Procurement Review Proceedings in Germany

Procurement review in Germany: an overview

Bidders in public tenders have a legal right to compliance with procurement rules (§ 97(6) GWB). Above the EU thresholds, that right is enforced through a special procurement review procedure set out in Part 4 of the Act against Restraints of Competition (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen, GWB). Applications go to the procurement chambers (Vergabekammern) – the federal procurement chambers at the Federal Cartel Office for federal contracts and the state procurement chambers for contracts attributable to the states and municipalities (§ 156(1) GWB). Their decisions can be appealed to specialised procurement senates at the Higher Regional Courts.

Procurement review is designed for speed. The procedure is only available while the contract has not yet been validly awarded, because an effective award cannot be cancelled (§ 168(2) GWB). Strict deadlines apply at every stage, and a bidder that misses one usually loses its rights. Rights to compliance with procurement rules can only be asserted before the procurement chambers and the appeal courts; damages claims remain a matter for the ordinary courts (§ 156(2), (3) GWB).

This guide explains the thresholds, the duty to complain, the standstill period, the procedure before the chamber and on appeal, ineffectiveness of contracts and the changes introduced by the procurement acceleration reform in 2026.

When procurement review applies: the thresholds

Part 4 of the GWB applies to public contracts and concessions whose estimated value, excluding VAT, reaches or exceeds the EU thresholds (§ 106 GWB), which refers to the thresholds in the EU directives as amended from time to time. From 1 January 2026, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152 set the thresholds under Directive 2014/24/EU as follows:

Separate thresholds apply to sector contracts and to defence and security contracts. Below the thresholds, the procurement chambers have no jurisdiction. Bidders may then have to rely on civil court injunctions based on pre-contractual obligations or, in some federal states, on special state-law review procedures. Correctly estimating the contract value – including options, renewals and lots – is therefore a key issue, and an artificially split contract can be challenged.

The duty to complain first

Before applying for review, a bidder must complain (rügen) to the contracting authority. Under § 160(3) GWB, an application is inadmissible to the extent that:

1. the applicant recognised the alleged violation before filing and did not complain to the authority within ten calendar days;
2. violations recognisable from the contract notice were not complained of by the end of the deadline for applications or tenders stated in the notice;
3. violations recognisable only from the procurement documents were not complained of by the end of the deadline for applications or tenders;
4. more than 15 calendar days have passed since the authority informed the applicant that it will not remedy the complaint.

These rules do not apply to applications for a declaration of ineffectiveness of a contract awarded without the required EU-wide publication. In practice, the complaint duty means that bidders must read tender documents critically as soon as they receive them and raise concerns in writing before the submission deadline. A "wait and see" strategy – bidding first and complaining only after losing – usually fails for violations that were recognisable in the documents.

The applicant must also show that it has an interest in the contract, that its rights were infringed and that it has suffered or risks suffering damage as a result (§ 160(2) GWB). A bidder that did not submit a tender can still apply if it shows that the alleged violation prevented it from bidding.

Information letter and standstill period

Before awarding the contract, the contracting authority must inform unsuccessful bidders without delay in text form of the name of the successful bidder, the reasons why their tender will not be accepted and the earliest date of contract conclusion (§ 134(1) GWB). The contract may only be concluded 15 calendar days after the information is sent, or ten calendar days if it is sent electronically or by fax (§ 134(2) GWB). The period starts on the day after dispatch.

The standstill period is the window for procurement review. A bidder that wants to stop the award must complain and apply to the procurement chamber within that period, so that the chamber can inform the authority of the application before the contract is concluded. Once the chamber has informed the authority of the application, the authority may not award the contract until the chamber's decision and the expiry of the appeal deadline (§ 169(1) GWB).

Proceedings before the chamber and on appeal

The procurement chamber

The chamber investigates the facts of its own motion but may limit itself to what the parties present (§ 163 GWB). It first checks whether the application is obviously inadmissible or unfounded, also taking into account a protective brief filed by the authority; if not, it sends the application to the authority and requests the procurement file.

The chamber must decide in writing within five weeks of receipt of the application; the deadline can be extended in exceptional cases of particular factual or legal difficulty, normally by no more than two weeks (§ 167(1) GWB). The chamber is not bound by the applications and can take any appropriate measures to remedy a violation (§ 168(1) GWB), for example ordering a re-evaluation of tenders or a repetition of parts of the procedure.

Fees are at least EUR 2,500 and should not exceed EUR 50,000, but may be raised to EUR 100,000 in exceptional cases (§ 182(2) GWB). The losing party bears the costs.

Access to files and confidentiality

Applicants usually want to see the procurement file to substantiate their complaints, for example the evaluation of the winning bid. Parties may inspect the chamber's files (§ 165(1) GWB), but the chamber must refuse access where business secrets of other bidders or important reasons such as confidentiality require it. In practice, applicants often receive redacted documents, and the dispute about access becomes part of the proceedings. Contracting authorities should document evaluations in a way that can be disclosed in redacted form, and bidders should mark their trade secrets clearly in their tenders, since each party must identify such secrets when submitting documents (§ 165(3) GWB).

Preparing a strong application

Because the chamber must decide quickly and the appeal no longer suspends an award after a rejection, the application must be complete from the start. It should identify the contract, the violations alleged, the complaint made and the authority's response, the applicant's interest and the damage it risks, and the measures requested. Supporting documents – the notice, the relevant parts of the tender documents, the complaint and the information letter – should be attached. Vague applications that rely on later access to the file risk being rejected as speculative.

Appeal to the Higher Regional Court

Decisions of the chamber can be challenged by immediate appeal (sofortige Beschwerde), which is decided exclusively by the Higher Regional Court competent for the chamber's seat (§ 171 GWB). The appeal must be lodged in writing within an emergency deadline of two weeks from service of the decision, with reasons, signed by a lawyer (§ 172 GWB). If the chamber does not decide within its deadline, the application is deemed rejected and the applicant may appeal.

Procurement review after the 2026 reform

The Act to Accelerate the Award of Public Contracts entered into force on 1 July 2026. Among other changes, it amended the review procedure to reduce delays:

• End of the award ban when the authority wins: if the contracting authority succeeds before the chamber, the ban on awarding the contract now ends when the chamber's decision is announced, rather than after the appeal deadline (§ 169(1) sentence 2 GWB).
• No suspensive effect of appeals against rejections: if the chamber has rejected the application, an immediate appeal has no suspensive effect against the chamber's decision (§ 173(1) GWB). A bidder that loses before the chamber can therefore no longer rely on an automatic extension of the award ban while it appeals.
• Award ban after successful applications: if the chamber has prohibited the award, the award remains prohibited until the appeal court sets the decision aside (§ 173(2) GWB).

For bidders, these changes make the chamber stage decisive. Applications must be well prepared from the outset, because there may be no second chance to stop the award. For contracting authorities, the reform reduces the risk that projects are blocked for months by appeals. Our article on the procurement acceleration reform explains the other changes.

Ineffectiveness and damages

A contract is ineffective from the outset if the authority breached the information and standstill rules in § 134 GWB, or awarded the contract without prior EU-wide publication where this was not permitted by law, and this is established in review proceedings (§ 135(1) GWB). Ineffectiveness can only be established if it is asserted within 30 calendar days of the authority informing the affected bidders of the contract conclusion, but no later than six months after conclusion; if the authority published the award in the EU Official Journal, the period is 30 days from publication (§ 135(2) GWB).

Where a contract has been validly awarded, bidders are limited to damages claims before the civil courts, which typically require proof that they would have won the contract (for lost profit) or at least had a real chance (for bid costs). Contract changes after award can also trigger an obligation to re-tender if they are substantial, which is a frequent source of procurement review in long-term contracts.

How TRW & Co helps with procurement review

We advise bidders and contracting authorities in procurement review proceedings. For bidders, we review tender documents and award decisions, draft complaints and applications to the procurement chambers, and conduct appeals before the Higher Regional Courts. For contracting authorities and sector entities, we design compliant procedures, prepare information letters and protective briefs, and defend award decisions. Our work connects with our public procurement practice, our state aid and FSR team, and our articles on in-house awards and the FSR in public procurement. Please contact us. This article is general information and not legal advice.