Public bodies are a real market for freelancers: 17% of the projects in the Freelancer-Kompass 2026 were with Behörden. But the "€100,000 direct award" headline is three different rules. Since 1 July 2026, federal offices may award anything up to €50,000 net directly. Up to €100,000 they may run a negotiated award with at least three offers. A €100,000 direct award exists only for start-ups in their first four years, and a UVgO draft extending the limits to the Länder is not law yet. For a solo expert, the usual way in is a framework holder or a subcontract, not a tender.
The public sector spends when private budgets freeze, pays reliably and is legally capped at 60-day payment terms. It also runs on thresholds, portals and clearance forms that were designed for companies with a bid department. This is the 2026 map for a one-person shop.
Which number is actually law
Four figures matter in 2026. Only two of them are settled for everyone.
EU thresholds, since 1 January 2026. Above these, a contract must be tendered EU-wide under the Vergabeverordnung (VgV). For supplies and services the limit is €216,000, or €140,000 when the buyer is a central federal authority, down from €221,000 and €143,000. Works start at €5,404,000. A typical freelance engagement sits below these, so the national rules decide.
€50,000 direct award, federal level, since 1 July 2026. The Vergabebeschleunigungsgesetz, published in the Bundesgesetzblatt on 18 May 2026 and in force since 1 July, lets federal buyers award contracts up to €50,000 net without any procurement procedure, for supplies, services and construction alike. Before, the limit was €15,000 for supplies and services and €3,000 for construction. This is the one general threshold that is law today, and only for the Bund; each Land sets its own.
€100,000 negotiated award, federal level, since 1 July 2026. Alongside the law, the cabinet adopted three administrative directives on 10 June 2026. One allows federal offices to use the Verhandlungsvergabe, a negotiated award with at least three offers and no public call for competition, up to €100,000 without further conditions. That is a procedure, not a direct award: you still compete, but against two or more invited bidders rather than the whole market.
€100,000 direct award for start-ups only. The same package sets a special direct-award limit of €100,000 for companies in their first four years after founding, plus the option to negotiate directly with start-ups in their first eight years. If you founded your one-person business in 2023 or later you may qualify. Nobody else does.
The UVgO draft, not in force. On 30 June 2026 the economics ministry published a new Unterschwellenvergabeordnung for consultation. It proposes the €50,000 direct award and the €100,000 negotiated procedure as the national default, with mandatory ex-post publication of direct awards above €25,000 and the right of the Länder to deviate. Comments closed on 28 August 2026; the ministry aims to finish by the end of 2026, the Länder by 30 June 2027. Until a Land adopts it, its old limits apply. When a municipal buyer tells you "we can award €100,000 directly now", ask which rule they mean. As of this writing, they probably cannot.
How the buying actually works
Below the EU thresholds, buyers choose between a public call for competition, a restricted procedure with an invitation, a negotiated award and, within the limits above, a direct award. Every procedure except the direct award is published somewhere. The federal platform is e-Vergabe, run by the Beschaffungsamt des BMI and free for companies. Tenders across all levels are aggregated on service.bund.de, and many Länder and municipalities use the privately operated Deutsches Vergabeportal (DTVP) or their own state portals. Register on the portals for your region and set alerts for your skills. Expect the search to be noisy.
Reading a tender takes an hour. Answering one takes days: Eigenerklärungen on turnover, insurance and reliability, references in a prescribed format, sometimes a concept paper. Budget that time realistically and only bid where your profile matches the mandatory criteria word for word. Formal mistakes, not price, eliminate most small bidders.
The realistic entry: framework holders and subcontracts
Most IT capacity in the public sector is bought through Rahmenverträge, framework agreements won by IT service providers and large intermediaries. The buyer then calls off individual orders. The framework holder often cannot staff every call-off and subcontracts to freelancers. You have no contract with the authority; your client is the framework holder, and the ordinary rules of a subcontract apply, including the question of whether it is a Werkvertrag or Dienstvertrag and what you owe on acceptance. There is no published statistic on how much public-sector work reaches freelancers this way; the mechanism is well known, the share is not.
This is the same intermediary chain as in the private sector, with the same margin question. Our guide to working with agencies and intermediaries applies one to one, and the pipeline article explains how to keep several framework holders warm.
On rates, no primary source exists. The only practitioner figure we have is from Joachim Groth, IT freelancer for 25 years and board member of the IT Projektgenossenschaft, which places freelancers in both sectors. His observation at Freelance Unlocked 2026:
"Where the private sector says €95 is the ceiling, the public sector says 89 or 85." (Joachim Groth)
He also recalls a public-sector posting where the recruiter cut every applicant above €75. One cooperative's experience, not a benchmark, but it matches what most freelancers report: lower ceilings, longer engagements, less price pressure once you are in.
Payment, paperwork and clearance
Payment terms are capped by law. Under § 271a BGB, a public contracting authority may only agree a payment term above 30 days if it is expressly agreed and objectively justified, and never above 60 days. If you work through a framework holder, that cap protects them, not you; negotiate your own 30 days with the subcontract.
Clearance depends on the role. Anything touching classified information requires a Sicherheitsüberprüfung under the SÜG. The Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz lists three levels, Ü1 (einfache), Ü2 (erweiterte) and Ü3 (erweiterte mit Sicherheitsermittlungen). The level follows the role and the sensitivity of the information, it requires your consent, it is updated after five years and repeated after ten. It is initiated by the authority or the contractor, not by you, and it takes time. Ask at the first conversation whether the role needs one.
Keep your file ready. Public buyers ask for the same documents every time: business registration or tax number, professional liability certificate, a signed self-declaration that no exclusion grounds apply, two or three references with contact persons. Store them as PDFs with the date on the file name. Half the speed advantage in a negotiated award is being the bidder who returns the forms the same day.
This is a practitioner explainer of procurement rules as they stand at the writing date. It is not legal advice, and the Länder rules differ.
What to do on Monday
- Check your Kompass row. If you already have public-sector references, put "Behörden" and the systems you know into your profile. Buyers and framework holders search for them.
- Register on e-Vergabe and one regional portal, set alerts for two or three skill terms, and give it four weeks before judging the noise.
- List the framework holders in your field. The names appear in published award notices. Approach the delivery managers, not sales.
- Build the document file: registration, insurance certificate, self-declaration template, three references. One folder, dated.
- Ask the threshold question whenever a public buyer mentions €100,000: start-up rule, negotiated award, or UVgO draft? The answer tells you how much competition you face.
Public-sector work is a slow channel that pays for patience. While it warms up, a free 9am profile keeps you visible to DACH companies that decide faster.
Quote by Joachim Groth translated from German.
Freelance Unlocked is co-organized by 9am together with Uplink and freelancermap. This article draws on the session of Joachim Groth at Freelance Unlocked 2026. Join us at the next edition: freelanceunlocked.com.
