Micro-Purchase Threshold
$10,000
Also known as: MPT, micro-purchase limit
At a Glance
- Current amount
- $10,000 (standard; higher special-category amounts apply)
- Where it is set
- FAR 2.101 definition, implemented by FAR 13.201/13.202
- What changes at the line
- At or below it, a buy can be made without competition or a small-business set-aside; above it, simplified acquisition rules kick in
- Inflation-adjusted?
- Yes — re-indexed periodically under FAR 1.109
- Applies to
- Nearly all supplies and services; special MPTs apply to wage-covered and contingency buys
What It Is
The micro-purchase threshold is the lowest dollar line in federal procurement — the amount at or below which an agency can buy supplies or services with the least possible process. Defined at FAR 2.101 and implemented by FAR 13.201, the standard micro-purchase threshold is $10,000. A micro-purchase can generally be awarded without obtaining competitive quotations, without a formal solicitation, and without setting the acquisition aside for small business, provided the price is reasonable. Most micro-purchases are made with the Governmentwide commercial purchase card. Several special-category micro-purchase thresholds sit above or below the standard figure: $2,000 for acquisitions subject to the Construction Wage Rate Requirements (Davis-Bacon), $2,500 for acquisitions subject to the Service Contract Labor Standards, and elevated amounts (for example, $20,000/$35,000) for acquisitions supporting contingency, humanitarian, or combat operations. Because the micro-purchase level carries almost no competition or set-aside obligation, it is the layer of federal spending where formal SDVOSB set-aside procedures do not apply.
What Changes at This Dollar Level
- At or below the MPT, the contracting officer may buy without soliciting competitive quotes or documenting price competition, as long as the price is reasonable.
- The automatic small-business reserve and the SDVOSB set-aside procedures do not apply at the micro-purchase level — those begin above the MPT.
- Micro-purchases are typically made with the Government purchase card rather than a formal contract action.
- Special lower thresholds apply where the Service Contract Labor Standards ($2,500) or Construction Wage Rate Requirements ($2,000) attach.
Key Features
| Feature | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Minimal process by design | A micro-purchase can be awarded without competition, a written solicitation, or a set-aside — the point is to move small, routine buys quickly and cheaply. |
| Purchase-card layer | Most micro-purchases run on the Governmentwide commercial purchase card, so there is often no traditional award document for a vendor to respond to. |
| Special-category thresholds | The standard $10,000 line drops to $2,500 for Service Contract Labor Standards work and $2,000 for Davis-Bacon construction, and rises for contingency/combat-support buys. |
| Floor of the set-aside world | Because set-aside procedures start above the MPT, this threshold marks the bottom edge of where SDVOSB and small-business preferences even come into play. |
What It Means for an SDVOSB
For a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, the micro-purchase threshold marks where the set-aside preference switches on: below it, a contracting officer can buy from anyone without reserving the work, so an SDVOSB has no set-aside leverage on a sub-$10,000 buy. The practical play at this level is relationship, not regulation — being a known, responsive vendor on an agency's purchase-card radar, especially through the GSA Schedule or an existing account, so a card-holder thinks of you first. Micro-purchases will not build a set-aside pipeline, but a track record of clean, fast micro-purchase performance is exactly the kind of past performance that supports a bid when the same buyer runs a larger, set-aside-eligible acquisition above the threshold.
Watch Out For
- Assuming a purchase-card buy must be competed — at or below the MPT it generally need not be, so 'we never got a quote request' is not a protestable grievance.
- Missing the special lower thresholds — a service buy over $2,500 or a construction buy over $2,000 carries labor-standards obligations even though it is under $10,000.
- Treating the MPT as a set-aside opportunity — SDVOSB set-aside procedures do not attach below it.
- Splitting requirements to stay under the MPT — deliberately breaking a larger need into micro-purchases to avoid competition is improper.
Run the Numbers
Frequently Asked
What is the micro-purchase threshold?
The micro-purchase threshold is the dollar line — $10,000 for most acquisitions under FAR 2.101 — at or below which the government can buy supplies or services with minimal process: generally without competitive quotes, a formal solicitation, or a small-business set-aside, as long as the price is reasonable. Most micro-purchases are made with the Government commercial purchase card. Special lower thresholds apply to labor-standards-covered work ($2,500 for services, $2,000 for construction), and higher amounts apply for contingency and combat-support buys.
Do SDVOSB set-aside rules apply to micro-purchases?
No. The automatic small-business reserve and the SDVOSB set-aside procedures begin above the micro-purchase threshold, not below it. At or under the MPT, a contracting officer can buy from any responsible source without reserving the acquisition for small business or SDVOSBs. The set-aside preference — including the rule of two — only comes into play once a buy exceeds the micro-purchase level.
Can an agency split a purchase to stay under the micro-purchase threshold?
No. Deliberately dividing a known requirement into several micro-purchases to avoid competition, a set-aside, or simplified-acquisition procedures is an improper split of a requirement. The threshold applies to the actual anticipated need, so a larger requirement cannot be sliced into sub-$10,000 pieces to dodge the rules that would otherwise attach above the line.
Primary Sources
- FAR 2.101 — Definitions (micro-purchase threshold)
- FAR 13.201 — General (micro-purchase procedures)
- FAR 13.202 — Micro-purchases
Plain-English reference, not legal advice. Acquisition-related dollar thresholds are periodically re-indexed for inflation and the underlying FAR sections and statutes are amended from time to time — always confirm the current figure and its exceptions against the FAR and the actual solicitation before relying on it, and consult qualified counsel for your specific situation.
Change log (1)
- LaunchedPublished the federal procurement dollar thresholds reference covering the dollar lines that shape an SDVOSB set-aside — the micro-purchase threshold (FAR 2.101), the simplified acquisition threshold and the automatic small-business reserve (FAR 2.101 / 19.203), the commercial simplified-procedures ceiling (FAR 13.500), the SDVOSB sole-source ceiling (FAR 19.1406), the subcontracting-plan threshold (FAR 52.219-9), the certified cost or pricing data / TINA threshold (FAR 15.403-4), the Cost Accounting Standards threshold (48 CFR 9903.201-1), the Service Contract Labor Standards (41 U.S.C. § 6702) and Davis-Bacon (40 U.S.C. § 3142) labor thresholds, and the FFATA subaward reporting threshold (FAR 52.204-10) — each with an at-a-glance quick-facts card showing the current dollar amount, a what-changes-at-the-line list, a key-features table, an SDVOSB-specific angle, watch-outs, FAQPage, Article, Dataset, and BreadcrumbList structured data, primary-source citations, and cross-links into the glossary, regulation explainers, clauses, how-to guides, FAQ, and the size-standard, set-aside eligibility, subcontracting, and price-to-win calculators.