France · Edition 001Thursday, 1 October 2026
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The $500 Ladder

Primary sources. Published arithmetic. No courses.

$500 idea · Pattern break · France · Edition 001

Since 1 April a €60,000 no-tender French contract must be prepaid €12,000.

Décret n° 2025-1386 du 29 décembre 2025 lifted the article R2122-8 ceiling below which a French public buyer may award a contract with no advert and no competition at all: from €40,000 to €60,000 HT for supplies and services on 1 April 2026, and to €100,000 HT for works on 1 January 2026. Article R2191-3 makes an advance a matter of right on any contract above €50,000 HT running longer than two months, and R2191-7 fixes that advance at 20% minimum when the State buys from a PME. Until 1 April the two zones could not touch, because the largest no-competition contract, €40,000, sat below the €50,000 advance line. In the official contract register, awards priced at exactly €60,000.00 have since risen 56.5% as a share of all notifications, while exactly €40,000.00 is flat.

The $500 Ladder — France Thursday, 1 October 2026 Edition 001 9 sources

Starting capital this week is €440.33 [$500], at the European Central Bank euro reference rate of EUR 1 = USD 1.1355 published for 30 September 2026. The target, about $5,000 a month, is €4,403 a month or €52,840 a year. Evidence figures below stay in the currency their source states them in; only the derived row converts, and it shows the rate.

The reason the ceiling matters is not that €60,000 is more money than €40,000. It is that below the ceiling the buyer is forbidden to be forced into a competition. There is no advert, no deadline, no scoring grid and no file to lose on. The buyer picks whoever is easiest to pay, and the Code then obliges them to pay a fifth of it up front. That is a different game from the one most people think they are being excluded from, and the register shows buyers pricing straight to the line the moment the line moves.

0 50 100 150 200 Jan 25 Apr 25 Jul 25 Oct 25 Jan 26 Apr 26 Sep 26 Contracts priced at exactly that amount, per 10,000 notified 1 Apr 2026 ceiling 40k → 60k ── exactly €60,000.00 · the new ceiling ── exactly €40,000.00 · the old ceiling, unchanged
Monthly rate at which French public contracts are priced at exactly the ceiling, per 10,000 contracts notified that month, from the DECP register (712,291 marchés, extracted 1 October 2026). The old ceiling is the control: it moves with nothing. Calendar 2025 gives 2,295 contracts at exactly €60,000.00 out of 254,793 notifications, a rate of 90.1; April to September 2026 gives 953 out of 67,593, a rate of 141.0, up 56.5%. Over the same two windows exactly €40,000.00 runs 2,999/254,793 = 117.7 then 780/67,593 = 115.4, down 2.0%. Recent months carry fewer notifications because publication lags, which is why the measure is a rate and not a count.

The evidence

8 findings
StatuteDécret n° 2025-1386 du 29 décembre 2025 · art. R2122-8 CCP

The no-advert, no-competition ceiling went to €60,000 HT on 1 April 2026

The ministry’s own fiche quotes the amended article: « l’acheteur peut passer un marché sans publicité ni mise en concurrence préalables pour répondre à un besoin dont la valeur estimée est inférieure à 60 000 euros hors taxes pour les marchés de fournitures ou de services ou à 100 000 euros hors taxes pour les marchés de travaux » [the buyer may award a contract without prior publicity or competition to meet a need whose estimated value is below €60,000 excluding tax for supplies or services contracts, or €100,000 excluding tax for works contracts]. Works moved on 1 January 2026, supplies and services on 1 April 2026. DAJ fiche technique · DAJ, 2 January 2026 · service-public.gouv.fr F23371, which adds a temporary €140,000 HT ceiling for heat-pump installation works until 31 December 2026.

Regulationart. R2191-3 and R2191-7 CCP

Above €50,000 HT the advance stops being a favour and becomes a right

« Le versement d’une avance est de droit pour le titulaire d’un marché dont le montant initial est supérieur à 50 000 euros HT et dont le délai d’exécution s’étend au-delà de deux mois » [payment of an advance is a right for the holder of a contract whose initial amount exceeds €50,000 excluding tax and whose execution period extends beyond two months]. R2191-7 sets the floor at 20% when the State contracts with a PME, and 10% for buyers whose operating spend exceeds €60m. It is due within 30 days of the start of performance. DAJ fiche technique “Les avances”.

DerivedDECP register · 712,291 marchés · extracted 1 October 2026

Contracts priced at exactly the new ceiling rose 56.5%; the old ceiling did not move

Calendar 2025: 2,295 contracts notified at exactly €60,000.00 out of 254,793 → 90.1 per 10,000. April–September 2026: 953 out of 67,593 → 141.0 per 10,000. 141.0 ÷ 90.1 − 1 = +56.5%. Control, same windows, exactly €40,000.00: 2,999/254,793 = 117.7, then 780/67,593 = 115.4, −2.0%. Works ceiling, exactly €100,000.00, calendar 2025 against January–September 2026: 113.1 → 134.3, +18.8%. Rates, not counts, because publication lags. Données essentielles de la commande publique, arrêté du 22/12/2022.

Regulator filingDECP · 12 months to 29 September 2026

12,633 contracts worth €7.49bn were awarded with no competition at all

Procedure field « Marché passé sans publicité ni mise en concurrence préalable ». Of those, 8,326 (65.9%) are at or below €100,000 and 4,336 are at or below €40,000, together worth €344.3m and €79.1m. Separately, among all 193,103 contracts notified in the window, 55,004 carry the marché innovant flag that unlocks the parallel €100,000 dispensation at article R2122-9-1.

Company accountsSIREN 888 965 951 · notified 31 August 2026

A company with €1,406.68 of share capital holds a €40,000 no-competition contract

Communauté urbaine Limoges Métropole (SIREN 248 719 312) awarded NOOTA, a SAS registered in Toulouse on 15 September 2020 with a capital social of €1,406.68 and 6 to 9 employees, a 48-month €40,000 contract for “ACQUISITION APPLI NOOTA”, procedure: no publicity, no competition. The share capital is roughly three times this newsletter’s starting stake. It did not have to be larger, because nothing in the award tested it.

DerivedDECP · 12 months to 29 September 2026

The smaller the contract, the emptier the room: 38.9% of sub-€10,000 awards drew one bid

Share of contracts reporting exactly one offer received, among those stating a number: 4,671/11,999 = 38.9% below €10,000; 3,429/11,856 = 28.9% in €25,000–40,000; 11,483/43,054 = 26.7% in €40,000–100,000; 7,984/36,748 = 21.7% in €100,000–250,000; 3,228/17,466 = 18.5% above €1m. Competition is a function of size, and it runs the way most people assume it does not.

Regulationmicro-entrepreneur regime · from 1 January 2026

The vehicle costs €0 to register and caps out at €83,600 of turnover

2026 turnover ceilings: €83,600 for services and €203,100 for resale of goods. Social contributions from 1 January 2026: 21.20% for commercial and craft services (BIC), 25.6% for other services (BNC, up from 24.6%), 23.2% for Cipav professions, 12.30% for resale, plus a 0.1–0.3% contribution à la formation professionnelle. Registration through the INPI guichet unique and the Chorus Pro account required to invoice a public buyer both cost nothing. economie.gouv.fr.

DerivedECB reference rate, 30 September 2026

One ceiling contract went from 59.4% to 89.1% of the target overnight

At EUR 1 = USD 1.1355 (ECB euro reference rate, 30 September 2026), USD 1 = EUR 0.880669. Taking the BIC services rate of 21.2% plus 0.3% CFP = 21.5%: €40,000 × 0.785 ÷ 12 ÷ 0.880669 = $2,971/month = 59.4% of $5,000. €60,000 × 0.785 ÷ 12 ÷ 0.880669 = $4,457/month = 89.1%. The gross needed for exactly $5,000/month is €52,840 ÷ 0.785 = €67,312 HT a year.

The ladder

From $500 to $5,000 a month · €439 → €4,394

Micro-entrepreneur registration at the INPI guichet unique is free, the URSSAF attestation de vigilance is free, and the Chorus Pro account a public buyer needs in order to pay you is free. The €440 buys responsabilité civile professionnelle cover and nothing else, because that is the only document a buyer will ask for before a direct award.

  1. Register for nothing and spend the stake on one thing

    Micro-entrepreneur registration at the INPI guichet unique is free, the URSSAF attestation de vigilance is free, and the Chorus Pro account a public buyer needs in order to pay you is free. The €440 buys responsabilité civile professionnelle cover and nothing else, because that is the only document a buyer will ask for before a direct award.

    €440.33 [$500] · registration €0 · Chorus Pro €0

  2. Quote to the new line, not the old one

    A need the buyer values below €60,000 HT for services or supplies, or €100,000 HT for works, may be awarded to you with no advert and no competition. Scoping a job at €39,000 because that is what everyone remembers the ceiling to be gives away a third of the available room.

    €60,000 HT ÷ 12 = €5,000 a month HT

  3. Make sure the work runs past two months

    This is the rung that solves the capital problem. Below €50,000 HT, or inside two months, no advance is owed. Above both, article R2191-3 makes it a right and R2191-7 puts the floor at 20% for a PME contracting with the State, payable within 30 days of starting. A €60,000 contract clears both tests; a €40,000 one never could.

    €60,000 × 20% = €12,000 advance = 27.3× the starting capital

  4. Be findable where there is no advert

    Under R2122-8 nothing is published, so no amount of watching BOAMP or PLACE will show you this work. The 12,633 no-competition awards of the last twelve months went to firms the buyer already had on file. The move is to be on that file: write to the service that holds the budget, not to the procurement department, and send the SIRET, the insurance certificate and the vigilance attestation unasked.

    12,633 awards · €7.49bn · zero adverts

  5. Take a second contract rather than a bigger one

    One contract at the ceiling reaches $4,457 a month net of social contributions, which is 89.1% of the target and no further. Pushing a single contract past €60,000 hands it back to a competitive procedure and loses the whole advantage. Two direct awards do not.

    €67,312 HT × 0.785 ÷ 12 ÷ 0.880669 = $5,000 a month

  6. Know which ceiling actually binds you

    It is no longer the procurement one. One €60,000 contract consumes 71.8% of the €83,600 micro-entrepreneur turnover ceiling, against 47.8% for the old €40,000. The regime tops out at $6,210 a month; past that the answer is an EURL or SASU at réel, not another direct award.

    €83,600 × 0.785 ÷ 12 ÷ 0.880669 = $6,210 a month, the regime’s maximum

Sources

9 primary documents
  1. DAJ (Ministere de l'Economie), fiche technique - Mesures de simplification du droit de la commande publique et rehaussement des seuils (quotes amended art. R2122-8)
  2. DAJ - Publication de deux decrets relatifs a la commande publique (decrets n 2025-1386 and n 2025-1383 du 29 decembre 2025), January 2026
  3. service-public.gouv.fr F23371 - Marche public sans publicite ni mise en concurrence (60,000 / 100,000 / 140,000 EUR HT), consulted 1 October 2026
  4. DAJ fiche technique - Les avances (art. R2191-3, R2191-7; 50,000 EUR HT, 20% for the State to a PME, 30 days)
  5. Donnees essentielles de la commande publique (DECP), arrete du 22/12/2022 - Marches, 712,291 records, data updated 30 September 2026, extracted 1 October 2026
  6. Annuaire des Entreprises - NOOTA, SAS, SIREN 888 965 951, Toulouse, capital social 1,406.68 EUR
  7. Annuaire des Entreprises - CU Limoges Metropole, SIREN 248 719 312
  8. economie.gouv.fr - Micro-entreprises, quel est le montant de vos cotisations sociales ? (2026 rates and ceilings)
  9. European Central Bank - Euro foreign exchange reference rates, 30 September 2026: EUR 1 = USD 1.1355