Secondary bids

Secondary bids exist if the bidder offers other types of services than those provided for in the tender documents. On the part of the contracting authority, secondary bids can serve to gain innovative solutions, to achieve savings and rationalisation effects. On the bidder's side, they can serve to distinguish themselves from the other bidders.

Secondary bids are only admissible if the contracting authority expressly provides for this in the award documents. Non-admissible variant bids are excluded from the evaluation.

If the contracting authority has permitted the submission of variant bids, it must define minimum conditions that the variant bids must fulfil and specify the manner in which the variant bids are to be submitted. In addition, the award criteria must be chosen in such a way that they apply to both main and secondary tenders.

Secondary bids must be related to the subject matter of the contract.