Transposition of the EU Public Procurement Directives 2014 in Austria

Abstract

The EU public procurement directives 2014 further advance the European Commission’s ambitions to regulate most public procurement at the EU-wide level. The Directives already set out a fairly concrete legal framework for national parliaments regarding public procurement procedures for work, supply and service contracts above the EU-thresholds. The Austrian parliament decided to implement these directives mostly word for word, but at the same time tried to preserve most of the historical developments to the public procurement law that were specific to Austria. In addition to that, the Austrian legislature responded to recent ECJ case law that was established after the EU Directives were published. The new public procurement code creates legal certainty for both contracting authorities and contractors in several different aspects. However, the interpretation of some provisions will be subject to case law, especially regarding contractual cooperation between contracting authorities. Concerning contracts not fully regulated by the Directives – such as concessions as well as social and other specific services – the Austrian legislature opted not to regulate them further and leave some flexibility to the contracting authorities.