{"id":24354,"date":"2026-02-12T13:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abante.de\/abante-files-a-lawsuit-regarding-the-practice-of-awarding-contracts-below-the-eu-thresholds-in-north-rhine-westphalia\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T11:22:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:22:44","slug":"abante-files-a-lawsuit-regarding-the-practice-of-awarding-contracts-below-the-eu-thresholds-in-north-rhine-westphalia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/abante-files-a-lawsuit-regarding-the-practice-of-awarding-contracts-below-the-eu-thresholds-in-north-rhine-westphalia\/","title":{"rendered":"abante files a law\u00adsuit regard\u00ading the prac\u00adtice of award\u00ading con\u00adtracts below the EU thresh\u00adolds in North Rhine-West\u00adphalia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal legal ques\u00adtions on trans\u00adparen\u00adcy and equal treat\u00adment pend\u00ading before the Region\u00adal Court of Cologne (Ref. 5 O 29\/2026)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

Leipzig\/Munich, Feb\u00adru\u00adary 12, 2026. abante Recht\u00adsan\u00adwalts\u00adge\u00adsellschaft mbH & Co. KG has brought an action against the City of Cologne before the Region\u00adal Court of Cologne. The pro\u00adceed\u00adings are being con\u00adduct\u00aded there under file num\u00adber 5 O 29\/2026. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

The back\u00adground to this is the legal sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion in North Rhine-West\u00adphalia, which has been in force since Jan\u00adu\u00adary 1, 2026, accord\u00ading to which munic\u00adi\u00adpal\u00adi\u00adties can waive the enact\u00adment of statutes reg\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading the award of con\u00adtracts below the EU thresh\u00adolds in accor\u00addance with Sec\u00adtion 75a (2) GO NRW. The City of Cologne is one of the munic\u00adi\u00adpal\u00adi\u00adties mak\u00ading use of this option. <\/p>\n\n

The sub\u00adject of the action is the ques\u00adtion of the pro\u00adce\u00addur\u00adal and sub\u00adstan\u00adtive legal stan\u00addards accord\u00ading to which pub\u00adlic con\u00adtract\u00ading author\u00adi\u00adties in North Rhine-West\u00adphalia \u2014 and pos\u00adsi\u00adbly in oth\u00ader fed\u00ader\u00adal states \u2014 award con\u00adtracts below the EU thresh\u00adolds if they opt for an exten\u00adsive exemp\u00adtion from for\u00admal pro\u00adcure\u00adment rules in the sub-thresh\u00adold area. Specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, this con\u00adcerns the judi\u00adcial clar\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion of whether and to what extent pub\u00adlic con\u00adtract\u00ading author\u00adi\u00adties are oblig\u00aded to define and announce cer\u00adtain pro\u00adce\u00addures and cri\u00adte\u00adria in advance in abstract terms when award\u00ading con\u00adtracts for legal ser\u00advices up to a net con\u00adtract val\u00adue of EUR 750,000. <\/p>\n\n

The plain\u00adtiff is itself affect\u00aded in its own rights and eco\u00adnom\u00adic inter\u00adests by the com\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsive waiv\u00ader of reg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion, which it con\u00adsid\u00aders to be uncon\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal, and there\u00adfore seeks in par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar infor\u00adma\u00adtion about the pro\u00adce\u00addure and cri\u00adte\u00adria for award\u00ading cor\u00adre\u00adspond\u00ading legal ser\u00advices as well as the omis\u00adsion of awards with\u00adout pri\u00ador deter\u00admi\u00adna\u00adtion and dis\u00adclo\u00adsure of cor\u00adre\u00adspond\u00ading stan\u00addards. In addi\u00adtion, it is to be estab\u00adlished that if there is an inten\u00adtion to pro\u00adcure, there is an oblig\u00ada\u00adtion to fol\u00adlow pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly announced pro\u00adce\u00addur\u00adal rules and that claims for dam\u00adages can be con\u00adsid\u00adered in the event of a fail\u00adure to dis\u00adclose. <\/p>\n\n

The back\u00adground to this is the change in the legal sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion and pro\u00adcure\u00adment prac\u00adtice in North Rhine-West\u00adphalia since Jan\u00adu\u00adary 1, 2026, accord\u00ading to which munic\u00adi\u00adpal\u00adi\u00adties can dis\u00adpense with abstract\u00adly defined and pub\u00adlished pro\u00adce\u00addures and cri\u00adte\u00adria in the area below the EU thresh\u00adolds. The pro\u00adce\u00addure con\u00adcerns fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal ques\u00adtions regard\u00ading the orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion of munic\u00adi\u00adpal pro\u00adcure\u00adment prac\u00adtice in North Rhine-West\u00adphalia and could become sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant beyond the state if com\u00adpa\u00adra\u00adble reg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtions are intro\u00adduced or applied in oth\u00ader fed\u00ader\u00adal states. <\/p>\n\n

Down\u00adload the press release: aban\u00adtePM law\u00adsuit udS reform in NRW.2.2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal legal ques\u00adtions on trans\u00adparen\u00adcy and equal treat\u00adment pend\u00ading before the Region\u00adal Court of Cologne (Ref. 5 O 29\/2026) Leipzig\/Munich, Feb\u00adru\u00adary 12, 2026. abante Recht\u00adsan\u00adwalts\u00adge\u00adsellschaft mbH & Co. KG has brought an action against the City of Cologne before the Region\u00adal Court of Cologne. The pro\u00adceed\u00adings are being con\u00adduct\u00aded there under file num\u00adber 5 O [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":19506,"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":[699,256],"tags":[890],"team_kategorien":[],"lexikon_kategorie":[],"class_list":["post-24354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-laws-regulations","category-press-releases","tag-sub-threshold-award"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24354","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\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24355,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24354\/revisions\/24355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24354"},{"taxonomy":"team_kategorien","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_kategorien?post=24354"},{"taxonomy":"lexikon_kategorie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abante.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lexikon_kategorie?post=24354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}