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Procedures According to VOB/A

Public contracts for construction work are awarded in competition and without discrimination to knowledgeable, efficient and reliable companies at reasonable prices.

Public award procedure(national) or open Award Procedure (EU)

The public clients are primarily obliged to use the public invitation to award procedureor the open procedure, as it offers the greatest competition. In this procedure, an unrestricted group of companies is invited to submit offers after a public announcement. The following types of awarding belong to this category:

Public award procedure(national)

Open Procedure (EU procedure)

  1. Recording the invitation to tender: In the first workflow step, you record the key points of the new award procedure, e.g. a description of the measure, the estimated gross or net value, whether lots are permitted or the execution deadlines. The table field Award Criteria is pre-assigned with the price. You can add further criteria from a list here. For more information, read the description of the table fields in Forms and Function Dialogs. In the Award procedure field, select the type of award procedure, the type of construction contract and whether a prior information notice has been published in accordance with § 12 a para. 1 VOB/A.

  2. Cost calculation (without 80/20 rule) and securing financing: Enter the information for the funding verification, the type of financing and the budget center in this short form. The estimated total value of the award should be confirmed and documented here again. You can add an external file to the form in the **budget template/cost control sheet field.

  3. Confirmation of the selection of a national or EU procedure: Depending on whether the contract value of your award is above or below the EU award threshold, you may have to justify the choice of procedure in this step.

  4. Scheduling: Use this complex function dialog to define the deadlines for your award procedure. You can compare the deadlines of several award procedures, export individual or all deadlines of the current award procedure to Outlook, and create reminders for yourself or other users. For a detailed description of this function, see [Scheduling Manager] (../anlegen/terminmanager.md "Switch to Scheduling Manager").

  5. Invitation to award procedure(211 or 211EU) This form is largely pre-filled and contains an overview of the attachments for the award procedure. In the Service specifications as attachment field, use the button with the paperclip symbol to add external service specifications as a GAEB file. GAEB stands for Joint Committee for Electronics in Construction. This committee has set itself the goal of creating a standardized language for all parties involved in the construction industry. This file is created using an external program and imported with the file extension d83 or x83. It can be automatically validated and, if necessary, an error message can be issued. The award procedureprocess can also be continued with a non-valid file. Further information on validating GAEB files can be found at User Settings - Validation of GAEB Files. If you allow secondary offers, you must explain the minimum requirements and the requirements for comparability here. You can use the file insert field to add further documents to your award procedure documents. Further explanations of this field can be found at Forms and function dialogs. As part of the adaptation to the EU Directive 2014, you can define the desired signature level and submission medium at this point. The selection made here is included in the announcement text and technically stored in the award proceduredocuments. It is then possible to submit an electronic offer in AI BIDDINGCOCKPIT using this defined selection.

  6. Special Contract Terms (214): This form is also largely pre-filled and contains, for example, information on the execution deadlines (§ 5 VOB/B), contractual penalties (§ 11 VOB/B), invoices (§ 14 VOB/B) and security deposits (§ 17 VOB/B).

  7. Minimum requirements for secondary offers (226) If you have allowed secondary offers, you must enter the technical or any other minimum requirements for secondary offers in this form.

  8. Create questionnaire for suitability test Here you enter – similar to a rating scheme – your own criteria groups with criteria that are relevant for checking the requests for participation or orders. The criteria for the findings when opening the offers are predefined and cannot be changed here. The exact process of the function is described in Flexible participation request and offer examination. For more information on creating a rating scheme, see Rating scheme.

  9. Checking the award documents This overview contains buttons for viewing the form contents from steps 5 to 7, as well as the option of adding the bill of quantities as a Word file.

  10. Signing off on the review of the award proceduredocuments This step is a signing step, i.e. it is normally processed by another employee. The process can vary greatly because it is customized to the needs of the respective customer. Further explanations of the signing process can be found at Signing off.

  11. Compiling the procurement documents: Here you can view and sign your procurement documents or add further files. You can find a detailed description of this function at procurement documents.

  12. Contract notice national or EU In this extensive form, the information on the client is mostly filled out in the Public client section. In the area subject of the contract, enter the NUTS code (Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques), a Europe-wide classification of territorial units for statistics, the CPV code of the main subject and any costs for the procurement documents. In the course of the adaptation to the EU Directive 2014, the SIMAP announcement schemes of version 2.0.9. are included in the EU forms. These also include a link to the award proceduredocuments, which are provided on the AI TENDERINGPLATFORM. The access to the award proceduredocuments without registration, as required by the EU Directive 2014, is fulfilled by offering interested companies the opportunity to access a special area on the AI TENDERINGPLATFORM without registration, where the award proceduredocuments can be downloaded. Messages from the awarding authority to all bidders can also be viewed in this area. You can also provide the award proceduredocuments for the two-stage procedure without registration. However, in accordance with EU Directive 2014, you have the option of deciding on a case-by-case basis whether to prevent registration-free access to the award proceduredocuments, for example, if the procurement involves classified information.

  13. Print forms At this point in the process, before publication, you have the option of printing or exporting your award proceduredocuments for documentation purposes or saving a revision status.

  14. Publish announcement In this step, you send the announcement for publication to your award procedurejournals and publication organs, and in the case of EU procedures, also to the Official Journal of the EU. You can also transmit the announcement on the internet to one or more award platforms. These may include, among others:

    • Official Journal of the European Union (via e-sender interface): for EU awards

    • AI TENDERINGPLATFORM: for national and EU award procedures

    • E-award procedureplatform of the federal government: for national and EU award procedures

    Before publishing an EU award on one of the platforms, you must confirm that you have sent the announcement to the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities in accordance with § 12 EU para. 3 no. 5 VOB. You can find a detailed description of the function at Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

  15. Award notice – list of companies, open procedure / public invitation to award procedure(311). The form 311-Award notice list of companies is then opened, in which you can specify, for example, the permissible period between the request and the sending of the award documents.

  16. Submission The submission is a manual step in the awarding process, i.e. you must start the task by double-clicking in your task inbox. The electronic offers from bidders via the AI TENDERINGPLATFORM are already displayed, but are still encrypted. After starting the submission, you can decrypt the encrypted offers and enter the offers received in writing and carry out an initial formal check of all offers. You will find a detailed description of this step at Offer review. In addition, enter the number of bidder representatives who will be present at the submission.

  17. Written record of the opening of the offers (313) The next automatic step in the awarding process requires little or no input. The written record contains a summary of the data from the opened offers, the total number of offers received, the number of excluded offers, the number of late offers, the number of offers not properly sealed, and a summary of all accepted offers, including their type (electronic or paper). In addition, you note whether the transcript was read, any objections and the time at which the proceedings were closed. You can print this form as a PDF file for documentation purposes of the offer opening using the buttons in the lower left window area print templates and form printout.

  18. Mathematical check In this function dialog, you enter the mathematically checked sums of the offers. Any differences to the total amount given are displayed in the Deviation column. Further information on this step can be found under Calculative Check. At the end of this step, the offers are listed in another form. Add the price comparison as an external file here.

  19. Evaluation stages 1 and 2: formal examination and suitability determination This manual step serves to check the content of the offers for formal aspects, such as whether changes have been clearly marked, the procurement documents are unchanged, all necessary explanations are present or the award procedureis complete. In addition, the offers are checked in the registers expertise, performance and reliability with regard to their suitability. This check almost exclusively contains mandatory exclusion criteria (marked with the Z symbol), i.e. if they are not met, the offer can no longer be admitted for evaluation. You can find a detailed description of this function at Formal check.

  20. Price comparison: The price comparison is purely a display and analysis function, i.e. you cannot make any entries at this point. The price comparison provides you with an overview of the prices of the individual items of all approved offers. The price-related information of the various bidders is compared here in a matrix down to item level. This table then serves as the basis for the third evaluation stage. After you have used the price comparison to determine who the cheapest provider is, click on NEXT. Further details on this step can be found at price comparison.

  21. Evaluation stage 3: Price adequacy assessment: In this step, the system uses two criteria to determine whether the prices offered by the bidders are reasonable. The assessment is based on the findings from the price comparison. Failure to meet these criteria may result in the exclusion of a bid.

  22. Enter and check secondary offers If you have allowed secondary offers, you can now enter them. Please also read the description at secondary offers for a main offer (external bill of quantities). After that, the secondary offers are checked in the step Calculation check of the secondary offers (external BQ).

  23. Combine secondary offers: If there are secondary offers, you can combine the main offer with one or more of its secondary offers in this workflow step. All combined offers created in this way are considered to be independent offers and are included in the evaluation. Further details on this step can be found at Combine Secondary Offers (External BQ).

  24. Recording the final evaluation sum: In order to increase the chances of a bidder being awarded the contract, a variant of the type price reduction with condition can be calculated with the associated main offer or the existing combined offers in this workflow step. Please also read the description at Final Evaluation Total (External BQ).

  25. Evaluation The content of the offers for your award procedure is evaluated on the basis of the criteria from the evaluation scheme of the bill of quantities. Depending on the structure and scope of the evaluation matrix, this step can be more or less time-consuming. You can find a detailed description of this important function in the award procedure at Evaluation of offers.

  26. Award notice – evaluation overview (321) This form is for display only and contains information for the award notice regarding the list of participating companies, the test results and the exclusions. You can print this form using the **print template and form printout button.

  27. Determining the award proposal Determining the award proposal Based on the results of the offer evaluation, the AI TENDERINGMANAGER provides you with an award proposal for the procedure or each lot in this step, which you can accept to award a bidder. For this purpose, you see an overview of all prices and the evaluation scheme of the bill of quantities again. The offer with the best evaluation result is preselected for the award proposal. You can change this proposal by setting the selection in the Proposal line in another column. If a bidder proposed for the surcharge does not fulfill all KO criteria, a warning message will appear when you exit the step with **Next. The settings and buttons in this step are identical to those for price comparison. If no clear award recommendation can be activated when opening the award matrix for an award procedure because several bidders have achieved the best evaluation result at the same time, a corresponding message is displayed.

  28. Contract Award Note Decision on the contract award (331) Based on the contract award proposal, the system then generates the display form for documenting the contract award proposal. This is where it is recorded which bidder is to be awarded the contract and under what conditions. Changes are not possible at this point. You can print this form using the **print templates and form printout button.

  29. Notification of unsuccessful bidders in accordance with Section 134 (1) GWB (334) or Section 19 VOB/A (332) in the national procedure In the case of EU procedures, notification of unsuccessful bidders is required in accordance with Section 134 (1) GWB. AI TENDERINGMANAGER offers a comprehensive function for this purpose, enabling you to print and send an individual rejection to each unsuccessful bidders, or to send it electronically as an attachment to a message. For more information, read the function description at notification of unsuccessful bidders. In EU procedures, the contract award must not be made until after the statutory objection period has expired.

  30. Information letter to successful bidder (333): The bidder who is expected to receive the award is then notified.

  31. Contract award: Similar to the award proposal, you must specify the bidder who will receive the contract. This is done to request a declaration of intent from the contract awarder and to document an explicit decision after the deadline according to § 134 para. 1 GWB. A more detailed explanation of the functions and settings of the award matrix can be found under Evaluation of the offers.

  32. Written order (338 and 339) In this step, you must process the written order before sending or printing it and can justify the final award of the contract for your award procedure. The form is filled with the previous data of your award procedure and that of the selected company and can be added to at this point. Please also read the functional description at notification of unsuccessful bidders.

  33. Announcement of awarded contracts The workflow ends with the announcement of the contract award to the EU in EU procedures. Enter the data of the contract notice here in the **procedure, e.g. the official journal number or the date of the notice. This announcement can be sent to the Office for Official Publications of the EU directly via the e-sender interface or as an e-mail using the familiar publication dialog and printed out. To ensure that no incomplete SME information is sent to the EU, a check is carried out in the workflow and the incomplete SME participant data (whether the company is a small or medium-sized enterprise) can be entered here retrospectively.

  34. End of workflow If there are no further steps in the awarding process to be processed or signed off on, the workflow ends with a corresponding message. After the workflow is completed, the status of the award procedure changes from active to completed, i.e. the award procedure is no longer displayed in the OPEN AWARD PROCEDURE menu or on the overview page, as long as the view filter settings for the award listing are not changed. Please refer to the explanations of filter criteria in the Open dialog at Open award procedure. For a completed award procedure, all forms in the project tree are set to read-only and all write access to forms by individual parties involved in the procedure is withdrawn.

Procedures with a national or EU public tender

In this procedure, the group of companies invited to award procedureis limited by a previous public request for participation. The following types of award belong to this category:

Restricted invitation to award procedurewith public request for participation (national)

Restricted procedure (EU procedure) or

Negotiated procedure with request for participation (EU procedure)

  1. Entering the call for offers: In the first workflow step, you enter the key points of the new award procedure, e.g. a description of the measure, the estimated gross or net value, whether lots are allowed or the execution deadlines. The table field Award Criteria is pre-assigned with the price. You can add further criteria from a list here. For more information, see the description of the table fields in Forms and Function Dialogs. In the Award procedure field, select the type of award procedure, the type of construction contract and whether a prior information notice has been published in accordance with § 12 a para. 1 VOB/A.

  2. Cost calculation (without 80/20 rule) and securing financing: Use this short form to enter the information for the funding verification, the type of financing and the budget center. The estimated total value of the award should be confirmed and documented here again. You can add an external file to the form in the **budget template/cost control sheet field.

  3. Confirmation of the choice of a national or EU procedure: Depending on whether the contract value of your award procedure is above or below the threshold for EU award procedures, you may have to justify the choice of procedure in this step.

  4. Reason for choice of procedure: For all types of procedure except the public invitation to tender and the open procedure, you must enter a reason at this point in the process or select one from a list (click on the magnifying glass symbol) .

  5. Data for the participation competition This form contains a mandatory button Scheduling participation competition, which can be recognized by the red . This calls up the function dialog of the Deadline and Period Manager. Define the deadline for sending in the requests to participate here. The functions of the schedule manager are described in detail at Terminmanager. Finish the intermediate step with the Next button. You will return to the initial form. At this point, you also have the option of adding additional documents to the award proceduredocuments. For more information on file-insert fields, see forms and function dialogs. As part of the adaptation to the EU Directive 2014, you can define the desired signature level and submission medium at this point. The selection made here is included in the announcement text and technically stored in the award proceduredocuments. It is then possible to submit an electronic offer in AI BIDDINGCOCKPIT using this defined selection.

  6. Create questionnaire for suitability test Here you enter – similar to a rating scheme – your own criteria groups with criteria that are relevant for checking the requests to participate and orders. The criteria for the findings when opening the offers are predefined and cannot be changed here. The exact procedure of the function is described in Flexible participation request and offer review. Further information on creating a valuation scheme can be found at valuation scheme.

  7. National or EU contract award notice: The extensive notice form contains information about the contracting authority, the subject matter of the contract, legal, economic, financial and technical information, the procedure, etc. Most fields are already pre-filled. For EU procedures, enter the NUTS code (Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques), a Europe-wide classification of territorial units for statistics, and the CPV code(s) in the Subject matter of the contract section. You can check the information for your award procedure in the PDF form EU announcement or national announcement using the print templates and form printout button on the left end of the form control bar before printing and fill out, print and possibly save a Word form. In the course of the adaptation to the EU Directive 2014, the SIMAP announcement schemes of version 2.0.9. are included in the EU forms. These also include a link to the award proceduredocuments provided on the AI TENDERINGPLATFORM. The access to the award proceduredocuments without registration, as required by the EU Directive 2014, is fulfilled by offering interested companies the opportunity to access a special area on the AI TENDERINGPLATFORM without registration, where the award proceduredocuments can be downloaded. Messages from the awarding authority to all bidders can also be viewed in this area. You can also provide the participation competition documents without registration in the two-stage procedure. However, in accordance with EU Directive 2014, you have the option of deciding on a case-by-case basis whether registration-free access to the procurement documents should be prevented, for example, if the procurement involves classified information.

  8. Sign off on the notice This step is a sign-off step, i.e. it is normally processed by another employee. The process can vary greatly because it is adapted to the needs of the respective customer. For more information on the sign-off, see sign-off.

  9. Compiling the competitive bidding documents You can review the documents for the competitive bidding before publication and add further documents if required. Unlike the award proceduredocuments, you can also publish the award procedurewith empty competitive bidding documents. In this case, the current version contains no file entries and when you exit the step, you must confirm a warning message to this effect. For more information on this function, see Compiling the award proceduredocuments.

  10. Publishing the notice In this step, you send the notice for publication to your tendering journals and publication organs, and in the case of EU procedures, in particular to the Official Journal of the EU. You can also transmit the notice and your competitive bidding documents on the internet to one or more tendering platforms. These may include, but are not limited to:

    • Official Journal of the European Union (via e-sender interface): for EU award procedures

    • AI TENDERINGPLATFORM: for national and EU award procedures

    • E-award procedureplatform of the federal government: for national and EU award procedures

    Before publishing an EU award procedure on one of the platforms, you must confirm that you have sent the announcement to the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities in accordance with § 12 EU Section No. 5 VOB. You can find a detailed description of the function at Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

  11. Print and send documents for the request for competition. After the announcement of a procedure with a request for competition, the documents are available for potential candidates to download on the contract awarding platform. You can also print these documents if required and send them by post to interested companies. Start the step manually by clicking on the corresponding link from the Actions area. For more information on this function, see Sending the participation competition documents. The task should be completed by the application deadline of the call for competition. If you want to complete the step beforehand with Next, a warning message will appear that you must confirm.

  12. Opening the requests to participate As soon as the deadline for submitting requests to participate has expired, you can start the next manual step by double-clicking on it in your task inbox. The electronic requests to participate from the AI TENDERINGPLATFORM are already displayed, but they still have to be decrypted and then checked. You must now enter requests received by post here and subject them to an initial formal review. Further explanations of this function can be found at Recording the requests for participation.

  13. Checking the requests for participation: In order to limit the number of participants and to document the checking of the requests for participation, the respective candidates are now checked with regard to their suitability for the characteristics of professional knowledge, performance and Reliability checked. For an overview of the functional process, see Formal Check. The check results are displayed in the last column Approval. The participants excluded here will not be considered in the further procedure.

  14. Scheduling the award procedure: In this complex function dialog, define the further dates of your award procedure, in particular the deadline for submission of offers. You can compare the dates of several award procedures here, export individual or all dates of the current award procedure to Outlook, and create reminders for yourself or other users. For a detailed description of this function, see [Appointment Manager] (../anlegen/terminmanager.md "Switch to Appointment Manager").

  15. Invitation to award procedure(211 or 211EU) This form is largely pre-filled and contains an overview of the attachments for the award procedure. In the Bill of Quantities as Attachment field, use the button with the paperclip icon to add an external bill of quantities as a GAEB file. GAEB stands for Joint Committee for Electronics in Construction. This committee has set itself the goal of creating a standardized language for all parties involved in the construction industry. This file is created using an external program and imported with the file extension d83 or x83. It can be automatically validated and, if necessary, an error message can be issued. The award procedurecan also be continued with a non-valid file. Further information on validating GAEB files can be found at User Settings - Validation of GAEB Files. If you allow secondary offers, you must explain the minimum requirements and the requirements for comparability here. You can use the file insert field to add further documents to your award proceduredocuments. You can find further explanations of this field at forms.

  16. Special Contractual Conditions (214) This form is also largely pre-filled and contains, for example, information on the execution deadlines (§ 5 VOB/B), contractual penalties (§ 11 VOB/B), invoices (§ 14 VOB/B) and security deposits (§ 17 VOB/B).

  17. Minimum requirements for secondary offers (226) If you have allowed secondary offers, you must enter the technical or any other minimum requirements for secondary offers in this form.

  18. Check award documents 1: This overview contains buttons for viewing the form contents from steps 14 to 17, as well as the option to add the bill of quantities as a Word file.

  19. Signing off on the review of the award proceduredocuments This step is a signing-off step, i.e. it is normally processed by another employee. The process can vary greatly because it is customized to the needs of the respective customer. Further explanations of the signing-off process can be found at Signing off.

  20. Compiling the award proceduredocuments: Here you can view and sign your award proceduredocuments or add further files. You can find a detailed description of this function at Compiling the award proceduredocuments.

  21. Transferring the award proceduredocuments: To make the award proceduredocuments available on the e-tendering platform, click on Transfer documents

    The version number appears in the upper right corner of the **award proceduredocuments column.

  22. Print award documents for selected participants You can then send the award documents to the selected applicants by post. If the award documents are sent electronically, the information Sent via publication dialog is displayed, i.e. the documents are available for download on the platform. To send the request for proposals by post, click Send for each applicant for whom Via Paper is selected as the delivery method. In the subsequent dialog, you can select and print the documents individually. Click Close to close the print dialog. If you want to complete this step before the offer deadline using the Next button, you must answer a warning message.

  23. Award notice – list of companies for other procedures (312) The form 312 Award notice – list of companies for other procedures is then accessed, in which you can specify, for example, permissible deadlines for requesting and sending the award proceduredocuments.

  24. Open offers The opening of offers is a manual step in the awarding process, i.e. you have to start the task by double-clicking on it in your task inbox. The electronic offers from bidders via the AI TENDERINGPLATFORM are already displayed, but are still encrypted. After starting the offer opening, you can decrypt the encrypted offers, enter the offers received in writing and carry out an initial formal check of all offers. You will find a detailed description of this step at opening of offers. In addition, enter the number of bidder representatives attending the submission.

  25. Written record of the opening of the offers (313) The next automatic step in the awarding process requires little or no input. The written record contains a summary of the data from the opened offers, the total number of offers received, the number of excluded offers, the number of late offers, the number of offers not properly sealed, and a summary of all accepted offers, indicating their type (electronic or paper offer). In addition, you note whether the transcript was read, any objections and the time at which the proceedings were closed. You can print this form as a PDF file for documentation purposes of the offer opening using the buttons in the lower left window area print templates and form printout.

  26. Calculation check In this function dialog, you enter the amounts of the offers that have been checked by calculation. Any differences to the total amount given are displayed in the Deviation column. Further information on this step can be found at Calculative Check. At the end of this step, the offers are listed in another form. Add the price comparison list as an external file here.

  27. Evaluation stage 1: formal examination and suitability determination: This manual step serves to check the content of the offers for formal aspects, such as whether changes have been clearly marked, the award proceduredocuments are unchanged, all necessary explanations are present or the award procedureis complete. In addition, the offers are checked in the registers expertise, performance and reliability with regard to their suitability. This check contains almost only mandatory exclusion criteria (marked with the Z symbol), i.e. if they are not met, the offer can no longer be admitted to the evaluation. You can find a detailed description of this function under Formal check.

  28. Price comparison: The price comparison is purely a display and analysis function, i.e. you cannot make any entries at this point. The price comparison provides you with an overview of the prices of the individual items of all approved offers. Here, the price-related information of the various bidders is compared in a matrix down to item level. This table then serves as the basis for the third evaluation stage. Further details on this step can be found at price comparison.

  29. Evaluation stage 2: Price reasonableness: In this stage, two criteria are used to determine whether the prices offered by the bidders are reasonable. The assessment is based on the findings from the price comparison. Failure to meet these criteria may result in the exclusion of an offer.

  30. Record and check secondary offers If you have allowed secondary offers, you can now enter these. Please also read the description secondary offers for a main offer (external bill of quantities). The secondary offers are then checked.

  31. Combine secondary offers If secondary offers are present, in this workflow step you have the option of combining a main offer with one or more of its secondary offers. All combined offers created in this way are considered to be independent offers and are included in the evaluation. Further details on this step can be found at combine secondary offers (external BQ).

  32. Recording the final evaluation total: In order to increase the chances of a bidder being awarded the contract, a variant of the type price reduction with condition can be calculated with the associated main offer or the existing combined offers in this workflow step.

  33. Evaluation The content of the offers for your award procedure is evaluated on the basis of the criteria from the evaluation scheme of the bill of quantities. Depending on the structure and scope of the evaluation matrix, this step can be more or less time-consuming. You can find a detailed description of this important function in the award procedure at evaluation of offers.

  34. Award notice – evaluation overview (321) This form, which is for display only, contains information for the award notice regarding the list of participating companies, the test results and the exclusions. You can print this form using the **print templates and form printout button.

  35. Determining the award proposal Determining the award proposal Based on the results of the offer evaluation, the AI TENDERINGMANAGER provides you in this step with an award proposal for the procedure or for each lot, which you can accept to award a bidder. For this purpose, you see an overview of all prices and the evaluation scheme of the bill of quantities again. The offer with the best evaluation result is preselected for the award proposal. You can change this proposal by setting the selection in the Proposal line in another column. If a bidder proposed for acceptance does not meet all KO criteria, a warning message will appear when you exit the step with **Next. The settings options and buttons in this step are identical to those for price comparison. If no clear award proposal can be activated when opening the award matrix for an award procedure because several bidders have simultaneously achieved the best evaluation result, a corresponding message is displayed.

  36. Award notice Decision on the award (331) Based on the award proposal, the display form for documenting the award proposal is then generated. This is where it is recorded which bidder is to be awarded the contract and under which conditions. Changes are not possible at this point. You can print this form using the **print templates and forms button.

  37. Notification of unsuccessful bidders in accordance with Section 134 (1) GWB (334) or Section 19 VOB/A (332) in the national procedure In the case of EU procedures, notification of unsuccessful bidders is required in accordance with Section 134 (1) GWB. AI TENDERINGMANAGER offers a comprehensive function for this purpose, enabling you to print and send an individual rejection to each unsuccessful bidder, or to send it electronically as an attachment to a message. For more information, read the description of the function under notification of unsuccessful bidders. In EU procedures, the contract award must not be made before the end of the statutory period for objections.

  38. Information letter to successful bidder (333). The bidder who is expected to receive the award is then notified.

  39. Award of contract: Similar to the contract award proposal, you must specify the bidder who will receive the contract. This is done to request an expression of intent from the awarding party and to document an explicit decision after the deadline according to § 134 Abs. 1 GWB. A more detailed explanation of the functions and settings of the award matrix can be found under Evaluation of the offers.

  40. Letter of Contract (338 and 339) In this step, you must process the letter of contract before sending or printing it and can justify the final award of the contract for your award procedure. The form is filled with the previous data of your award procedure and that of the selected company and can be added to at this point. Please also read the functional description at notification of unsuccessful bidders.

  41. Announcement of awarded contracts The workflow ends with the announcement of the contract award to the EU in EU procedures. Enter the data of the contract notice here in the **procedure, e.g., the official journal number or the date of the notice. This announcement can be sent to the Office for Official Publications of the EU directly via the e-sender interface or as an e-mail using the familiar publication dialog and printed out. To ensure that no incomplete SME information is sent to the EU, a check is carried out in the workflow and the incomplete SME participant data (whether the company is a small or medium-sized enterprise) can be entered here retrospectively.

  42. End of workflow: If there are no further steps in the awarding process to be processed or signed off on, the workflow ends with a corresponding message. After the workflow is complete, the status of the award procedure changes from active to completed, i.e. the award is no longer displayed in the AWARD AWARD menu or on the overview page, as long as the view filter settings for the award listing are not changed. Please refer to the explanations of filter criteria in the Open dialog at Open award procedure. For a completed award procedure, all forms in the project tree are set to read-only and all write access to forms by individual parties involved in the procedure is withdrawn.

Restricted tendering without a call for competition

In this procedure, a limited number of companies are invited to submit offers without a call for competition. The following types of award fall into this category:

Restricted invitation to award procedurewithout call for competition (national) according to § 3 no.1 para. 2 VOB/A in conjunction with § 3 no.3 VOB/A

Free-hand award (national) according to § 3 no.1 para. 3 VOB/A in conjunction with § 3 no.4 VOB/A

Negotiated procedure without public award notice (EU procedure) according to § 3a no.1d VOB/A in conjunction with § 3a no.6 VOB/A

  1. Recording the call for offers: In the first workflow step, you record the key points of the new award procedure, e.g. a description of the measure, the estimated gross or net value, whether lots are allowed or the execution deadlines. The table field Award criteria is pre-assigned the price. You can add further criteria from a list here. Please read the description of the table fields in Forms and function dialogs. In the Award type field, select the type of award procedure, the type of construction contract and whether a prior information notice has been published in accordance with § 12 a para. 1 VOB/A.

  2. Cost calculation (without 80/20 rule) and securing financing: Enter the information for the funds check, the type of financing and the budget center in this short form. The estimated total value of the award should be confirmed and documented here again. You can add an external file to the form in the **budget template/cost control sheet field.

  3. Confirmation of the choice of a national or EU procedure: Depending on whether the contract value of your award is above or below the threshold for EU awards, you may have to justify the choice of procedure in this step.

  4. Scheduling: Use this complex function dialog to define the deadlines for your award procedure. You can compare the deadlines of several award procedures, export individual or all deadlines of the current award procedure to Outlook, and create reminders for yourself or other users. For a detailed description of this function, see [Scheduling Manager] (../create/scheduling-manager.md "Switch to Scheduling Manager").

  5. Invitation to submit an offer (211 or 211EU) This form is largely pre-filled and contains an overview of the attachments for the award procedure. Use the button with the paperclip symbol to add external bill of quantities as a GAEB file in the Service specifications as attachment. GAEB stands for G**emeinsamer **A**usschuss **E**lektronik im **B**auwesen (Joint Committee for Electronics in Construction). This committee has set itself the goal of creating a standardized language for all parties involved in the construction industry. This file is created using an external program and imported with the file extension **d83 or x83. It can be automatically validated and, if necessary, an error message can be issued. The award procedureprocess can also be continued with a non-valid file. Further information on validating GAEB files can be found at User Settings - Validation of GAEB Files. If you allow secondary offers, you must explain the minimum requirements and the requirements for comparability here. You can use the file insert field to add further documents to your award proceduredocuments. Further explanations of this field can be found at Forms and function dialogs. As part of the adaptation to the EU Directive 2014, you can define the desired signature level and submission medium at this point. The selection made here is included in the announcement text and technically stored in the award proceduredocuments. It is then possible to submit an electronic offer in AI BIDDINGCOCKPIT using this defined selection.

  6. Special Contract Terms (214): This form is also largely pre-filled and contains, for example, information on the execution deadlines (§ 5 VOB/B), contractual penalties (§ 11 VOB/B), invoices (§ 14 VOB/B) and security deposits (§ 17 VOB/B).

  7. Minimum requirements for secondary offers (226) If you have allowed secondary offers, you must enter the technical or any other minimum requirements for secondary offers in this form.

  8. Bidder selection: This function dialog is used to preselect possible bidders from the list of all company data. If the desired company is not yet included in the list, it can be entered at this point. The exact procedure of the function is described in Bidder selection in restricted procedures.

  9. Create questionnaire for suitability test: Here you enter your own criteria groups with criteria that are relevant for checking the offers, similar to a rating scheme. The criteria for the findings when opening the offers are predefined and cannot be changed here. The exact process of the function is described in Flexible request for participation and offer evaluation. Further information on creating a valuation scheme can be found in valuation scheme.

  10. Checking the award documents: This overview contains buttons for viewing the form content from steps 6 to 10, as well as the option of adding the bill of quantities as a Word file.

  11. Signing off on the procurement documents This step is a signing step, i.e. it is normally processed by another employee. The process can vary greatly because it is customized to the needs of the respective customer. Further explanations of the signing process can be found at Signing off.

  12. Compiling the award proceduredocuments: Here you can view and sign your award proceduredocuments or add further files. You can find a detailed description of this function at award proceduredocuments.

  13. Transferring the award proceduredocuments: To make the award proceduredocuments available on the e-tendering platform, click on Transfer documents

    The version number appears in the top right of the **award documents column.

  14. Cover letter to selected bidders You can then send the award documents to the selected bidders by post. If the award documents are sent electronically, the information Sent via publication dialog is displayed, i.e. the documents are available for download on the platform. To send the request for proposals by post, click Send for each applicant for whom Via Paper is selected as the delivery method. In the subsequent dialog, you can select and print the documents individually. Click Close to close the print dialog. If you want to complete this step before reaching the offer deadline by clicking the Next button, you must answer a warning message.

  15. Contract award notice – list of companies for other procedures (312) The system then opens form 312 Contract award notice – list of companies for other procedures, in which you can specify, for example, permissible deadlines for requesting and sending the procurement documents.

  16. Open offers: The opening of offers is a manual step in the awarding process, i.e. you have to start the task by double-clicking on it in your task inbox. The electronic offers from bidders via the AI TENDERINGPLATFORM are already displayed, but are still encrypted. After starting the offer opening, you can decrypt the encrypted offers, enter the offers received in writing and carry out an initial formal check of all offers. You will find a detailed description of this step at Offer review. In addition, enter the number of bidder representatives attending the submission.

  17. Written record of the opening of the offers (313) The next automatic step in the awarding process requires little or no input. The written record contains a summary of the data from the opened offers, the total number of offers received, the number of excluded offers, the number of late offers, the number of offers not properly sealed, and a summary of all accepted offers, including their type (electronic or paper). In addition, you note whether the transcript was read, any objections and the time at which the proceedings were closed. You can print this form for documentation purposes of the offer opening as a PDF file using the buttons in the lower left window area print templates and form printout.

  18. Mathematical check In this function dialog, you enter the mathematically checked sums of the offers. Any differences to the total amount given are displayed in the Deviation column. For more information on this step, see Calculative Check. At the end of this step, the list of offers is displayed in another form. Add the price comparison list as an external file here.

  19. Evaluation stage 1: Formal examination and suitability determination This manual step serves to check the content of the offers for formal aspects, such as whether changes have been clearly marked, the award proceduredocuments are unchanged, all necessary explanations are present or the offer is complete. In addition, the offers are checked in the tabs EXPERTISE, PERFORMANCE and RELIABILITY with regard to their suitability. This check almost exclusively contains mandatory exclusion criteria (marked with the Z symbol), i.e. if they are not met, the offer can no longer be admitted for evaluation. You can find a detailed description of this function under Formal Check.

  20. Price Comparison The price comparison is purely a display and analysis function, i.e. you cannot make any entries at this point. The price comparison provides you with an overview of the prices of the individual items of all approved offers. Here, the price-related information of the various bidders is compared in a matrix down to item level. This table then serves as the basis for the third stage of evaluation. Further details on this step can be found at price comparison.

  21. Evaluation step 2: Price reasonableness In this step, two criteria are used to determine whether the prices offered by the bidders are reasonable. The assessment is based on the findings from the price comparison. Failure to meet these criteria can lead to the exclusion of an offer.

  22. Record and check secondary offers If you have allowed secondary offers, you can now enter them. Please also read the description at secondary offers for a main offer (external bill of quantities). After that, the secondary offers are checked in the step Calculation check of secodnary offers (external BQ).

  23. Combine secondary offers: If secondary offers exist, you can combine a main offer with one or more of its secondary offers in this workflow step. All combined offers created in this way are considered to be independent offers and are included in the evaluation. Further details on this step can be found at combine secondary offers (external BQ).

  24. Recording the final evaluation sum: In order to increase the chances of a bidder being awarded the contract, a variant of the type price reduction with condition can be calculated with the associated main offer or the existing combined offers in this workflow step. Please also read the description in Final Evaluation Total (External BQ).

  25. Evaluation The content of the offers for your award procedure is evaluated on the basis of the criteria from the evaluation scheme of the bill of quantities. Depending on the structure and scope of the evaluation matrix, this step can be more or less complex. You can find a detailed description of this important function in the award procedure at Evaluation of offers.

  26. Award notice – evaluation overview (321) This form is for information purposes only and contains information for the award notice regarding the list of participating companies, the test results and the exclusions. You can print this form using the **print templates and form printout button.

  27. Determining the award proposal Determining the award proposal Based on the results of the offer evaluation, the AI TENDERINGMANAGER provides you with an award proposal for the procedure or each lot in this step, which you can accept to award a bidder. For this purpose, you see an overview of all prices and the evaluation scheme of the bill of quantities again. The offer with the best evaluation result is preselected for the award proposal. You can change this proposal by setting the selection in the Proposal line in another column. If a bidder proposed for acceptance does not meet all KO criteria, a warning message will appear when you exit the step by clicking **Next. The settings options and buttons in this step are identical to those for price comparison. If no clear award proposal can be activated when opening the surcharge matrix for an award procedure because several bidders have simultaneously achieved the best evaluation result, a corresponding message is displayed.

  28. Award notice Decision on the surcharge (331) Based on the award proposal, the display form for documenting the award proposal is then generated. This is where it is recorded which bidder is to be awarded the contract and under which conditions. Changes are not possible at this point. You can print this form using the **print templates and forms button.

  29. Notification of unsuccessful bidders in accordance with Section 134 (1) GWB (334) or Section 19 VOB/A (332) in the national procedure In the case of EU procedures, notification of unsuccessful bidders is required in accordance with Section 134 (1) GWB. AI TENDERINGMANAGER offers a comprehensive function for this purpose, enabling you to print and send an individual rejection to each unsuccessful bidder, or to send it electronically as an attachment to a message. For more information, read the description of the function under notification of unsuccessful bidders. In EU procedures, the contract may only be awarded after the statutory period for objection has expired.

  30. Information letter to successful bidder (333). Subsequently, the bidder who is expected to be awarded the contract is notified.

  31. Award of contract. Similar to the contract award proposal, you must specify here the bidder who will be awarded the contract. This is done to request a declaration of intent from the person awarding the contract and to document an explicit decision after the deadline according to § 134 Abs. 1 GWB. A more detailed explanation of the functions and setting options of the surcharge matrix can be found at evaluation of offers.

  32. Letter of Contract (338 and 339) In this step, you must process the letter of contract before sending or printing it and can justify the final award of the contract for your award procedure. The form is filled with the previous data of your award procedure and that of the selected company and can be added to at this point. Please also read the functional description at notification of unsuccessful bidders.

  33. Announcement of awarded contracts The workflow ends with the announcement of the contract award to the EU in EU procedures. Enter the data of the contract award notice here in the procedure section, e.g., the official journal number or the date of the announcement. This announcement can be sent to the Office for Official Publications of the EU directly via the e-sender interface or as an e-mail using the familiar publication dialog and printed out. To ensure that no incomplete SME information is sent to the EU, a check is carried out in the workflow and the incomplete SME participant data (whether the company is a small or medium-sized enterprise) can be entered here retrospectively.

  34. End of workflow: If there are no further steps in the awarding process to be processed or signed off on, the workflow ends with a corresponding message. After the workflow is complete, the status of the award procedure changes from active to completed, i.e. the award is no longer displayed in the AWARD OPEN menu or on the overview page, as long as the view filter settings for the award listing are not changed. Please refer to the explanations of filter criteria in the Open dialog at Open award procedure. For a completed award procedure, all forms in the project tree are set to read-only and all write access to forms by individual parties involved in the procedure is withdrawn.