A review procedure of the tendering proceedings before the public procurement supervisory committee (tribunal) starts only at request of a company.

Certain formalities have to be respected, in order to avoid the rejection at the time of the review procedure.

Federal Cartel Office and Public Procurement Tribunals of the respective German Länder

 Public procurement tribunals both at a federal and provincial level are present on the German territory. The Federal Government is affiliated to the Cartel Office.

Summary Expiration of the Review Proceedings

 It is an “administrative instance” that, with an administrative act, decides whether infringement from the applicant is present. This must be done from the start of the proceedings with an exchange of opinions of the parties and, if necessary, oral proceedings that are generally possible within one month.

In its decision, the Public Procurement Tribunal will take appropriate measures to eliminate an infringement and to prevent severe “injuries” to the company concerned. The review procedure can also be rejected or withdrawn.

The contracting authority receive the company´s application with the result that this former my not award the contract until the public procurement authority has decided on the application and the appeal period (to the competent higher regional court) of 2 weeks has expired.

If the contract has already been awarded, it shall not be cancelled. After the definitive awarding of the contract, the possibilities of legal protection for the tenderer end in the review procedure.

Duty of notification of the forthcoming contracting award

In order to allow a company to avail of legal protection, it is therefore imperative to inform about the proposed surcharge 14 days before the awarding of the contract.

Costs of the review procedure

 The fees of the Federal Procurement Chamber are between EUR 2500 and 25000. Please consider that attorney fees of the parties also have to be calculated.