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.

Definition: Subsequent submissions are requests by the public contracting authority to bidders or applicants to provide or complete missing, incomplete or defective documents, declarations or evidence after submission of the bid, where this is permissible under procurement law.

Last updated: January 2026 · Legal basis: § 56 VgV, § 51 SektVO, § 16(1) VOB/A, § 141 BVergG 2018

What are subsequent submissions?

Subsequent submissions enable the contracting authority to respond to gaps or defects in submitted bids without immediately excluding the bidders concerned – they thus serve the efficiency of the tender procedure and the principle of proportionality. At the same time, subsequent submissions are subject to narrow procurement-law limits: they must not be used to distort competition or to grant individual bidders advantages.

The institution of subsequent submission is governed by § 56 VgV (Procurement Regulation) for the above-threshold range and by various provisions of the VOB/A and UVgO for the sub-threshold range. In Austria, the corresponding rule is found in § 141 BVergG 2018.

Permissible subjects of subsequent submission

Under § 56(2) VgV, the contracting authority may request bidders to submit, complete or correct missing, incomplete or defective company-related documents – but not performance-related documents.

Documents that can be requested include in particular:

Suitability evidence (e.g. commercial register extract, business registration, references)
Declarations about personal situation (e.g. absence of grounds for exclusion)
Certificates and attestations (e.g. quality management systems, environmental certificates)
Signatures on forms, provided only a signature is missing

Not permissible is subsequent submission of:

Missing price information in the bill of quantities
Missing performance-related concepts or technical descriptions
Documents that would influence the price or quality of the bid

Discretion of the contracting authority

The decision on subsequent submission is at the discretion of the contracting authority; in principle it is not obliged to request subsequent submission. If the contracting authority does request subsequent submission from a bidder, it must – for reasons of equal treatment – also give other bidders with the same defects the opportunity to submit.

The discretion is not, however, unlimited: if the contracting authority has expressly stated in the tender documents that it will not request missing documents subsequently, it is bound by that statement and may not request subsequent submission.

Deadlines and procedure

The contracting authority must set a reasonable deadline for subsequent submission within which the bidder is to submit the missing documents. No statutory minimum or maximum deadline is laid down; in practice, deadlines of 3 to 7 working days are often granted.

If a bidder does not submit the requested documents within the deadline, their bid must be excluded.

Subsequent submission in Austria (BVergG 2018)

Under § 141 BVergG 2018, the contracting authority may request bidders to supplement or complete missing declarations, evidence or other documents, provided this does not result in a substantive change to the bid. The Austrian legal position is essentially equivalent to the German one, with the boundary between permissible supplementation and inadmissible bid change being further developed by the case law of the Federal Administrative Court.

Distinction from bid clarification

Subsequent submission concerns the submission of missing documents; bid clarification (§ 15 VOB/A, § 60 VgV), by contrast, serves the explanation of bid components that have already been submitted but appear unclear. Neither instrument may be used to substantively alter the bid or to induce the bidder to change the price.

FAQ

Can the contracting authority request subsequent submission if a bidder has forgotten a price? No. Missing price information constitutes performance-related documents and may in principle not be subject to subsequent submission. In this case, the bid must be excluded.

What happens if the contracting authority requests subsequent submission from only some bidders? A selective subsequent submission request limited to certain bidders can constitute a breach of equal treatment and render the tender procedure unlawful.

Must the contracting authority always request subsequent submission? No. Subsequent submissions are in principle at the contracting authority's discretion, unless it has expressly committed to or expressly excluded them in the tender documents.

Can a bidder submit missing documents on their own initiative? No. Unrequested submission of documents after the deadline is only permissible if the contracting authority has previously requested subsequent submission.

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