{"id":23372,"date":"2026-01-09T14:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abante.de\/no-choice-with-fixed-maximum-number-of-bidders\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T11:33:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:33:30","slug":"no-choice-with-fixed-maximum-number-of-bidders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/no-choice-with-fixed-maximum-number-of-bidders\/","title":{"rendered":"No choice with fixed max\u00adi\u00admum num\u00adber of bid\u00adders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Octo\u00adber 31, 2025, the Pub\u00adlic Pro\u00adcure\u00adment Cham\u00adber (VK) of South\u00adern Bavaria issued an impor\u00adtant deci\u00adsion (Ref.: 3194.Z3-3_01-25\u201356) on the self-bind\u00ading nature of pub\u00adlic con\u00adtract\u00ading author\u00adi\u00adties. In essence, it con\u00adcerned the ques\u00adtion of whether a con\u00adtract\u00ading author\u00adi\u00adty may devi\u00adate from a pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly deter\u00admined max\u00adi\u00admum num\u00adber of bid\u00adders in the nego\u00adti\u00adat\u00aded pro\u00adce\u00addure if sev\u00ader\u00adal can\u00addi\u00addates are equal\u00adly suit\u00adable. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our video dis\u00adcussing the judg\u00adment:<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe hcb-fetch-image-from=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/nZUg0whEUB4\" title=\"Keine Wahlm\u00f6glichkeit bei festgelegter Bieterh\u00f6chstzahl\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nZUg0whEUB4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The facts of the case<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A pub\u00adlic client issued a Europe-wide invi\u00adta\u00adtion to ten\u00adder for project plan\u00adning ser\u00advices for civ\u00adil engi\u00adneer\u00ading struc\u00adtures in the field of flood pro\u00adtec\u00adtion. The cho\u00adsen pro\u00adce\u00addure was a nego\u00adti\u00adat\u00aded pro\u00adce\u00addure with a call for com\u00adpe\u00adti\u00adtion. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the con\u00adtract notice, the con\u00adtract\u00ading author\u00adi\u00adty stip\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded that a min\u00adi\u00admum of three and a max\u00adi\u00admum of five can\u00addi\u00addates should be invit\u00aded to sub\u00admit ten\u00adders. After the suit\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty test, how\u00adev\u00ader, it turned out that six can\u00addi\u00addates had achieved the full num\u00adber of points. In order not to fur\u00adther restrict com\u00adpe\u00adti\u00adtion, the con\u00adtract\u00ading author\u00adi\u00adty decid\u00aded against a lot\u00adtery pro\u00adce\u00addure and instead invit\u00aded all six can\u00addi\u00addates to sub\u00admit a bid. One bid\u00adder, who was sub\u00adse\u00adquent\u00adly not award\u00aded the con\u00adtract, com\u00adplained about this breach of the self-defined max\u00adi\u00admum num\u00adber.   <br><\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key point of the deci\u00adsion: The strict self-bind\u00ading nature of the client<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The South\u00adern Bavar\u00adi\u00adan Pub\u00adlic Pro\u00adcure\u00adment Cham\u00adber ruled in favor of the appli\u00adcant. The deci\u00adsion clar\u00adi\u00adfies two key prin\u00adci\u00adples: <\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Vio\u00adla\u00adtion of the trans\u00adparen\u00adcy require\u00adment:<\/strong> If a con\u00adtract\u00ading author\u00adi\u00adty has bound itself by spec\u00adi\u00adfy\u00ading a max\u00adi\u00admum num\u00adber in the con\u00adtract notice, devi\u00adat\u00ading from this lim\u00adit con\u00adsti\u00adtutes a breach of the pro\u00adhi\u00adbi\u00adtion of arbi\u00adtrari\u00adness and the require\u00adment of trans\u00adparen\u00adcy. Bid\u00adders must be able to rely on the fact that the \u201crules of the game\u201d will not be changed uni\u00adlat\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly dur\u00ading the pro\u00adce\u00addure. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mis\u00adin\u00adter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtion of Sec\u00adtion 75 (6) VgV: <\/strong>  The con\u00adtract\u00ading author\u00adi\u00adty argued that the pro\u00advi\u00adsion in Sec\u00adtion 75 (6) VgV was a dis\u00adcre\u00adtionary deci\u00adsion (\u201cmay\u201d), which allowed it to sim\u00adply admit more bid\u00adders as an alter\u00adna\u00adtive to the lot\u00adtery pro\u00adce\u00addure. The VK clear\u00adly dis\u00adagreed: The stan\u00addard only per\u00admits selec\u00adtion by lot as an excep\u00adtion to the suit\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty-based com\u00adpe\u00adti\u00adtion. How\u00adev\u00ader, it does not pro\u00advide a basis for sub\u00adse\u00adquent\u00adly expand\u00ading the num\u00adber of com\u00adpeti\u00adtors beyond the announced max\u00adi\u00admum num\u00adber.   <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tips for pub\u00adlic clients: Cre\u00adate plan\u00adning secu\u00adri\u00adty<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Care\u00adful\u00adly deter\u00admine the max\u00adi\u00admum num\u00adbers:<\/strong> When prepar\u00ading the announce\u00adment, care\u00adful\u00adly con\u00adsid\u00ader whether a max\u00adi\u00admum num\u00adber is absolute\u00adly nec\u00ades\u00adsary.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Prepa\u00adra\u00adtion for a tie:<\/strong> Make pro\u00advi\u00adsions in the ten\u00adder doc\u00adu\u00adments for the event of a tie in the suit\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty test.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Con\u00adsis\u00adtent appli\u00adca\u00adtion of the lot\u00adtery pro\u00adce\u00addure:<\/strong> If more can\u00addi\u00addates are equal\u00adly suit\u00adable than there are places avail\u00adable for the sec\u00adond phase, the lot\u00adtery pro\u00adce\u00addure in accor\u00addance with Sec\u00adtion 75 (6) VgV is the legal\u00adly secure method of choice. A \u201cwell-inten\u00adtioned\u201d expan\u00adsion of the group of bid\u00adders makes the entire pro\u00adce\u00addure vul\u00adner\u00ada\u00adble.  <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tips for bid\u00adders and fund\u00ading recip\u00adi\u00adents: vig\u00adi\u00adlance dur\u00ading the pro\u00adce\u00addure<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For com\u00adpa\u00adnies bid\u00adding for pub\u00adlic con\u00adtracts, the rul\u00ading gives rise to impor\u00adtant test points:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Com\u00adpar\u00adi\u00adson with the con\u00adtract notice: <\/strong>In the infor\u00adma\u00adtion let\u00adter in accor\u00addance with Sec\u00adtion 134 GWB, check exact\u00adly how many bid\u00adders have par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpat\u00aded in the pro\u00adce\u00addure. If this num\u00adber devi\u00adates from the orig\u00adi\u00adnal max\u00adi\u00admum lim\u00adit, this con\u00adsti\u00adtutes a breach of con\u00adtract that is sub\u00adject to com\u00adplaint. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Demand doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion of the eval\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion:<\/strong> The rul\u00ading also shows that a blan\u00adket eval\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion with\u00adout detailed doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion of the qual\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtive dif\u00adfer\u00adences (e.g. in the case of ref\u00ader\u00adences) is often not valid before the award\u00ading cham\u00adber.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Octo\u00adber 31, 2025, the Pub\u00adlic Pro\u00adcure\u00adment Cham\u00adber (VK) of South\u00adern Bavaria issued an impor\u00adtant deci\u00adsion (Ref.: 3194.Z3-3_01-25\u201356) on the self-bind\u00ading nature of pub\u00adlic con\u00adtract\u00ading author\u00adi\u00adties. In essence, it con\u00adcerned the ques\u00adtion of whether a con\u00adtract\u00ading author\u00adi\u00adty may devi\u00adate from a pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly deter\u00admined max\u00adi\u00admum num\u00adber of bid\u00adders in the nego\u00adti\u00adat\u00aded pro\u00adce\u00addure if sev\u00ader\u00adal can\u00addi\u00addates are [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":22556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[703,248,171,709],"tags":[797,802,803,800,794,795,793,798,799,801,796],"team_kategorien":[],"class_list":["post-23372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-public-procurement-law-in-15-minutes","category-jurisdiction","category-procurement-law","category-public-procurement-law-in-general","tag--section-75-6-vgv","tag-competition","tag-documentation-obligation","tag-engineering-structures","tag-europe-wide-invitation-to-tender","tag-maximum-number-of-bidders","tag-negotiated-procedure","tag-participation-competition","tag-prohibition-of-arbitrariness","tag-selection-criteria","tag-self-commitment"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23373,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23372\/revisions\/23373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23372"},{"taxonomy":"team_kategorien","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_kategorien?post=23372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}