Principle of Equal Treatment in Procurement Law

Definition: The principle of equal treatment is a fundamental principle of European procurement law that, under Art. 18(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU, requires public contracting authorities to treat all economic operators equally and without discrimination and to ensure transparency throughout the procurement procedure.

Last updated: January 2026 · Legal basis: Art. 18(1) Directive 2014/24/EU; Art. 36(1) Directive 2014/25/EU; BVergG 2018; GWB § 97(2)

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What is the principle of equal treatment?

The principle of equal treatment is the central procurement principle ensuring that no bidder is disadvantaged or favoured over another – regardless of nationality, origin or other extraneous characteristics.

Art. 18(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU expressly enshrines the principle: public contracting authorities shall treat all economic operators equally and without discrimination and act in a transparent and proportionate manner. The principle of equal treatment is therefore not merely a formal requirement but a substantive principle permeating the entire procurement procedure from needs analysis through publication to award.

The principle is closely linked to transparency: equal treatment presupposes that all bidders receive the same information at the same time, that evaluation criteria are known in advance and that the reasons for decisions are documented in a comprehensible manner. In settled case law (e.g. Case C-496/99 P Succhi di Frutta; Case C-27/15 Pippo Pizzo), the Court of Justice has emphasised that transparency is a corollary of the principle of equal treatment.

Significance and function

The principle of equal treatment protects competition in the European single market and prevents public contracts from being misused as an instrument of national economic policy or to favour particular undertakings.

Specific manifestations of the principle in the procurement procedure:

• Identical information base: all bidders must receive the same procurement documents; additional information to individual bidders is inadmissible unless made available to all simultaneously (bidder questions and answers must be published).
• Uniform evaluation standards: award criteria and their weighting must be set in advance and cannot be changed during the procedure. All bids must be evaluated by the same criteria.
• Prohibition of bidder advice: the contracting authority may not preferentially advise any bidder in preparing its bid. Where an undertaking has been involved in the preparation of a procurement procedure (prior involvement), special safeguards are required (Art. 41 Directive 2014/24/EU).
• No post-submission negotiation: in the open and restricted procedures, bids must in principle not be renegotiated after submission, as this would favour individual bidders.

The principle of equal treatment applies not only to bidders from the EU but also – where relevant international agreements exist, in particular the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) – to undertakings from third countries.

Legal basis

The principle of equal treatment is anchored at multiple levels and is consistently enforced by the Court of Justice and national review bodies.

• EU primary law: Arts. 18, 34, 49, 56 TFEU (fundamental freedoms)
• EU secondary law: Art. 18(1) Directive 2014/24/EU; Art. 36(1) Directive 2014/25/EU; Art. 3(1) Directive 2014/23/EU
• Austria: § 19(1) BVergG 2018 expressly sets out the principles of competition, equal treatment, mutual recognition, proportionality and transparency
• Germany: § 97(2) GWB; § 2 VgV

Consequences of breach: a breach of the principle of equal treatment can be asserted in review proceedings. Possible consequences include cancellation of the procurement procedure, prohibition of the award or – after the award – damages claims by the disadvantaged bidder.

Related terms

• Non-discrimination
• Product Neutrality
• Transparency
• Procurement Procedure
• Award Criteria
• Review Procedure
• Open Procedure
• In-house Award

FAQ

What is "covert discrimination" in procurement law? Covert discrimination occurs where requirements are apparently neutral but in practice disadvantage foreign or particular domestic bidders. Typical examples are excessively specific regional experience requirements, references that only locally established undertakings can meet, or technical specifications effectively pointing to a particular product from a particular manufacturer.

May a contracting authority make enquiries of a bidder where its bid is unclear? Yes, clarification queries are admissible within strict limits, but they must not be used to change the substance of bids or to give individual bidders an advantage. The principle of equal treatment prohibits granting only individual bidders the opportunity to improve their bid.

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Last updated: January 2026 All information provided without guarantee. For legally binding advice, please consult a law firm specialising in procurement law.