Hans-Peter Müller 1
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Symposium on Government
Procurement Regulations & PracticeTaipei World Trade Center; 2011/May/5
Hans-Peter Müller 2
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
German Ministry of Economics and Technology- National & intern. Economic policies
- Technology
- EU-matters
- Foreign Trade
- Energy policies
- Industrial policies
- SME – policies
Hans-Peter Müller 3
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
German Ministry of Economics and Technology- Market & competition regulations
- Public Procurement Regulations
- elaborating implementing/put in force
regulations via constitutional/
parliamentary process
- Transferring EU-regulations (directives)
into german law
Hans-Peter Müller 4
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Procurement Market backgroundEstimated annual volume of public procurement including goods, services & works:
EU - level: about 1.500 billions €/annum
National level: about 250 billions €/annum
Hans-Peter Müller 5
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Procurement Market background
About 30.000 contracting authorities
perform about 2.4 Million procurement
procedures per annum
Hans-Peter Müller 6
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
German public procurement legal system
Above the thresholds (competition law):WTO/GPA
GWB (competition law)
VgV/SektVO (Ordinances)
Below the thresholds (Budget law):
Procedural regulations
Hans-Peter Müller 7
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
German public procurement legal system
The thresholds:
Construction services/works: 4.845.000 Euros
Goods/services: 193.000 Euros(For Federal Ministries: 125.000 Euros)
Hans-Peter Müller 8
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
German public procurement legal system
EU-Directive 2004/18/EG EU-Directive 2004/17/EGEntities operating in the sectors
water, energy, transport & postal services
GWB
Act against restraints of
competition, Part IV
WTO / GPA
Hans-Peter Müller 9
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
German public procurement legal system
GWBAct against restraints of
competition, Part IV
Main contents:
- Principles of public procurement law
- Special regulations/shelter to promote SME
- Definitions of the different procedures
Hans-Peter Müller 10
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
SektVOAward & procedural
regulations for Entities
GWBAct against restraints of
competition, Part IV
VgVAward Regulations
Procedural regulations:
Hans-Peter Müller 11
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
VgVPrinciple Award Regulations
Procedural regulations:
VOL/ARegulation of
public supplies,
goods & services
VOB/ARegulation of
construction services/works
VOFRegulation of
Professional services
Hans-Peter Müller 12
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Principles of public procurement law(content of the GPA, the EU-Directives and also of the german procurement law)
• Transparency
• Competition• more than one bidder
• Non discrimination• equal treatment of national and international bidders
• no preference of local bidders
Hans-Peter Müller 13
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Principles of public procurement law
Economic operators have to fullfill certain suitability criteria/qualification („knock out“ criteria):
• skill
• efficiency
• reliabilityThese criteria are checked by the contracting authorities in the first step of the selection phase
Hans-Peter Müller 14
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Additional german principles of public procurement law:
• Award to the most economical tender Importance of life-cycle-costs
• Special regulations/shelter for SME Obligation to subdivide contracts into lots (by quantity or
by special items of the contract)
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German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
The different procurement procedures
• open procedure
• restricted procedure
• negotiated procedure
• competitive dialogue
• dynamic purchasing system
Hans-Peter Müller 16
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
open procedure(one phase procedure)
any economic operator may submit a
tender
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German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
restricted procedure (two phases procedure)
• any economic operator may request to participate
• those who are invited by the contracting authority
may submit a tender
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German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
negotiated procedure (either two steps procedure or one step procedure)
• contracting authority consults economic operator(s)
of its choice
and
• negotiates the terms of contract
Hans-Peter Müller 19
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
competitive dialogue (more phases procedure)
• any economic operator may request to participate
• contracting authority conducts a dialogue with the candidates
aimed at
• developing suitable alternatives meeting the requirements
and
• invites to tender on the basis of the developed alternatives
Hans-Peter Müller 20
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
dynamic purchasing system (completely electronic procedure)
• make commonly used purchases of goods that are
genarally available on the market
• any economic operator which satisfies the selection
criteria may request to participate
• economic operator submits an indicative tender
• after „last call“ of the contracting authority the participating
operators are requested to submit a final tender
Hans-Peter Müller 21
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Review procedures (only above the thresholds!)
• Principle of transparency
• Shelter of the economic operators
Hans-Peter Müller 22
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Review procedures (only above the thresholds!)
• information of the bidders 15 days before the award
• request for review to be adressed to an independant body
• automatic suspension of the award
• decision within 5 weeks
• possibility of apealing the court (decides finally)
Hans-Peter Müller 23
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
procurement process
• publishing of contracts / contract notice
• bidding
• checking of formal aspects of requests/tenders
• checking of suitability/qualification of the economic operator
• checking the adequate price
• rating of the tenders
• determination of the most economical tender = award
Hans-Peter Müller 24
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Publishing of contracts (electronic)
• Supplement of the Official Journal of the EU:• http://ted.europa.eu
• http://simap.europa.eu
• variety of national german publishing organs (examples):• www.bund.de
• www.evergabe.online.de
• www.vergabe24.de
• www.subreport.de
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German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
• Market survey – permanent search for procurements
• Procurement notices
• Prior information notices
• Marketing – contact with contracting authorities/entities not
only during a procurement process
Hans-Peter Müller 26
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
• cooperation with german economic operators/companies
• contact via
• chambers of Industry and commerce (www.dihk.de)
• chamber of crafts (www.zdh.de)
• public procurement counceling agencies (www.abst.de)
Hans-Peter Müller 27
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
• be aware of the time limits for tenders: (must be published in the procurement notice !)
• request for participation in a restricted or negotiated procedure
• usualy 37 days after publishing to submit the request
• at least 10 days to submit the request
Hans-Peter Müller 28
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
• be aware of the time limits for tenders: (must be published in the procurement notice !)
• open procedure
• usualy 52 days after publishing to submit the tender
• at least 15 days to submit the tender
Hans-Peter Müller 29
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
• be aware of the time limits for tenders: (must be published in the procurement notice !)
• restricted procedure
• usualy 40 days after invitation to tender to submit the tender
• at least 15 days after invitation to submit the tender
• in case of urgency: at least 10 days
Hans-Peter Müller 30
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
• careful consideration of the tender documents !
• bids/tenders have to be submitted according to the
requirments and in particular to the technical specifications
Hans-Peter Müller 31
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
• no changes of the tender documents and the contracting
conditions are permitted !
• otherwise: knock out!
• exemption: negotiated procedure/competitive dialogue
• changes may be made during negotiation/dialogue
Hans-Peter Müller 32
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
Tenders must contain all
• information
• declarations of qualification
• prices/calculation
as requested by the contracting authority
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German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
Groupings of contractors have to
• name their respective members
• nominate one as authorized representative
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German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
Make use of the possibility to submit alternative tenders
if permittedThe contracting authority must publish this in the procurement notice !
Hans-Peter Müller 35
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
Crosscheck all formal aspects of the tender before submitting it ! !• completeness of all requested information and declarations
• calculative correctness
• signature
• closed envelope
• time limit
Hans-Peter Müller 36
German Government Procurement Regulations & Practice
Being a successful economic operator in tendering
Finally: Possibility to request for review !• proof of possible damage
• through infringement
• request before the award
Hans-Peter Müller 37
Thank you very much !