Bidder Rights in Public Procurement 2026

Bidder rights: the claims and procedural rights of operators in public procurement procedures. Rights to information, review, file inspection and damages.

Definition: Bidder rights cover the totality of the statutorily guaranteed claims and procedural rights to which an operator participating in a procurement procedure is entitled in order to enforce equal treatment, transparency and compliance with procurement law.

Last updated: January 2026 · Legal basis: Directive 89/665/EEC, BVergG 2018, GWB §§ 160 et seq.

What are bidder rights?

Bidder rights are the procedural counterpart to the procurement-law duties of the contracting authority: where the contracting authority is bound to transparency, equal treatment and the promotion of competition, the bidder has an enforceable claim that those duties be complied with. Procurement law would be a toothless regime without effective bidder rights and the mechanisms to enforce them. The European Remedies Directive (89/665/EEC, as amended by 2007/66/EC) therefore requires the Member States to provide effective and rapid legal protection.

Information and transparency rights

The right to information is the most fundamental bidder right and the precondition for exercising all other remedies.

Information rights include:

Right to a standstill notification: Before the contract is finally awarded all unsuccessful bidders must be informed of the outcome (notification of the intended award). In Austria this duty is governed by § 131 BVergG 2018, in Germany by § 134 GWB.
Right to reasons for rejection: On request, the contracting authority must give the reasons why a tender was not selected.
Right to disclosure of the award criteria: All evaluation benchmarks must be announced in advance.
File inspection: In review proceedings, bidders may in principle inspect the procurement file (subject to restrictions to protect business and trade secrets).

Right to review

The right to institute review proceedings is the central enforcement right of bidders during the procurement procedure. Bidders that consider their rights to have been infringed by breaches of procurement law may apply to the competent review body. In Austria these are the regional administrative courts (e.g. the Federal Administrative Court for federal authorities); in Germany the procurement chambers.

Preconditions for a successful review application:

Standing (the bidder must have participated in the procedure or be able to show interest in the contract)
Notification of the breach before applying (in Germany: § 160 (3) GWB)
Compliance with the application deadline (in Germany: 15 days from knowledge of the breach)

Standstill period and suspensive effect

The standstill period protects the bidder's right to effective legal protection by inserting a waiting period between award announcement and contract conclusion. During this period (at least 15 days; 10 days for electronic notifications) an unsuccessful bidder may file a review application, which automatically suspends conclusion of the contract (suspensive effect).

Damages claims

Bidders may claim damages where breaches of procurement law are committed culpably. As a rule the negative interest (cost of preparing the tender) is recoverable; for particularly serious breaches the positive interest (lost profit) may also be claimed. The ordinary civil courts have jurisdiction.

FAQ

Must a bidder challenge a breach before filing a review application? In Germany yes: identified breaches must be challenged before the tender deadline expires. Austria has no comparable formal challenge requirement, but delay in taking action can be treated as forfeiture.

What happens if a contract has already been concluded? After valid award and expiry of the standstill period, conclusion of the contract can only be challenged in narrow circumstances (e.g. a de facto award or serious breaches that render the contract void).

Do candidates that were not invited to tender also have bidder rights? Yes. Rejected candidates in the call for competition stage are also entitled to information and can take action against the rejection of their application.

Last updated: January 2026 Information provided without warranty. For legally binding advice, please consult a law firm specialising in public procurement.