$500 idea · Edition 002 · pattern break · Japan · Edition 002
Japan’s lowest supplier grade now covers the exact band where competitive tendering was abolished.
On 1 April 2025 the no-tender ceilings in 予算決算及び会計令第99条 were raised for the first time since 1974 — services from ¥1,000,000 to ¥2,000,000, goods from ¥1,600,000 to ¥3,000,000. The Ministry of Finance’s own simulation of the change puts 少額隨意契約 at 86.9% of national contracts by count, up from 76.0%, and cuts competitively tendered goods purchases from 89,882 to 16,685 — a fall of 81.4% in a single cabinet order. The D grade under 予決令第72条, the one a supplier scoring under 55 points is assigned, runs to exactly ¥3,000,000. The band nobody has to bid in and the band reserved for the weakest supplier are now the same band.
The consensus reading of a low grade is that it caps you. The documents say the opposite: it maps you onto the only part of a ¥15.2 trillion procurement system where no competition is held at all. Below the line an official does not run a tender; they choose who is asked to quote. The scarce input is not price, capacity or track record. It is a registered supplier who is findable at the moment three quotes are needed.
And the state has told its buyers, in a cabinet decision, which supplier to find. The 令和8年度 basic policy of 21 April 2026 sets a target of 3% or more for 新規中小企業者 — firms less than ten years old — and instructs buyers to include them in the quote list for small no-tender contracts and not to demand a track record. The last published outturn was 1.39%. The gap is ¥176.7 billion a year of demand the government is obliged to place with new firms and cannot find takers for.
The one-line contrast with the country this page is not about: the United States indexes its micro-purchase threshold for inflation on a statutory cycle, whereas Japan left 予決令第99条 untouched for fifty-one years and then moved it once, by a single multiple of the 企業物価指数.
The evidence
9 findingsThe no-tender ceilings moved for the first time in 51 years
工事又は製造 ¥2,500,000 → ¥4,000,000; 財産の買入れ ¥1,600,000 → ¥3,000,000; 物件の借入れ ¥800,000 → ¥1,500,000; 財産の売払い ¥500,000 → ¥1,000,000; 物件の賃付け ¥300,000 → ¥500,000; その他の契約（第7号） ¥1,000,000 → ¥2,000,000. The amounts had stood since 1974. The uplift was set by formula, not negotiation: 「1.6倍を基準として引き上げることとした（ただし50万円単位で切上げ）」 [raised on the basis of 1.6×, rounded up to units of ¥500,000], the 1.6 being the rise in the 企業物価指数 since 1974.
Competitively tendered goods purchases fall 89,882 → 16,685
The ministry simulated the new thresholds against the 令和5年度 contract population — 955,000 contracts worth ¥15.2 trillion. 少額隨意契約 rises from 76.0% to 86.9% of contracts by count, and from 0.8% to 1.3% by value. 一般競争契約 counts fall: 工事製造 16,984 → 14,466; 物品調達 89,882 → 16,685; 役務調達 47,662 → 31,569. Roughly 100,000 contracts a year leave competitive tendering, worth about ¥60 billion — 0.4 points of value for 10.9 points of count. The state gave up almost no money and almost all of its auctions.
D grade for goods and services is everything under ¥3,000,000
「令第72条第1項に規定する一般競争に参加する者に必要な資格は、以下の各表に掲げる契約の種類及び予定金額に応じた級別とする。」 [the qualification required to join an open tender is the grade corresponding to the contract type and estimated value in the tables below.] For 物品の販売・役務の提供等: A is ¥30m and above (90 points or more), B ¥15m–¥30m (80–90), C ¥3m–¥15m (55–80), D is under ¥3,000,000 and under 55 points. A supplier with no revenue, no equity and no history scores into D by construction — and D now contains the entire no-tender band.
Being new is itself the qualification — 10 years, written into the statute
「この法律において「新規中小企業者」とは、中小企業者であつて、次の各号のいずれかに該当するものをいう。一 事業を開始した日以後の期間が十年未満の個人 二 設立の日以後の期間が十年未満の会社」 [In this Act, “new small and medium-sized enterprise” means an SME that is: (1) an individual whose business began less than ten years ago; or (2) a company established less than ten years ago.] The 2015 amendment also inserted 「新規中小企業者をはじめとする」 into 第3条, putting new firms ahead of SMEs generally in the order of priority.
The cabinet instructs its buyers not to ask a new supplier for a track record
「国等全体として引き続き６１％、金額が約６兆４，５６２億円を目標とするものとする。」 [the target for “令和8年度” is 61% and about ¥6.4572 trillion], with 新規中小企業者 at 「引き続き国等全体として３％以上」 [3% or more]. Two operative instructions follow: 「少額の隨意契約による場合には…新規中小企業者を見積先に含めるよう努め」 [where a small no-tender contract is used, endeavour to include new SMEs among those asked to quote] and 「過去の実績を過度に求めないように配慮するものとする」 [take care not to require past performance excessively].
Both targets missed, and the SME share has fallen five years running to 45.4%
令和5年度 outturn for 国等: total ¥10,995.0 billion, of which ¥4,992.1 billion to SMEs — 45.4% against a 61% target. The series runs 54.1% (R1), 55.5% (R2), 50.1% (R3), 49.8% (R4), 45.4% (R5): the target has not moved and the outturn has fallen every year since 2020. 新規中小企業者 took ¥152.6 billion, 1.39% against 3%. By contrast local government, buying the same kinds of thing, placed 74.6% with SMEs in the same year. The gap is not a shortage of small firms. It is a shortage of small firms registered with the national system.
Named micro-suppliers, named buyer, real yen — published monthly
AIST’s July 2025 no-tender list, signed by 契約担当職 調達二室長 赤坂佐知子 of Tsukuba, records （同）真鈴ラボ taking ¥2,200,000 on 30 July 2025 for 「アンモニア製造量に対する装置容量・コストの感度分析を行うためのプログラム開発」; （同）ｍ ¥2,178,000 on 28 July for UWB and BLE certification work; （株）コスモ ¥2,032,910 for server maintenance. Three of the smallest rows that month are two 合同会社 and one micro 株式会社, each inside the new ¥2–3 million band. Every agency publishes this list; it is a monthly, named directory of who buys what, at what price.
Payment is 30 days by statute, with 2.5% a year if they are late
政府契約の支払遅延防止等に関する法律（昭和24年法律第256号） fixes the limit at 「工事代金については四十日」 and 「その他の給付に対する対価については三十日」 from confirmation of delivery. 第8条 then imposes interest at a rate set by the minister: 「年二・五パーセント」, most recently fixed by 財務省告示第49号 of 9 March 2021, applying from 1 April 2021. This is why the capital requirement on this route is a month of float rather than a quarter of it.
Five awards a year, not ten — and a ¥176.7bn hole the state must fill
Currency: $500 × 158.17 = ¥79,085; $5,000 × 158.17 = ¥790,850 a month; ×12 = ¥9,490,200 a year. Awards needed at the old services cap: 9,490,200 ÷ 1,000,000 = 9.49. At the new cap: 9,490,200 ÷ 2,000,000 = 4.75 — a 50.0% cut, and the two plotted points in the figure. Tender collapse: (89,882 − 16,685) ÷ 89,882 = 81.4%. New-firm shortfall: ¥152.6bn ÷ 0.0139 = ¥10,978bn base; 3% of that = ¥329.3bn; ¥329.3bn − ¥152.6bn = ¥176.7bn, which is ¥176,700,000,000 ÷ ¥9,490,200 = 18,619 sole traders billing $5,000 a month. SME shortfall: ¥10,995.0bn × (0.61 − 0.454) = ¥1,715.2bn. Typical small award, 令和5年度: ¥15.2tn × 0.008 = ¥121.6bn over 955,000 × 0.76 = 725,800 contracts = ¥167,540 each. Float: ¥79,085 ÷ ¥2,000,000 = 3.95% of one award. Rate is the MURC-published 公表仲値 for 9 October 2026, (159.17 + 157.17) ÷ 2.
The ladder
From $500 to $5,000 a month · ¥79,140 → ¥791,400One electronic application covers every ministry and agency for three years. Apply under 役務の提供等 and 物品の販売, and accept the D grade rather than arguing with it. There is no application fee; the only outlay is a 納税証明書.
-
Register for 全省庁統一資格, today, for ¥0
One electronic application covers every ministry and agency for three years. Apply under 役務の提供等 and 物品の販売, and accept the D grade rather than arguing with it. There is no application fee; the only outlay is a 納税証明書.
3-year validity · all ministries · fee ¥0 -
Claim 新規中小企業者 status in writing
官公需法第2条第2項 makes this a statutory category, not a courtesy: under ten years from the day you started trading. It is the only commercial advantage that decays with time rather than growing, so it is worth spending early.
10 years from 事業開始の日 · then gone -
Price every proposal to land under ¥2,000,000
予決令第99条第7号 is the line between being chosen and being auctioned. A quote of ¥1,980,000 is awarded by an official; ¥2,050,000 triggers a tender you will lose to a firm with a C grade and twenty years of references.
¥1,980,000 chosen · ¥2,050,000 tendered -
Hold the ¥79,085 as float, not as equipment
支払遅延防止法第6条 gives you 30 days from acceptance and 第8条 gives 2.5% a year after that. The receivable is sovereign and the term is statutory, so the working capital needed per award is a few percent of it rather than a quarter.
79,085 ÷ 2,000,000 = 3.95% of one award -
Read the published award lists instead of the tender boards
Every agency publishes a monthly 隨意契約一覧表 naming the buyer, the date, the counterparty and the yen. AIST’s July 2025 sheet names 契約担当職 赤坂佐知子 and three suppliers inside the ¥2–3 million band. That is the real customer list; the tender board is the part you cannot win.
monthly · named buyer · named supplier · exact ¥ -
Target the agencies the government has named as failing
The 中小企業庁 survey of December 2025 reports institution by institution under the headings 「新規中小企業者との契約比率が３％未満の機関における今後の取組」. A buyer who has had to publish a remedial plan is a buyer who needs you on the quote list.
1.39% actual vs 3% target · ¥176.7bn short -
Refuse the track-record question, politely, in the cabinet’s own words
When a 契約担当官 asks for three years of similar contracts, quote 「過去の実績を過度に求めないように配慮するものとする」 from the 令和8年度 basic policy. It is a cabinet decision, it binds their own ministry, and almost no first-time supplier has read it.
閣議決定 21 Apr 2026 · binds the buyer -
Stop at five awards and let the grade catch up
¥9,490,200 is 4.75 awards at the ceiling. Clearing ¥30 million of revenue would eventually push you out of D and into C — where contracts run ¥3m to ¥15m and every one of them is tendered. The comfortable band is deliberately narrow; walk it knowing where its top is.
D < ¥3m · C ¥3m–¥15m, all tendered
Sources
12 primary documents- 財務省「ファイナンス」2025年6月号 — 予決令第99条 少額随意契約基準額の改正と試算 (cabinet 25 Mar 2025, in force 1 Apr 2025)
- 財務省 財政制度等審議会「少額随意契約の基準額等について」2024年11月15日
- 環境省 競争参加資格 別記1 — 予決令第72条第1項 等級区分 (A/B/C/D)
- 官公需法 第2条第2項 新規中小企業者の定義 — 平成27年改正法 (衆議院)
- 令和8年度中小企業者に関する国等の契約の基本方針 — 閣議決定 2026年4月21日 (経済産業省)
- 経済産業省 press release, 2026年4月21日 — 61% / 新規中小企業者 3%以上
- 中小企業庁「令和7年度国等の契約の基本方針について」2025年7月 — 令和5年度官公需契約実績
- 中小企業庁「令和6年度基本方針に定める措置の状況」令和7年12月 — 新規中小企業者比率3%未満機関の取組
- 産業技術総合研究所 特例随意契約一覧表 令和7年7月 — named suppliers and amounts
- 財務省告示第49号 (令和3年3月9日) 政府契約の支払遅延に対する遅延利息の率 年2.5%
- 国土交通省 press release 令和7年5月27日 — 公共工事入契法施行令 情報公表基準額 250万円→400万円
- 三菱UFJリサーチ&コンサルティング 外国為替相場 (公表仲値) 2026年10月9日