The rules and their sources
| Term |
Meaning |
| Vergabe / Vergaberecht |
Awarding public contracts, and the law that governs it. |
| GWB (Part 4) |
The Act against Restraints of Competition, whose fourth part contains the procurement law above the EU thresholds. |
| VgV |
The procurement regulation for supplies and services above the thresholds. |
| VOB/A |
The contracting rules for works. Section 1 applies below the thresholds and section 2 (EU) above. |
| UVgO |
The rules for supplies and services below the thresholds. A slimmer version was published in draft in June 2026. |
| SektVO / KonzVgV / VSVgV |
Regulations for utilities, concessions, and defence and security. |
| Haushaltsrecht (§55 BHO / LHO) |
Budget law, which governs procurement below the thresholds at federal (BHO) and state (LHO) level. |
| Schwellenwert |
The EU threshold. In 2026: €140,000 for federal ministries, €216,000 for other buyers (supplies and services), and €5,404,000 for works. |
| Wertgrenzen |
Value limits below the thresholds, set by the federal government and each of the 16 states. |
| Vergabebeschleunigungsgesetz |
The procurement acceleration law, in force 1 July 2026. It raised the federal direct-award limit to €50,000 and made self-declarations the default. |
Procedures
| Term |
Meaning |
| Offenes Verfahren |
Open procedure, above the thresholds: anyone can bid. At least 35 days (30 electronically). |
| Nicht offenes Verfahren |
Restricted procedure: candidates apply, and those selected bid. |
| Verhandlungsverfahren |
Negotiated procedure, above the thresholds. |
| Wettbewerblicher Dialog / Innovationspartnerschaft |
Competitive dialogue and innovation partnership. |
| Öffentliche Ausschreibung |
Open tender, below the thresholds. |
| Beschränkte Ausschreibung (mit/ohne Teilnahmewettbewerb) |
Restricted tender, with or without a public call for participation. |
| Verhandlungsvergabe |
Negotiated award for supplies and services, below the thresholds. Since July 2026, federal buyers can use it without competition up to €100,000. |
| Freihändige Vergabe |
The works equivalent of negotiated award. |
| Direktauftrag |
Direct award without a procedure: €50,000 for federal buyers, and state limits vary widely. |
| Teilnahmewettbewerb |
A public call for participation that comes before a restricted procedure. |
| Rahmenvereinbarung |
Framework agreement, up to 4 years. |
| Los / Losvergabe |
Lot, and the rule that contracts must be divided into lots by size and trade (now §97a GWB). |
| Bekanntmachung |
Notice, published on platforms, service.bund.de, oeffentlichevergabe.de or TED. |
| Vergabeunterlagen |
The tender documents. |
Qualifying and bidding
| Term |
Meaning |
| Eignung |
Suitability: authorisation to practise, economic and financial standing, and technical and professional ability. |
| Eigenerklärung |
Self-declaration, now the default form of proof. |
| EEE |
The European Single Procurement Document (Einheitliche Europäische Eigenerklärung). |
| Präqualifizierung (PQ-VOB / AVPQ) |
Prequalification for works (PQ-VOB) and for supplies and services (the chambers’ AVPQ register). It saves resubmitting documents. |
| Wettbewerbsregister |
The federal competition register of exclusion grounds. Buyers must check it from €50,000. |
| Bietergemeinschaft |
A bidding consortium, treated like a single bidder. No legal form is needed to bid. |
| Eignungsleihe |
Relying on another company’s capacity to qualify. |
| Nachunternehmer / Unterauftragnehmer |
Subcontractor. There is no cap on subcontracting. |
| Angebot / Angebotsfrist |
The bid, and the bid deadline. |
| Textform / qualifizierte elektronische Signatur |
Bids are submitted electronically in text form. A qualified e-signature is needed only if the buyer requires one. |
| Wirtschaftlichstes Angebot |
The most economically advantageous tender: the best price-quality ratio. |
| Ungewöhnlich niedriges Angebot |
An abnormally low bid, which must be explained. |
Wages and conditions
| Term |
Meaning |
| Tariftreue / Tariftreuegesetz |
Commitment to collective-agreement working conditions. The federal law (from 1 May 2026) covers federal works and services from €50,000, and most states have their own. |
| Vergabemindestlohn |
A procurement minimum wage set by some states, above the national minimum of €13.90 an hour (2026). |
| Mindestlohn (MiLoG) |
The national minimum wage. |
| Bauabzugsteuer / Freistellungsbescheinigung |
A 15% construction withholding tax, unless you present an exemption certificate. |
Challenges and after the award
| Term |
Meaning |
| Rüge |
A formal complaint to the buyer, within 10 days of spotting a breach. |
| Vergabekammer |
Review chamber: federal chambers sit at the Federal Cartel Office, and the states have their own. It decides within 5 weeks. |
| Nachprüfungsantrag |
An application for review to the Vergabekammer, within 15 days of the buyer refusing your complaint. |
| Informations- und Wartepflicht (§134 GWB) |
The duty to inform losing bidders, and the waiting period before signing: 10 days electronic, 15 otherwise. |
| Zuschlag |
The award: acceptance of the winning bid, which concludes the contract. |
| Unterschwellenvergabe |
Procurement below the thresholds. Some states (such as Saxony, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate) offer a review procedure there. |
| XRechnung |
The German e-invoicing standard used by federal buyers. |
Questions
What is the difference between Ausschreibung and Vergabe?
Vergabe is the whole process of awarding a public contract. Ausschreibung is a tender, the advertised competition: an öffentliche Ausschreibung is open to all, a beschränkte Ausschreibung is restricted to invited firms. Below the EU thresholds these are national procedure names; above them, the EU names (offenes Verfahren, nicht offenes Verfahren) apply.
What is a Direktauftrag?
A direct award without a procedure. Federal buyers can award directly up to €50,000 since July 2026; the German states set their own limits, from a few thousand euros in Bremen and Hamburg to €250,000 for works by Bavarian municipalities.
What is a Rüge?
A formal complaint to the buyer about a breach of procurement rules. Above the EU thresholds, you must raise it within 10 calendar days of spotting the breach (before the deadline if it’s visible in the documents) before you can apply to the Vergabekammer, the review chamber.
Sources
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.
