The EU Public Procurement Directives only apply to contracts of a value that meet or exceed the relevant EU financial threshold. Different thresholds apply to different types of contracting authorities/entities and also to different types of contracts. In order to prevent abusive methods of calculating the value of the contracts, the Directives also provide for rules and methods of calculating the estimated value, as well as prohibition of methods designed to circumvent the Directives. SIGMA Brief 5 aims to increase understanding of what principles apply to the calculation of financial thresholds and of the value of individual contracts.