Glossary · Page 4 of 7

Procurement Glossary

All key terms around public procurement and tendering — explained clearly.

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Bill of Quantities in Procurement Law 2026

The bill of quantities (BoQ) structures all tendered works into items, quantities and units – the basis for every tender calculation under procurement law.

Delivery Deadline in Procurement Law

The delivery deadline is the contractually agreed period for performance of a supply contract and forms part of the procurement documents, with consequences in the event of late delivery.

Economic and Technical Capacity in Procurement Law 2026

Economic and technical capacity in procurement law: technical and economic capability of tenderers as a selection criterion in the award of public contracts.

Labels in Procurement Law

Labels are certificates that attest to environmental, social or other characteristics and can serve in procurement law as proof of selection or award criteria.

Lead Product in Procurement Law 2026

Lead product in procurement law: reference to a specific product as guidance for tenderers – admissible only in exceptional cases, always with the addition 'or equivalent'.

Leasing in Public Procurement 2026

Leasing as a form of procurement in public procurement law: distinction from purchase, classification under procurement law and threshold calculation.

Legal Framework of Procurement Law 2026 – Norms and Foundations

The legal framework of procurement law comprises EU directives, national legislation and sub-statutory regulations governing public procurement.

Legal Protection Body in Procurement Law 2026 – Competent Authorities

The legal protection body in procurement law is the competent authority for review proceedings. Overview of procurement chambers and administrative courts.

Legal Protection in Procurement Law 2026 – Review and Remedies

Legal protection in procurement law: bidders can challenge procurement-unlawful decisions. Overview of primary and secondary legal protection.

Liability Retention in Procurement Law

Liability retention: a security retention for damages during construction. Austrian concept. Distinction from the warranty retention; can be replaced by a bank guarantee.

Life Cycle in Public Procurement 2026

Life cycle in public procurement: holistic consideration of all phases of a product or works from manufacture to disposal in the award of contracts.

Life-Cycle Costing in Public Procurement 2026

Life-cycle costing (LCC) in public procurement: methodology for calculating total costs over the useful life as an award criterion.

Life-Cycle Costs in Public Procurement 2026

Life-cycle costs (LCC) in public procurement: total costs of a product over its entire useful life as an award criterion in public contracts.

List of Participants in Procurement Law 2026 – Confidentiality and Documentation

List of participants: register of all bidders or applicants involved in the procurement procedure. Documentation obligation, confidentiality and inspection rights explained.

Lot in Public Procurement 2026

A lot in public procurement is a delimited sub-contract of a tender. Obligation to divide into lots, exceptions and significance for SMEs explained.

Lot-Based Procurement 2026 – Division into Lots in Public Procurement

Lot-based procurement: Public contracts are divided into lots to foster competition and enable SME access. Legal basis & practice.

Lot-Based Tender in Public Procurement 2026

Lot-based tender in public procurement: tendering of a contract in several trade or partial lots, obligation to divide into lots and exceptions.

Lots in Public Procurement

Lots are sub-portions of a public contract that are awarded separately and promote SME participation. The division into lots is governed by Art. 46 Directive 2014/24/EU and § 97 (4) GWB.

Low Bid in Public Procurement 2026 – Abnormally Low Tender Price

Low bid: tender with an abnormally low price in a procurement procedure. Duty of clarification, exclusion and protection against dumping explained.

Lowest-Price Principle in Public Procurement Law

Lowest-price principle: award based solely on the lowest price. Only permitted for standardisable services. Section 91 BVergG 2018. Austrian term.

Lump Sum in Public Procurement Law 2026

Lump sum in procurement law: form of remuneration with a fixed total amount and no itemised billing – distinction from unit prices and significance under procurement law.

Lump-Sum Bid in Public Procurement Law 2026

Lump-sum bid: a bidder's offer with a fixed total price for the tendered service – content, requirements and evaluation under procurement law.

Lump-Sum Price in Public Procurement Law 2026

Lump-sum price in procurement law: fixed total price for a defined overall service – risk allocation, distinction from unit prices and contract design.

Performance Location in Procurement Law

The performance location is the place where the work is to be carried out, must be stated in tender notices and determines the NUTS code in the contract notice.

Performance Period in Procurement Law 2026

Performance period in procurement law: contractually agreed period for carrying out the tendered work and its importance for tender notices and tender evaluation.

Specification of Works in Procurement Law

Specification of works in procurement law: description of the contract subject as a prescriptive or functional specification. Art. 42 Directive 2014/24/EU, § 95 BVergG 2018.

Specification with Bill of Quantities 2026

Specification with bill of quantities (BoQ): detailed itemised description of all construction works as the basis for comparable tenders.

Supply and Service Contracts in Procurement Law 2026

Supply and service contracts in procurement law: distinctions, thresholds, applicable procedural rules and differences from construction contracts.

Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) in Procurement Law 2026

LkSG in procurement law 2026: due diligence obligations along the supply chain, exclusion grounds in procurement and compliance requirements for tenderers.

Supply Chain in Procurement Law 2026

Supply chain in procurement law: significance of supply-chain requirements in public contracts, due diligence obligations and sustainable procurement.

Supply Contract in Procurement Law

A supply contract is a public contract for the purchase, leasing, hire or instalment purchase of goods. EU threshold: EUR 221,000 (other CAs) or EUR 143,000 (top federal authorities).

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Bars on Participation in Procurement Law 2026

Bars on participation in procurement law: rules that prohibit biased persons on the contracting authority's side from participating in award decisions.

Bidders' Duty to Cooperate in Procurement Law 2026

Bidders' duty to cooperate: bidders' obligations to actively participate in the tender procedure, e.g. in clarification interviews and provision of evidence.

Grounds of Abuse in Procurement Law 2026

Grounds of abuse in procurement law: inadmissible circumvention strategies, abusive direct awards and cartel-law abuse prohibitions in public procurement.

Indirect Awards in Procurement Law 2026

Indirect awards in procurement law: awards by grant recipients with public funds – applicability of procurement law, contracting authority status, and state aid law.

Main Committee General Affairs (HAA) in Procurement Law 2026

HAA: The DVA's Main Committee General Affairs develops the cross-trade rules of VOB/A. Tasks, composition and significance for procurement law.

Main Contractor in Procurement Law 2026

The main contractor is the company that receives the award and is responsible to the contracting authority for full contract performance.

Main Tender in Procurement Law

The main tender is the bidder's standard tender, which fulfils the tender conditions in full and without modification. It forms the basis of tender evaluation and must be distinguished from alternative and variant tenders.

Manifest Inadmissibility or Unfoundedness in Procurement Law 2026

Manifest inadmissibility or unfoundedness in procurement review proceedings: conditions for immediate dismissal of a review application.

Margin of Appreciation in Public Procurement 2026

Margin of appreciation in public procurement: the contracting authority's discretion when evaluating tenders. Limits, intensity of review and documentation duties.

Market Exploration in Procurement Law

Market exploration in procurement law: gathering information about the market before tender procedures. Art. 40 Directive 2014/24/EU, § 20 BVergG 2018, § 28 VgV.

Market Monitoring in Procurement Law 2026

Market monitoring in procurement law: systematic analysis of the procurement market to prepare tenders, distinction from market exploration, and risks.

Material Price Adjustment Clause in Procurement Law 2026

Material price adjustment clause: contractual clause to adjust the contract price in case of significant material price fluctuations – admissibility and structure in procurement law.

Maximum Number of Tenders in Procurement Law 2026

The maximum number of tenders limits, in the restricted procedure and negotiated procedure, the number of undertakings invited to submit tenders.

Minimum Requirements in Procurement Law 2026

Minimum requirements in procurement law: technical, qualitative and suitability-related minimum standards that bids and bidders must necessarily meet.

Mixed Pricing (Mischkalkulation) in Procurement Law 2026

Mixed pricing in procurement law: inadmissible price shifting between items of a bill of quantities – warning signs, exclusion consequences and distinction.

Multiple Participation in Procurement Law 2026

Multiple participation in procurement law: a company's involvement in a tender procedure in several roles – as a sole bidder, member of a bidding consortium, or subcontractor.

Notification Duty to Unsuccessful Bidders 2026

Notification duty to unsuccessful bidders: information duty under § 134 GWB before contract award – content, deadlines, standstill period and consequences of breach.

Quantity Lot in Procurement Law 2026

Quantity lot in procurement law: lot created by dividing a contract by quantity or volume, to promote competition and SMEs.

Reporting Obligations for Works Contracts in Procurement Law 2026

Reporting obligations for works contracts: statutory notification and reporting duties for public contracting authorities and contractors when awarding and performing construction projects.

SME Interests in Procurement Law 2026

SME interests in procurement law: lot division, SME promotion, easier access for SMEs, and the legal basis for taking SME interests into account.

Standard Forms in Procurement Law 2026

Standard forms in procurement law: standardised forms for EU notices and national tender procedures to harmonise procurement practice.

Third-Party Involvement in Procurement Law 2026

Third-party involvement in procurement law: the involvement of external persons in the preparation or conduct of tender procedures and the resulting legal consequences.

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Ancillary Purchasing Activity in Public Procurement 2026

Ancillary purchasing activity: supporting procurement services provided by public contracting authorities. Distinction from central purchasing bodies and procurement-law classification.

Bid-Opening Record in Public Procurement 2026

Bid-opening record in public procurement: minutes of the bid opening or other procurement-procedure steps that ensure transparency and traceability.

Contract Amendment in Procurement Law 2026

Contract amendment in procurement law: contract modification or additional performance after contract conclusion, which must observe the procurement-law limits on material changes.

Ineffectiveness in Public Procurement

Ineffectiveness in public procurement refers to the absolute invalidity of a contract in cases of serious procurement-law breaches, in particular de facto awards. Governed by § 135 GWB and § 334 BVergG 2018.

Ineffectiveness in Public Procurement 2026

Ineffectiveness in public procurement: when is a public contract void by operation of law? Triggering events, legal consequences and cure options explained concisely.

Needs Assessment in Procurement Law 2026

Needs assessment in public procurement: foundation of every procurement, methods, market research and legal requirements in Austria and Germany.

Negotiated Procedure under Procurement Law

The negotiated procedure under EU procurement law allows contracting authorities to negotiate with selected candidates – admissibility, process and national rules.

Net Contract Value in Public Procurement 2026

Net contract value in public procurement: the estimated total value of a contract excluding VAT, decisive for determining thresholds and procedural obligations.

New Steering Model (NSM) in Public Procurement 2026

New Steering Model (NSM): administrative-reform instrument affecting public procurement. Output orientation, budgeting and tendering.

Non-Discrimination in Public Procurement

The principle of non-discrimination prohibits disadvantaging bidders on the basis of nationality or origin and is a foundational principle of the EU internal market.

Non-Performance in Public Procurement 2026

Non-performance in public procurement: breach of contractual obligations by the contractor after award and its consequences for the public contracting authority.

Non-Separately Appealable Decision in Public Procurement 2026

Non-separately appealable decision in public procurement: interim decisions in the award procedure that can be challenged only together with the main decision.

Notice in Public Procurement Law

Notice in procurement law: mandatory publication of tenders in the EU Official Journal (TED) or nationally. Contract notice, eForms since 2023.

Notice of Defects in Public Procurement 2026

Notice of defects in public procurement: informal or formal complaint of procurement breaches by bidders before initiation of review proceedings.

Notice of Objection Procurement Law 2026 – Obligation, Deadline and Effect

The notice of objection in procurement law is the formal complaint about a procurement violation lodged with the contracting authority. A prerequisite for the application for review in Germany.

Notice Text in Procurement Law 2026

Notice text in procurement law: content and structure of the official text used to publish tenders on TED and national portals.

Notification of the Award Decision in Procurement Law 2026

Notification of the award decision in procurement law: communication of the award decision to all tenderers. Content, form and deadlines under BVergG and GWB.

NUTS Code in Public Procurement

The NUTS code uniformly classifies territorial units across the EU and is a mandatory field in procurement notices to identify the place of performance.

NUTS Codes in Public Procurement Law 2026

NUTS codes in public procurement law: EU-wide uniform territorial codes for indicating the place of performance in procurement notices and tender documents.

Post-Tender Negotiations in Public Procurement 2026

Post-tender negotiations in public procurement: prohibition of unlawful negotiations after bid submission in the open procedure, and the permissible scope in the negotiated procedure.

Proof of Economic and Financial Standing in Public Procurement 2026

Proof of economic and financial standing: evidence of bidders' economic and financial capability in public procurement procedures under VgV and BVergG 2018.

Proof of Technical and Professional Ability in Public Procurement 2026

Proof of technical and professional ability in public procurement: evidence of bidders' technical and professional capability within the suitability assessment by public contracting authorities.

Replacement Delivery in Procurement Law 2026

Replacement delivery in procurement law: contractor's obligation to redeliver defect-free goods as a form of cure for defects in supply contracts.

Restricted Procedure in Public Procurement

Restricted procedure: only selected undertakings may submit bids; preceded by a call for competition, with at least five candidates. Art. 28 Directive 2014/24/EU, § 46 BVergG 2018.

Restricted Procedure in Public Procurement 2026

Restricted procedure in public procurement: two-stage award procedure with a call for competition and a limited number of invited bidders under EU procurement law.

Review Body in Procurement Law 2026

Review body in procurement law: competent authority or court for review applications by bidders in cases of procurement-law breaches in Austria and Germany.

Review Procedure in Procurement Law

The review procedure in EU procurement law gives bidders primary legal protection against unlawful award decisions – deadlines, authorities, and conditions.

Standard in Public Procurement 2026

Standard in public procurement: technical standards and codes that may be used in specifications, and their procurement-law limits.

Subsequent Submission in Procurement Law 2026

Subsequent submission in procurement law: contracting authority's request to bidders to complete missing documents or declarations after bid opening.

Sustainability Goals in Procurement Law 2026

Sustainability goals in procurement law: UN SDGs and EU climate targets as a guiding framework for sustainable public procurement and Green Public Procurement.

Sustainability in Procurement Law

Sustainability in public procurement: triple bottom line, EU Green Deal, strategic procurement. Legal requirements in Austria and Germany.

Sustainability Reporting in Procurement Law 2026

Sustainability reporting in procurement law: duty to disclose ESG data and its relevance for suitability and evaluation in tender procedures.

Sustainable Development in Procurement Law 2026

Sustainable development in procurement law: integrating environmental, social and economic criteria into public procurement processes under EU law.

Sustainable Procurement in Procurement Law

Sustainable procurement: taking environmental, social and economic aspects into account including life cycle costs. Art. 67 Directive 2014/24/EU, § 97(3) GWB.

Unsuccessful Bid in Public Procurement 2026

Unsuccessful bid: a bidder's offer that does not win in the procurement procedure — with the contracting authority's information duties and the bidder's legal-remedy rights.

Variant Bid in Public Procurement

Variant bid in public procurement: alternative solution to the tender, only permissible if expressly admitted. Art. 45 Directive 2014/24/EU, § 106 BVergG 2018, § 35 VgV.

Variant Bids in Public Procurement 2026

Variant bids in public procurement: alternative proposals by bidders that depart from the bill of services and are admissible under certain conditions.

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