Working for you throughout Germany

Unsere Standorte

Bid­ders, Appli­cants & Con­trac­tors

The accom­pa­ni­ment of busi­ness coop­er­a­tion

Bid­ding con­sor­tium, use of sub­con­trac­tors, apti­tude lend­ing — coop­er­a­tion in the award pro­ce­dure offers oppor­tu­ni­ties, but brings with it legal pit­falls. We will show you which form is right for you.

Get advice now

Com­mon error

Sub­con­trac­tor intro­duced incor­rect­ly

Incor­rect or incom­plete use of sub­con­trac­tors in the award pro­ce­dure can cost you the con­tract.

Our approach

Pro­cure­ment and con­tract law

We sup­port col­lab­o­ra­tions from the bid­ding phase through to the final­iza­tion of the joint ven­ture.

What we do for you

Select form of coop­er­a­tion

We will dis­cuss with you which form of coop­er­a­tion — bid­ding con­sor­tium, sub­con­trac­tor or suit­abil­i­ty loan — is right for your case.

Con­tract design

We draft the coop­er­a­tion agree­ments in such a way that they meet the pro­cure­ment require­ments and pro­tect your inter­ests for the entire dura­tion of the project.

Accom­pa­ny award pro­ce­dures

We ensure that sub­con­trac­tors are cor­rect­ly intro­duced into the award pro­ce­dure — and that no mis­take costs the con­tract.

Com­pa­nies can and may coop­er­ate

There are many forms of cor­po­rate coop­er­a­tion in the pro­cure­ment process that are rec­og­nized under pro­cure­ment law. The motives vary: some­times the coop­er­a­tion serves to com­pen­sate for a lack of apti­tude or resources. Or it is intend­ed to bring two com­pa­nies clos­er togeth­er, which is desir­able in any case. We will dis­cuss the coop­er­a­tion options with you and show you the oppor­tu­ni­ties and risks.

The prime con­trac­tor-sub­con­trac­tor rela­tion­ship

The most com­mon form of busi­ness coop­er­a­tion is that of main con­trac­tor and sub­con­trac­tor. The reg­u­la­tions in the award pro­ce­dure dif­fer from those in the exe­cu­tion of the con­tract. While a change of sub­con­trac­tor is usu­al­ly pos­si­ble with­out any prob­lems in the ongo­ing con­tract, the bid­der quick­ly makes a mis­take in the award pro­ce­dure that costs him the con­tract — for exam­ple, if he intro­duces sub­con­trac­tors incor­rect­ly or inad­e­quate­ly or replaces an already named sub­con­trac­tor.

If you encounter an unusu­al require­ment for sup­pli­ers or sub­con­trac­tors, please con­tact us before the ten­der dead­line. Crit­i­cal spec­i­fi­ca­tions should be checked in good time.

The bid­ding con­sor­tium

In terms of pub­lic pro­cure­ment law, the bid­ding con­sor­tium is by no means more demand­ing than the main con­trac­tor-sub­con­trac­tor coop­er­a­tion. How­ev­er, it presents the com­pa­nies involved with spe­cial chal­lenges in terms of con­trac­tu­al law. The bid­ding con­sor­tium in the award pro­ce­dure becomes the work­ing con­sor­tium in the con­trac­tu­al rela­tion­ship — which must be sep­a­rat­ed and ter­mi­nat­ed after suc­cess­ful order pro­cess­ing.

Con­tracts as the basis for every coop­er­a­tion

If you want to join forces with oth­er com­pa­nies, it is advis­able to draw up clear con­tracts that reg­u­late your coop­er­a­tion. These must meet the clien­t’s require­ments, imple­ment the legal require­ments and bal­ance your inter­ests for the entire dura­tion of the project. We will work with you to pre­pare a con­trac­tu­al arrange­ment that does jus­tice to the com­plex­i­ty of your coop­er­a­tion.

Forms of coop­er­a­tion at a glance

  • Bid­ding con­sor­tium — joint bid, joint and sev­er­al lia­bil­i­ty
  • Sub­con­trac­tor — bid­der acts alone, parts are named in accor­dance with pro­cure­ment law
  • Suit­abil­i­ty lend­ing — recourse to third-par­ty resources for proof of suit­abil­i­ty
  • Sup­pli­er — usu­al­ly not to be proven in the award pro­ce­dure

Fre­quent­ly asked ques­tions about pro­ce­dur­al sup­port

Gen­er­al ini­tial ori­en­ta­tion — no sub­sti­tute for legal advice in indi­vid­ual cas­es.

Can I join forces with com­peti­tors to form a bid­ding con­sor­tium?

In prin­ci­ple, yes — bid­ding con­sor­tia are express­ly pro­vid­ed for in pub­lic pro­cure­ment law. How­ev­er, they must meet cer­tain require­ments and must not be clas­si­fied as an agree­ment that vio­lates antitrust law. The legal clas­si­fi­ca­tion depends on the indi­vid­ual case.

In the case of a bid­ding con­sor­tium, sev­er­al com­pa­nies bid joint­ly and are joint­ly liable for the exe­cu­tion. In the case of a suit­abil­i­ty loan, a com­pa­ny acts alone as a bid­der, but relies on a third par­ty for cer­tain proofs of suit­abil­i­ty. Which struc­ture makes sense depends on the require­ments of the ten­der.

The bid­der is ful­ly liable to the client for the per­for­mance of its sub­con­trac­tors. In addi­tion, some ten­ders require sub­con­trac­tors to be named when sub­mit­ting a ten­der. Errors here can lead to the exclu­sion of the bid.

Fur­ther infor­ma­tion on bid­ding con­sor­tia.

Note: No legal advice. All answers do not replace an indi­vid­ual exam­i­na­tion by a lawyer.

Imme­di­ate ini­tial con­sul­ta­tion
for new clients

  • Prob­lem solv­ing in con­tract­ing is a race against time!

Imme­di­ate con­tact
Pro­cure­ment lawyer

Search
  • Cookie settings
Change privacy settings
Privacy settings history
Revoke consents

Search

Specialized law firm for public procurement law

Europe-wide expertise in public procurement law - your competent partner in all phases of the procurement process.

  • How to find us
  • Lessingstraße 2
    04109 Leipzig
    Germany
  • Cookie settings
Change privacy settings
Privacy settings history
Revoke consents

Apply now

Fields marked with "*" are required. Data uploads are only possible up to 5MB.

Alternatively, you can send us your application by mail to: abante Rechtsanwälte | Lessingstr. 2, 04109 Leipzig or send an e-mail to: personal@abante.eu

WordPress Cookie Plugin by Real Cookie Banner