Procedure Types in Procurement Law

Procedure types in procurement law: an overview of the open procedure, restricted procedure, negotiated procedure, competitive dialogue and innovation partnership.

Definition: Procedure types in procurement law refer to the statutorily regulated forms in which public contracting authorities award public contracts. EU procurement law distinguishes between the open procedure, the restricted procedure, the negotiated procedure with and without prior publication, the competitive dialogue and the innovation partnership; the choice of procedure depends on the subject matter of the contract, the threshold value and the statutory conditions (Articles 26–32 of Directive 2014/24/EU).

Last updated: January 2026 · Legal basis: Articles 26–32 of Directive 2014/24/EU, §§ 25 et seq. BVergG 2018, §§ 14–20 VgV

What are procedure types?

Procedure types are the statutorily defined frameworks within which public contracting authorities conduct procurement procedures – choosing the right procedure type is one of the most basic and consequential decisions in the entire procurement process. EU procurement law, as implemented by Directive 2014/24/EU, recognises five main procedure types for public contracts, which differ in terms of transparency, competition, flexibility and duration. In addition, there are simplified procedures in the sub-threshold range and special instruments such as the dynamic purchasing system and framework agreements.

Choosing the wrong procedure type constitutes a serious breach of procurement law that can lead to the procedure being set aside or to the nullity of the concluded contract. Contracting authorities must therefore carefully examine the conditions of admissibility for each procedure type and document their decision.

Purpose and significance

The differentiation between procedure types serves to balance the fundamental principles of procurement law – competition, transparency and equal treatment – with the practical needs of efficient and appropriate procurement. Not every procurement can sensibly be conducted in full competition with standardised time limits: complex development projects, procurement requiring confidentiality or urgent situations call for different procedural forms than the standard procurement of office supplies or cleaning services.

The principle of subsidiarity applies as an overarching guiding principle: the open procedure takes precedence. Any deviation requires the existence of statutorily defined conditions and must be reasoned by the contracting authority.

Procedure types in the above-threshold range

In the above-threshold range, the procedure types are exhaustively harmonised by Directive 2014/24/EU. The open procedure is the mandatory norm; all other procedures require special grounds of admissibility.

Open procedure

The open procedure is the standard procedure type in the above-threshold range, in which an unlimited number of companies may submit bids in response to a public notice – it is single-stage, fully transparent and requires no special justification.

Legal basis: Article 27 of Directive 2014/24/EU; § 105 BVergG 2018 (AT); § 15 VgV (DE)
Minimum bid period: 35 days (default); 15 days where urgency is demonstrated
Bidder pool: unlimited
Stages: single-stage (suitability and bid evaluated together)
Notice: mandatory in TED (Supplement to the Official Journal of the EU)
Use case: standard case in the above-threshold range; no special justification required

Restricted procedure

The restricted procedure has two stages: in the first stage, requests to participate are examined and a limited number of suitable companies are selected, who are invited to submit bids in the second stage. Negotiations are not permitted.

Legal basis: Article 28 of Directive 2014/24/EU; § 106 BVergG 2018 (AT); § 16 VgV (DE)
Minimum participation period: 30 days
Minimum bid period: 30 days (can be shortened to 10 days in cases of urgency)
Bidder pool: restricted; at least 5 candidates must be invited
Stages: two-stage (request to participate + bid)
Notice: mandatory in TED
Use case: where pre-selection of suitable bidders is appropriate; where bid preparation requires substantial effort; no special grounds of admissibility required

Negotiated procedure with prior publication

The negotiated procedure with prior publication allows the contracting authority, following a public notice, to negotiate with selected bidders on all aspects of the bid. It requires statutorily defined grounds of admissibility.

Legal basis: Articles 26(4), 29 of Directive 2014/24/EU; § 107 BVergG 2018 (AT); § 17 VgV (DE)
Grounds of admissibility (Article 26(4) of Directive 2014/24/EU): service cannot be procured without adaptation; innovative services; specifications cannot be drafted with sufficient precision; design services; intellectual or creative services (e.g. legal advice, architectural services); failed open or restricted procedure
Bidder pool: at least 3 bidders (if sufficient bids are available)
Negotiations: on all aspects except minimum requirements and award criteria
Notice: mandatory in TED
Use case: innovative or complex procurements; exceptional cases under Article 26(4)

Negotiated procedure without prior publication

The negotiated procedure without prior publication is the most restrictive exception – no public notice is published, the contracting authority can invite specific companies directly, and very narrow conditions of admissibility apply.

Legal basis: Article 32 of Directive 2014/24/EU; § 108 BVergG 2018 (AT); § 14(4) VgV (DE)
Grounds of admissibility: extreme urgency due to unforeseeable events; failed open/restricted procedure with no compliant bids; exclusive rights or technical exclusivity; procurement for research and development; certain follow-on contracts
Bidder pool: at least 1 company; usually several
Notice: no prior notice; an ex-post contract award notice is required
Use case: strictly exceptional; narrowly construed by case law

Competitive dialogue

The competitive dialogue is a particularly structured multi-stage procedure for particularly complex contracts, in which the contracting authority works together with pre-selected companies in a dialogue stage to develop solutions before final bids are sought.

Legal basis: Article 30 of Directive 2014/24/EU; § 109 BVergG 2018 (AT); § 18 VgV (DE)
Grounds of admissibility: identical to the negotiated procedure with prior publication (Article 26(4))
Procedure: notice → selection of participants → dialogue phase → final bids → award
Particularity: the optimal solution is developed only in the dialogue; no predefined service profile of the contracting authority
Use case: highly complex projects (major infrastructure, IT systems, public–private partnerships)

Innovation partnership

The innovation partnership is the most recent procurement procedure in EU law and allows the joint development and subsequent acquisition of innovative supplies, works or services in a single procedure.

Legal basis: Article 31 of Directive 2014/24/EU; § 110 BVergG 2018 (AT); § 19 VgV (DE)
Grounds of admissibility: services available on the market do not meet the contracting authority's needs
Procedure: notice → selection of participants → development phase(s) → procurement phase
Particularity: development and procurement in an integrated procedure; the contracting authority may end the partnership after each development phase
Use case: research and development projects with subsequent serial delivery; digitisation projects without a market solution

Comparison table for the above-threshold range

The following table provides a compact overview of the key features of the EU procedure types.

Procedure	Bidder pool	Negotiation	Notice	Ground of admissibility
Open procedure	Unlimited	No	TED	None (default)
Restricted procedure	Min. 5 candidates	No	TED	None (default)
Negotiated procedure with publication	Min. 3 bidders	Yes	TED	Article 26(4) of the Directive
Negotiated procedure without publication	Min. 1 bidder	Yes	None	Article 32 of the Directive (narrow)
Competitive dialogue	Min. 3 candidates	Dialogue	TED	Article 26(4) of the Directive
Innovation partnership	Min. 3 candidates	Yes	TED	No market offering

Procedures in the sub-threshold range

Below the EU thresholds, simplified national procedure rules apply, which preserve the principles of competition and transparency but impose less formal requirements.

In Austria, the BVergG 2018 provides the following procedure types in the sub-threshold range: open invitation to tender, restricted invitation to tender with and without notice, negotiated procedure without notice, and direct award (up to EUR 50,000 net for supplies/services). In Germany, the UVgO (supplies/services) and the VOB/A (works) govern the procedure types in the sub-threshold range: open invitation to tender, restricted invitation to tender with and without competitive participation, negotiated award and direct award (up to EUR 1,000 net).

Legal basis

The procedure types in the above-threshold range are exhaustively governed by Articles 26–32 of Directive 2014/24/EU; the national transposing laws give effect to these requirements but may not introduce additional procedure types.

Relevant provisions:

Articles 26–32 of Directive 2014/24/EU – the procedure types in detail
Article 18 of Directive 2014/24/EU – principles of procurement
§§ 25 et seq., 36 et seq. BVergG 2018 – Austrian procedure types (above and below threshold)
§§ 14–20 VgV – German procedure types in the above-threshold range
§§ 9–14 UVgO – German procedure types in the sub-threshold range (supplies/services)
§§ 3, 3a VOB/A – German procedure types in the sub-threshold range (works)

National implementation

Austria (BVergG 2018)

In Austria, the Federal Procurement Act 2018 (BVergG 2018) implements the EU procedure types in §§ 25 et seq. (above-threshold range) and §§ 36 et seq. (sub-threshold range) and supplements them with a detailed Austrian procedural architecture that clearly distinguishes between supplies, services and works contracts. Austria systematically distinguishes between the above-threshold and sub-threshold ranges and assigns separate procedure types to each. The BVergG 2018 also contains special rules for utilities contracting authorities (§§ 180 et seq.) and concession awards (§§ 175 et seq.). Legal protection: the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG) and the regional administrative courts.

Germany (GWB / VgV / UVgO / VOB)

In Germany, the EU procedure types are defined at statute level by the GWB (§§ 119–121) and elaborated by the VgV (§§ 14–20) for supplies and services and by the VOB/A for works; for the sub-threshold range, the UVgO and VOB/A apply with state-specific value thresholds. The SektVO governs the procedure types for utilities contracting authorities. Choice of procedure follows the same basic principles as under EU law. Legal protection: federal and state Procurement Chambers and the procurement panels of the Higher Regional Courts (above-threshold range); restricted in the sub-threshold range.

Related terms

FAQ

Can a contracting authority freely choose which procurement procedure to use? No. The choice of procedure type follows the principle of subsidiarity: the open procedure takes precedence. Deviating procedure types require the existence of statutorily defined conditions, which the contracting authority must document and, if necessary, prove. An arbitrary choice of procedure constitutes a serious breach of procurement law.

What are the most common mistakes in choosing the procedure type? The most common mistakes include: using the negotiated procedure without publication without adequately justifying urgency; using direct negotiated award as the default procedure in the sub-threshold range; deliberately underestimating the contract value to fall below the threshold; and failing to document the choice of a particular procedure type.

How does the competitive dialogue differ from the innovation partnership? The competitive dialogue is used to develop solutions for complex procurements where the contracting authority knows what it needs but not the best technical solution. The innovation partnership goes further: it combines joint research and development with the procurement of the result in a single procedure and is suitable for services that are not yet available on the market.

Does the open procedure also apply to works contracts? Yes. The open procedure applies to all types of contracts (supplies, services and works). For works in the above-threshold range, the public invitation to tender under VOB/A EU (DE) or the open procedure under BVergG 2018 (AT) is the standard procedure type. The threshold for works contracts is EUR 5,538,000 (as of 1 January 2024).

Are there special procedure types for concessions? Concessions are awarded under Directive 2014/23/EU and the national transposing legislation (BVergG 2018, KonzVgV). Directive 2014/23/EU does not prescribe a specific formal procedure but sets minimum requirements (notice, minimum time limits, principles). Concession grantors therefore have more discretion in designing the procedure than they do in classical procurement.

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