Austria: A Public Law: Public Procurement/PPP Overview

In late 2025, Austria completed a key step in reforming its public procurement framework by adopting a new statutory regime. Following approval by the National Council (Nationalrat) on 11 December 2025, the Public Procurement Amendment Act 2026 (Vergaberechtsgesetz 2026) amending the Public Procurement Act 2018 (Bundesvergabegesetz or BVergG) was adopted by the Federal Council (Bundesrat) on 17 December 2025 without objection.

After the formal involvement of the federal states, the Act is scheduled to enter into force in spring 2026, likely before the expiry of the current Austrian Threshold Ordinance, which is limited in time until 31 March 2026, ensuring continuity without a regulatory gap. The following provides an overview of the most relevant amendments introduced by the Public Procurement Amendment Act 2026.

Thresholds and Procedures

Supply and service contracts

The thresholds for direct awards and direct awards with prior publication will be slightly reduced and aligned at EUR140,000, ensuring consistency with the EU law adjustments. Although Section 12(1)(1) BVergG currently still displays the previous value of EUR 143,000, this provision operates by dynamic reference to the EU thresholds. As a result, EUR140,000 will become the uniform limit going forward. Moreover, the restricted procedure without prior publication will be discontinued for supply and service contracts, as the direct award with prior publication will now cover the same financial range.

Social and other specific services (Annex XVI)

Contracts for special services under Annex XVI BVergG 2018 may be awarded by direct award up to EUR200,000 and, where a prior information notice is issued, by direct award with prior publication up to EUR300,000, reflecting a substantial increase in flexibility for these categories.

Works contracts

For construction, the direct-award threshold will rise significantly from EUR143,000 to EUR200,000. The thresholds for both direct awards with prior publication and the restricted procedure without prior publication will be uniformly raised to EUR2,000,000, providing contracting authorities with considerably greater procedural choice for lower-value and mid-range works contracts.

New EU thresholds (2026-2027)

In addition, the revised EU thresholds under Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152 have been in effect since 1 January 2026. The threshold for works has been reduced from EUR5,538,000 to EUR5,404,000, while the threshold for supply and service contracts has been lowered from EUR221,000 to EUR216,000. These changes determine the boundary between the EU-regulated and below-threshold regimes.

Price Indications for Direct Awards

For direct awards above EUR 50,000, contracting authorities are required to seek at least three offers or non-binding price indications (such as current price lists for comparable services), unless objective reasons justify a deviation. Such justification may arise, for example, in cases of exclusivity, duly substantiated urgency or a monopolistic market structure. Prior business relationships do not constitute such justification. All efforts undertaken, as well as any reasons for departing from this requirement, must be documented. Moreover, direct awards above EUR50,000 are now subject to publication obligations in the below-threshold regime.

Eligibility (Selection) and Evidence

The Austrian legislator has addressed a long-standing practical issue in the public procurement system by introducing greater flexibility as to when eligibility must be evidenced, while maintaining unchanged substantive standards. Sections 79(1) BVergG (classic) and 250(1) BVergG (sectors) continue to reflect the core rule that professional authorisation, technical and financial capacity and reliability must exist at the relevant procedural stage and be preserved thereafter. This approach has proven effective in providing legal certainty for contracting authorities.

Under the newly introduced Sections 79(2) and 250(2), eligibility may now be proven at later, clearly defined stages, provided that it is established prior to the award decision. Three situations are expressly covered:

• submission or completion of evidence - eligibility must exist by the end of the expiry deadline for the requested documents;
• database verification - eligibility must exist at the moment the contracting authority accesses the relevant register or database; and
• defect remedy - where missing or incomplete evidence is requested, eligibility may be demonstrated by the end of the defect-remedy period.

This approach prevents bidders from being excluded solely because certain documents (such as criminal record extracts) cannot be issued retroactively and aligns the evidentiary reference point with procedural realities. These individualised eligibility timelines are compatible with the principle of equal treatment, provided the contracting authority does not exercise its discretion to set deadlines that favour or disadvantage specific bidders. Overall, the reform strikes a balanced compromise: fewer formalistic exclusions, reduced administrative burden, stronger competition, while preserving the integrity of eligibility requirements.

Review Fees and Transparency

The reform modernises the procurement review fee regime by replacing the former flat-fee system with a transparent, value-based fee category model. Under Section 340(3) BVergG, the applicable fee category must now be specified in the procurement documents, allowing bidders to calculate the review fee at the time of filing; in lot-structured procedures, this applies per lot. Crucially, payment of the correct fee is no longer an admissibility requirement for review proceedings (Nachprüfungsverfahren) before the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht), removing a long-criticised procedural trap. The regime also introduces targeted fee reductions for early-stage challenges, most notably a 50% reduction for applications lodged before the bid deadline. Overall, the reform enhances transparency and access to legal protection without undermining procedural discipline.

Framework Agreements: Award Decision and Notification Duty

The reform explicitly qualifies the conclusion of a framework agreement as an award decision. As a result, the decision to conclude a framework agreement must be treated in the same manner as any other award decision and notified to all bidders still participating in the procedure. This includes, where applicable, information on the characteristics and relative advantages of the successful procurement procedure(s) and any ranking in multi-supplier frameworks. The reform thus closes previous gaps in legal protection and aligns the communication and transparency requirements for framework agreements with those applicable to standard contract awards.

Exclusion Grounds

A new mandatory exclusion ground is introduced: contracting authorities must exclude any economic operator that is subject to a final decision of a court or administrative authority in Austria, another EU Member State or an EEA state, imposing a ban on participation in procurement procedures. During such a ban, self-cleaning is automatically excluded.

Additional Notable Changes

• Statutory preference for the technically and economically most advantageous offer: The reform establishes this award criterion as the general rule, restricting price-only awards to cases in which the contract subject matter is fully and unequivocally specified.
• Sanction for disregarding court notices on interim relief applications: Where a contracting authority proceeds with an award, withdrawal or opening of tenders despite having been notified by the court of a pending application for interim measures, the relevant procedural act becomes null or ineffective.
• Mandatory cessation of contract performance in cases of directly applicable EU prohibitions: Contracting authorities are required to suspend performance of contracts affected by directly applicable EU restrictive measures (eg, sanctions regimes concerning Russia), reflecting the primacy of EU law.