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Unsere Standorte

Grant law

The defense against grant revo­ca­tion and reclaim requests

Award vio­la­tions can cause the grant­i­ng author­i­ty to reduce or com­plete­ly revoke fund­ing, often to an extent that is dis­pro­por­tion­ate to the actu­al error. We eval­u­ate the accu­sa­tion and pro­vide well-found­ed counter-posi­tions — up to and includ­ing admin­is­tra­tive court pro­ceed­ings.

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Pres­sure to act

React imme­di­ate­ly

Dead­lines begin to run upon receipt of the hear­ing let­ter — wait­ing costs rights

Dou­ble exper­tise

Award + grant

Only those who have mas­tered both areas of law can effec­tive­ly put the author­i­ties in their place

What we do for you

Defense against revo­ca­tion and reclaim

We ana­lyze the audit report, exam­ine the legal­i­ty of the revo­ca­tion and counter the grant­i­ng author­i­ty with well-found­ed counter-posi­tions — in due time and form.

Pro­por­tion­al­i­ty and pro­tec­tion of legit­i­mate expec­ta­tions

Many revo­ca­tion deci­sions fail due to the incor­rect exer­cise of dis­cre­tion or because the recip­i­ent of the grant enjoys legit­i­mate expec­ta­tions. We check both.

Rep­re­sen­ta­tion in admin­is­tra­tive court

If the out-of-court defense is not suf­fi­cient, we will rep­re­sent you before the admin­is­tra­tive court — with the exper­tise in pub­lic pro­cure­ment law that admin­is­tra­tive judges them­selves usu­al­ly do not have.

The revo­ca­tion of fund­ing in the event of award errors

Fund­ing bod­ies revoke fund­ing deci­sions and demand the repay­ment of fund­ing if seri­ous pro­cure­ment errors have occurred — some­times even in the case of minor pro­ce­dur­al errors. The pro­por­tion­al­i­ty of this reac­tion is by no means self-evi­dent, and many revo­ca­tion deci­sions do not stand up to legal scruti­ny. Any­one who accepts a revo­ca­tion deci­sion with­out com­plaint is often giv­ing away legit­i­mate rights.

The require­ment to com­ply with pro­cure­ment law

Grant notices often con­tain a require­ment to com­ply with pub­lic pro­cure­ment law. A con­di­tion is an ancil­lary pro­vi­sion to an admin­is­tra­tive act — it may or may not be law­ful. If you accept it, it becomes final and bind­ing and must be observed even if it is unlaw­ful. This oblig­a­tion can also be found in grant agree­ments — some­times hid­den in a para­graph at the back or in an annex. As a rule, the fund­ing provider does not act in the form of a notice, but can recov­er the fund­ing in oth­er ways, for exam­ple by off­set­ting or refus­ing to pay out. In addi­tion: It is not uncom­mon for it to be unclear which award rules are actu­al­ly meant. Fund­ing deci­sions and con­tracts some­times con­tain more detailed reg­u­la­tions — but these are often con­tra­dic­to­ry and open to inter­pre­ta­tion.

You should con­tact our spe­cial­ist lawyers imme­di­ate­ly after receiv­ing a hear­ing let­ter. Time lim­its begin to run upon receipt — if you wait, you may lose rights that can­not be restored lat­er.

We defend against the revo­ca­tion of fund­ing for you

You should not accept the revo­ca­tion and recov­ery with­out com­plaint. You should act at the lat­est when you receive a hear­ing let­ter or even just an indi­ca­tion of a prob­lem. The grant­i­ng author­i­ty has to com­ply with a large num­ber of require­ments if it intends to reclaim fund­ing that has already been grant­ed: a one-year dead­line, the oblig­a­tion to hold a pri­or hear­ing, the dis­cre­tionary deci­sion to be exer­cised in accor­dance with the law. This is where many approval author­i­ties fail. In addi­tion, there is a pos­si­ble pro­tec­tion of legit­i­mate expec­ta­tions — for exam­ple, if you have informed the fund­ing provider in good time and com­pre­hen­sive­ly about your actions and have act­ed in good faith in the per­mis­si­bil­i­ty of your pro­cure­ment.

It all depends on the file sit­u­a­tion — don’t wait

The revo­ca­tion of dona­tions is par­tic­u­lar­ly unpleas­ant for board mem­bers, man­ag­ing direc­tors and oth­er respon­si­ble par­ties. This is because the ques­tion always aris­es as to whether they have harmed the ben­e­fi­cia­ry and are there­fore per­son­al­ly liable to pay com­pen­sa­tion. If you receive a hear­ing, you should noti­fy your lia­bil­i­ty insur­er to be on the safe side — and check whether it is advis­able to take out D&O lia­bil­i­ty insur­ance. In any case, con­tact the lawyers at our law firm in good time and with con­fi­dence.

You need exper­tise in fund­ing law and pub­lic pro­cure­ment law

If a grant is revoked due to pro­cure­ment errors, a lawyer with gen­er­al expe­ri­ence in admin­is­tra­tive law is not enough. Above all, your lawyer must be fit in pro­cure­ment law — he must know the pro­cure­ment rules in order to be able to put the author­i­ty in its place, and he must have the nec­es­sary author­i­ty before the admin­is­tra­tive court. This is because admin­is­tra­tive judges gen­er­al­ly have no in-depth knowl­edge of pub­lic pro­cure­ment law and its prac­ti­cal appli­ca­tion. At abante, we close this gap: Year after year, we accom­pa­ny count­less pro­cure­ment pro­ce­dures, often enough with fund­ing. We are your part­ner at the inter­face of grant and pro­cure­ment law.

Typ­i­cal pro­ce­dure

  • Ana­lyze con­sul­ta­tion let­ter — secure dead­lines
  • Review award file and recon­struct facts
  • Check pro­tec­tion of legit­i­mate expec­ta­tions and pro­por­tion­al­i­ty
  • Coun­ter­state­ment to the grant­i­ng author­i­ty
  • Appeal or action before the admin­is­tra­tive court

Fre­quent­ly asked ques­tions about pro­ce­dur­al sup­port

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

Can the grant­i­ng author­i­ty revoke the fund­ing due to any award error?

Not auto­mat­i­cal­ly. As a rule, revo­ca­tion requires a seri­ous breach of con­tract and must be pro­por­tion­ate. Many revo­ca­tion deci­sions fail because the author­i­ty has not exer­cised its dis­cre­tion in accor­dance with the law or the recip­i­ent of the grant is enti­tled to pro­tec­tion of legit­i­mate expec­ta­tions. Whether this is the case in your case can only be assessed by a lawyer. We will be hap­py to help you.

→ Arrange an ini­tial con­sul­ta­tion now

The dead­lines depend on the spe­cif­ic pro­ce­dure and the require­ments of the approval author­i­ty. As a rule, a dead­line is set for a response, which may be short. If you miss this dead­line or respond inad­e­quate­ly, you may lose impor­tant oppor­tu­ni­ties to defend your­self. You should there­fore seek legal advice as ear­ly as pos­si­ble. We will be hap­py to help you.

This depends on the cir­cum­stances of the indi­vid­ual case — in par­tic­u­lar whether there has been a breach of duty that has harmed the recip­i­ent of the grant. In crit­i­cal sit­u­a­tions, it is advis­able to inform the lia­bil­i­ty insur­er at an ear­ly stage and seek legal advice. We will be hap­py to help you with this.

→ Arrange an ini­tial con­sul­ta­tion now

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

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Specialized law firm for public procurement law

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

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    04109 Leipzig
    Germany
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