Procurement Law is constantly changing and being reformed and this does not means being simplified. Additional regulations have been issued lately this year.

Procurement Law Modernization Act (Vergaberechtmodernisierungsgesetz)

In 2016, Public Procurement Law has been comprehensively reformed by new European Directives. The focus has been the part 4 of the German GWB- Act against Restrains of Competition.

The Act (Part 4 of the GWB) is supplemented by several ordinances, which have been summarized in a general regulation. This ordinance on the modernization of public procurement law takes up the general provisions of the law and supplements this with numerous detailed questions. For a more specific framework of the new regulations:

  • Procurement Regulation (VgV[1]) in Article 1, in which the awarding of public contracts by contracting authorities is further developed (so-called “classic procurement”)
  • Sector Regulation (SektVO[2]) in Article 2, which regulates the awarding of public contract in transport, drinking water supply and energy supply by sector contractors.
  • Concessions Ordinance (KonzVgV[3]) in Article 3, which for the first time contains comprehensive provisions for construction and service concessions as a new ordinance.
  • Procurement Statistics Ordinance (VergStatVO[4]) in Article 4, which introduced for the first time statistics on the award of public contracts
  • Articles 5 to 7 contain consequential amendments on the Defence and Security Procurement Regulation (VFVgV[5]) as well as other legal texts and provision on the entry into force/expiration date.

The reform aims to implement the three new EU public procurement directives. The European legislator has submitted a completely revised set of rules for the award of public contracts and concessions in the package for the modernization of European Procurement Law. The modernization “package” includes the Directive on public Procurement Law (Richtlinie 2014/24/EU), the Directive on the procurement of the water, energy, transport and postal services (Richtlinie 2014/25/EU) and the Directive on the concession awarding (Richtlinie 2014/23/EU).

This procurement Law modernization is the largest public procurement law and regulation procedure in the last ten years. The revised Part 4 of the GWB will comprise in the future, the essential requirements for the awarding of public contracts and concessions.

In order to facilitate the practical application of the law, the new contract awarding regulation will map out for the first time the procurement proceeding with an examination of the grounds for exclusion, suitability test, award up to the terms for the execution of the commission.

Possibilities for contracting authorities, strategic objectives – such as environmental, social or innovative aspects – under contracting procedures will be strengthened.

eVergabe and municipal Procurement

The strong use of electronic funds should ensure more efficient procurement procedures. This new Act obliges companies that carry out public contracts to comply with environmental, social and labor obligations. This applies in particular to the regulations in universally agreed collective contracts and the statutory minimum wage. Municipal freedom is for the first time part of the new Act.

European Single Procurement Document – ESPD – Einheitlichen Europäischen Eigenerklärung (EEE) 

The European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) has as main goal, to make easier the participation to public procurement in Europe. The ESPD has been created under the Directive 2014/24/EU and is intended to simplify the process of qualification for tendering by permitting businesses to issue an electronic self-declaration document that has to be submitted to public bodies located within the European Union. For more information, please visit the official European Commission Website listed below: (https://ec.europa.eu/tools/espd/filter?lang=en)

[1] Verordnung über die Vergabe öffentlicher Aufträge

 

[2] Verordnung über die Vergabe von öffentlichen Aufträgen im Bereich des Verkehrs, der Trinkwasserversorgung und der Energieversorgung

 

[3] Verordnung über die Vergabe von Konzessionen (Konzessionsvergabeverordnung – KonzVgV)

[4] Verordnung zur Statistik über die Vergabe öffentlicher Aufträge und Konzessionen

 

[5] Vergabeverordnung für die Bereiche Verteidigung und Sicherheit zur Umsetzung der Richtlinie 2009/81/EG des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates vom 13. Juli 2009 über die Koordinierung der Verfahren zur Vergabe bestimmter Bau-, Liefer- und Dienstleistungsaufträge in den Bereichen Verteidigung und Sicherheit und zur Änderung der Richtlinien 2004/17/EG und 2004/18/EG