance discipline, setting the value against procurement rules in a way that affects which rules apply is a breach.

How should a vendor decide whether to answer a public request or tender?

Score it before anyone writes a word: fit with the specification, influence you had before publication, whether a competitor's product is written into the requirements, how the offers will be evaluated, and whether a partner has the capacity to bid and deliver. Walk away when a mandatory requirement only another product meets survives clarification, or when the order cannot cover the cost of answering it.

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