Single Lot Tender

A single lot tender is the simplest form of structured public procurement: one requirement, one competition, one award. Despite its simplicity, choosing the single lot approach carries specific legal obligations under EU procurement rules, and the decision to use it rather than a multi-lot tender should be deliberate and defensible.

What is a single lot tender?

A single lot tender is a procurement procedure in which the contracting authority has determined that the contract should not be divided into parts. The entire scope, whether it covers goods, services, or works, is offered to the market as a single package. All qualifying tenderers bid for the whole contract, and one supplier wins the whole contract.

Under Directive 2014/24/EU, the default expectation is that buyers will consider lot division for larger contracts. Article 46 of the directive requires contracting authorities to consider dividing contracts into lots, and where they decide not to, they must provide a justification. This "explain if you do not divide" obligation means that single lot tenders above the directive thresholds are not automatically acceptable without reasoning.

The justification for not dividing must be included in the procurement documents or the contract notice. Acceptable reasons include the technical indivisibility of the requirement, the risk of fragmenting a delivery that requires single-supplier coordination, or the disproportionate transaction cost of managing multiple lot contracts for a relatively small total value. See explanation for non-division into lots for the full range of accepted justifications.

Why single lot tenders matter for bidders

A single lot tender concentrates the entire contract value in one competition. For suppliers, this means a single bid response covers the whole opportunity, which is efficient from a proposal cost perspective. It also means that the capability threshold is set at the full scope of the requirement, which may exclude smaller firms.

Single lot tenders are common and entirely appropriate in several situations. When the requirement is technically integrated and splitting it would create interface risks, a single lot is the right structure. When the contract is small enough that the administrative overhead of multiple lots is disproportionate, a single lot is efficient. When the market for the requirement is served by a small number of full-service suppliers and dividing would create uncompetitive lots, a single lot may produce better outcomes.

For bidders assessing whether to pursue a single lot tender, the lot description and lot value (which in a single lot context simply describe the entire contract) are the key documents for go/no-go decisions.

Example

A Lithuanian municipality procures legal advisory services for a complex urban redevelopment project. The requirement covers planning law, compulsory purchase, contract law, and dispute resolution across a two-year programme. The authority determines that the requirement is technically indivisible: splitting it into separate legal specialisms would create coordination risk and potential gaps in advice. It issues a single lot tender for integrated legal services, with an estimated value of EUR 320,000, and publishes a justification citing technical indivisibility and the risk of fragmented legal advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a single lot tender always a sign that SMEs are excluded?

Not necessarily. Single lot tenders for smaller contracts are often well within the capacity of SMEs. The concern about SME exclusion arises primarily in high-value single lot tenders where the full scope exceeds the realistic capacity of smaller firms. Buyers issuing high-value single lot tenders without justification, and without considering consortium or subcontracting provisions, are more likely to face challenge on market access grounds.

Can a single lot tender become a multi-lot tender mid-process?

No. The lot structure is fixed at the point of publication. A buyer who decides partway through a procedure that division would have been better must cancel the procedure and restart with the revised structure. This is disruptive and costly, which is why getting the lot structure right at the design stage matters.

Do single lot tenders still require publication on TED or FTS?

Yes. Publication obligations depend on the contract value relative to EU thresholds, not on whether the contract is divided into lots. A high-value single lot contract requires the same publication and transparency obligations as a high-value multi-lot contract.