Public procurement law

Federal public procurement tribunals

Each year the public sector awards contracts worth hundreds of billions to private companies, making it a significant economic factor. Public contracts must be awarded under competitive conditions and in accordance with specific rules.

The Bundeskartellamt currently has two federal public procurement tribunals. They are responsible for reviewing award procedures which are carried out by the Federation or public contracting entities that can be attributed to the Federation and which relate to contracts exceeding certain values.

The award of public contracts at the level of the Länder is reviewed by the competent public procurement tribunal of each Land.

The organisational structure of the public procurement tribunals is similar to that of a court of law as they exercise their functions independently and under their own responsibility within the limits set by law.

The award procedure

Certain rules have to be observed in an award procedure. The procedure must be transparent and all participants must be treated equally. The most relevant types of procedure are open procedures, restricted procedures (restricted group of participants) and negotiated procedures.

To be eligible for public contracts, companies must be skilled and efficient and there must be no legal grounds to exclude them for reliability issues. A contract is awarded to the company which submitted the most economically advantageous tender.

The aim of public procurement law is to ensure that budgetary resources are used efficiently whilst at the same time protecting fair competition between the companies and guaranteeing free market access within the European Single Market.

The review proceedings

Bidding companies are legally entitled to expect the public contracting entities to comply with the rules governing award procedures. A company which wants to participate or has participated in an award procedure and which believes that its bid has been wrongfully rejected can file for review proceedings with the federal public procurement tribunals.

The case is then reviewed before the public procurement tribunals in a procedure similar to a court proceeding. The public procurement tribunals are independent and not accountable to another authority in their decision-making.

The decision of a public procurement tribunal can be appealed before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.

Legislation, information & decisions

Legislation and information on legal protection in the award of public contracts.

Published decisions (in German) rendered by the Federal Public Procurement Tribunals can be found here.