The half-year snapshot: stable amounts, adapted procedures in the majority
As of 30 July 2026, 70,178 awards notified between January and June 2026 have already been declared in France's open procurement data (DECP). Two constants are confirmed.
First, amount stability: the median stands at 140,000 EUR excl. VAT, nearly identical to the 141,062 EUR of H1 2025. Everyday public procurement remains a market of mid-sized contracts, accessible to SMEs.
Second, the adapted procedure remains the majority route: 51% of awards with a declared procedure are MAPA. More than one contract in two is thus decided through simplified consultations, where responsiveness and the quality of the technical proposal matter more than company size.
The most active sectors of the half-year
Ranking of CPV divisions by number of awards notified in H1 2026 (declared as of 30 July):
- Construction works (CPV 45): 25,886 awards
- Architecture and engineering (CPV 71): 8,262
- Medical equipment (CPV 33): 4,533
- Business services (CPV 79): 3,515
- Repair and maintenance (CPV 50): 2,568
- Cleaning and waste (CPV 90): 2,416
The sector hierarchy remains consistent with the long-term structure of French public procurement. Sector-by-sector detail, with median amounts and daily-updated recent awards, is available on our sector tender pages.
Methodology and an important reading caveat
Source: France's essential public procurement data (DECP, open data), consolidated by Maître AO. Extraction on 30 July 2026; period analyzed: awards notified from 1 January to 30 June 2026. Medians computed on amounts strictly positive and below 100 million EUR.
Essential caveat: buyers declare their awards with several weeks to several months of lag. The H1 2026 volume (70,178 to date) will therefore keep growing as late declarations arrive, and must not be compared like-for-like with the consolidated H1 2025 volume (91,308). Structural indicators (median, MAPA share, sector hierarchy) are however robust to this lag.
Figures freely citable with attribution: source Maître AO, DECP data. For the 2020-2026 overview (552,948 awards, 18,082 buyers), see our reference page on public procurement figures.
What this means for a bidding SME
Three practical implications. One: with a 140,000 EUR median and 51% MAPA, most of the flow is winnable for a well-organized SME, without blue-chip references. Two: the MAPA response window is short, often 3 to 4 weeks; automated monitoring that surfaces the right tenders at publication is the first success-rate lever. Three: in consultations where offers look alike, a need-specific technical proposal makes the difference; that is exactly what AI applied to the technical proposal accelerates, without sacrificing personalization.