How to bid for public tenders in Austria.

Austria at a glance

The BVergG governs both above- and below-threshold procurement in one statute, with separate acts for concessions and defence. The federal central purchasing body, BBG (Bundesbeschaffung GmbH), publishes a new tender about every two days, with documents downloaded free through the ANKÖ Vergabeportal.

Thresholds and procedures (from 1 March 2026)

The temporary threshold decree (Schwellenwerteverordnung) that kept raising limits since 2018 was repealed on 1 March 2026. Its values are now permanent law, and some are higher.

• Three quotes: above €50,000 in a direct award, the buyer must try to get at least three offers or price quotes.
• Negotiated procedure without notice below threshold: now limited to a genuine short-lived bargain.
• Lots: below the EU thresholds, the value of each individual lot decides the procedure.
• Special services (social, health and similar): direct award up to €200,000, or €300,000 with prior notice.
• Utilities: direct award below €200,000 for works and €150,000 for supplies and services.

EU thresholds from 1 January 2026:

Minimum bid periods:

• Above threshold: 30 days for an open procedure, 25 for restricted or negotiated, plus 5 days each if documents or bids aren’t electronic.
• Below threshold: 20 days for an open procedure, and 10 for restricted or negotiated.

Finding tenders: eForms and the USP search

• Where notices appear: since 1 October 2026, every national notice, including below-threshold ones, is published as eForms data, referenced on data.gv.at.
• The free search: the government’s business portal, USP, must show the notices in a searchable, human-readable form. It’s free, needs no registration and updates at least daily.
• Other sources: above the EU thresholds, notices also appear on TED. The USP also lists auftrag.at, ANKÖ, BBG, BIG, Vienna’s database and the Länder portals.
• Documents and bidding: you register on the platform hosting the tender to download documents and bid. Above threshold, documents must be free and unrestricted from day one.
• Before you bid: the tender documents must say which review body is competent and give enough information to work out the review fee.

Who can bid

• Principles. The BVergG requires equal treatment, non-discrimination, proportionality and transparency, and awards go to “licensed, capable and reliable” firms. Buyers can’t limit participation to a territory, so “local firms only” is unlawful.
• Nationality and origin. Different treatment by nationality or origin of goods is allowed only where international law permits it:
  • EU, EEA and Swiss firms have equal rights;
  • WTO GPA firms have them for covered contracts;
  • firms from countries without an agreement can be admitted or treated differently, under the EU Court’s Kolin ruling. See how companies from outside the EU can bid for EU tenders.
• Legal form and consortia. EEA and Swiss firms can’t be rejected because Austrian law would expect a different legal form. Consortia are allowed unless objectively excluded, and can’t be forced to take a legal form before award.
• Proving your licence. Use your home country’s professional or trade register entry, or the certificate listed in the law’s Annex IX. You don’t need an Austrian licence just to bid.
• Regulated professions: EEA and Swiss firms must start the Austrian recognition procedure before the bid deadline.
• Regulated trades: EU firms providing temporary cross-border services in regulated trades file a service notification with the federal economy ministry, renewed yearly.
• Wage and social dumping. Buyers check bidders and their subcontractors against Austria’s register of penalties for wage and social dumping. This matters if you post workers to Austria.

Evidence, language and signatures

• Evidence:
  • You can prove suitability with the ESPD. Below threshold, a simple self-declaration is always allowed.
  • Above threshold, the winner must produce the specified evidence before award.
  • Buyers can’t ask for evidence they can get from a free database. The ANKÖ list of suitable companies is that database: listing is optional and costs about €78.50–€336.50 a year plus VAT, depending on size.
• Language and currency. Unless the tender documents expressly say otherwise, the bid and all attachments, including test certificates, must be in German and in euro.
• Signature. Electronic bids need a qualified electronic signature or qualified electronic seal. Above the EU thresholds, bids must be electronic. You submit either one electronic bid or one paper bid, not both.
• Exclusion grounds. A final exclusion decision from a court or authority anywhere in the EU or EEA is now a ground for exclusion. Bid rigging and similar offences, or their home-country equivalents, are too.

Bidding, step by step

1. Search the USP tender search (no login) and TED.
2. Note the competent review body and fee information in the documents.
3. Register on the hosting platform and download the documents.
4. Get a qualified e-signature or e-seal in good time.
5. Sort out licence proof and any recognition or service notification.
6. Prepare suitability evidence:
   • the ESPD or a self-declaration;
   • home-country register extracts;
   • optionally, an ANKÖ listing.
7. Write the bid in German, priced in euro, unless the documents allow otherwise. Flag errors in the tender documents to the buyer straight away.
8. Lodge any bid bond (Vadium) the tender requires, as a bank guarantee, surety insurance or cash, and include proof with your bid.
9. Submit electronically before the deadline. You can change or withdraw your bid until the deadline.
10. Watch for the award decision. The 10-day standstill (15 days by post) is your window to challenge.

Securities and payment

• Types of security in the BVergG:

• You choose the form: bank guarantee, surety insurance or cash.
• No statutory percentage. The law sets no percentage for the bid bond. In construction contracts based on the ÖNORM B 2110 standard, retentions of 5% on interim invoices and 2% on the final invoice have been reported. Read the tender documents.
• Payment: buyers may set at most 30 days, or 60 days only if justified by the nature of the contract. Longer terms are void.
  • Acceptance or inspection should normally take no more than 30 days.
  • Late-payment interest can’t be set below the statutory rate.
  • For agri-food supplies (from 2026), payment is due within 30 days for perishable products and 60 days for others.

How bids are evaluated

• Best value is now the general rule (since 1 March 2026). Contracts go “as a rule” to the technically and economically best bid (best price-quality ratio). Lowest price is allowed only where the work is described clearly and completely, such as standardised road works, highly standardised goods or some cleaning. Intellectual services, functional specifications, competitive dialogue and innovation partnerships can’t be awarded on price alone.
• The old rule is gone. It required best value for works of €1 million or more, and was deleted because best value now applies everywhere.
• Mandatory quality aspects. For six categories, buyers must build in quality, environmental, social, innovation or SME-friendly aspects:
  • intellectual services in negotiated procedures;
  • health and social services;
  • road passenger transport;
  • food;
  • building cleaning;
  • security services.
• Sustainability. Energy and material efficiency, emissions, land take, life-cycle costs and animal welfare must be taken into account. Procedures should, where possible, be designed so that SMEs can take part.
• Unusually low prices trigger an in-depth price check, including labour costs measured against the collective agreements your bid relies on.

Challenging a decision

• Where: federal buyers go to the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG). Länder and municipal buyers go to the competent regional administrative court under that Land’s review law.
• Deadline:
  • 10 days if the decision was sent electronically or published, 15 days by post;
  • for direct awards, 10 days from when you knew or could have known;
  • challenges to tender documents can be filed up to 7 days before the bid deadline.
• Filing doesn’t suspend the procedure, so also apply for an interim injunction. Since 2026, once the buyer is notified, an injunction application aimed at stopping the award has suspensive effect until it’s decided.
• The standstill is 10 days (15 by post). An award made during it is void.
• Speed: the BVwG must decide an annulment application within 6 weeks.
• New BVwG fees (from 1 March 2026):

• Fee discounts:
  • 50% for challenges to the procedure choice, the notice or the tender documents;
  • 80% from the second lot;
  • a further 25% if you withdraw before the hearing.
• Länder courts have their own fee regulations.

What changed in 2025–2026

• 22 July 2025: a temporary decree raised the direct-award limit to €143,000.
• 1 January 2026: EU thresholds fell to €140,000 / €216,000 / €5,404,000, which pulled the national supplies-and-services direct-award limit down to €140,000.
• 1 March 2026: the Vergaberechtsgesetz 2026 took effect:
  • permanent thresholds: €200,000 works direct award, and €2 million for works direct award with notice and restricted without notice;
  • a three-quote duty above €50,000;
  • best value as the general rule;
  • mandatory quality aspects in six categories;
  • new exclusion grounds;
  • new review fees;
  • stronger interim injunctions;
  • the threshold decree repealed.
• 1 October 2026: eForms replaced the old core-data format for all notices.
• Transition: procedures already started finish under the rules in force when they began.

Live Austrian tenders

See also how companies from outside the EU can bid for EU tenders and how to bid for EU public tenders on TED.

Questions

Sources

• Bundesvergabegesetz 2018, consolidated (RIS open data)
• Austrian Parliament: Vergaberechtsgesetz 2026 (302 d.B.)
• USP: tender search and eForms
• Bundesbeschaffung GmbH: becoming a supplier
• USP: tender databases and publication media

This guide explains the rules in plain English; it isn’t legal advice. Procurement rules change, and each tender document sets its own conditions — it always prevails.