In public procurement law, there is the obligation of equal treatment, non-discrimination and transparency to ensure fair competition between economic operators. By providing product-neutral recommendations for ICT procurement, this website supports public contracting authorities in formulating their tenders. In order to meet the legal requirements, it also makes use of generally recognised benchmark procedures. The requirements of environmentally sound and sustainable procurement are also taken into account.
According to legal principles such as the European Public Procurement Directive (2014/24/EU), the German Law against Restraints of Competition (GWB) and the Public Procurement Ordinance (VgV) as well as regulations of the Public Procurement and Contract Regulations for Services (VOL), the Sector Regulation (SektVO), the Concession Award Regulation (KonzVgV), the Defence and Security Award Regulation (VSVgV) and the Subthreshold Award Regulation (UVgO), the object of procurement must be based on objective and non-discriminatory criteria, i.e. product-neutral. (cf. Section 97 GWB and Section 31 (6) VgV for EU-wide award procedures and Section 2 (2) UVgO for sub-threshold awards). Certain product designations or brand names may only be used in tenders in justified exceptional cases if a sufficiently precise description by customary designations or general criteria is not possible.
Implementing these regulations in the procurement of ICT is not an easy task. The technical complexity of the matter, the rapid succession of product cycles and, above all, the difficulty of describing the desired performance of a system with pinpoint accuracy, taking into account all the technical requirements, present public procurers with major challenges.
The "ICT-Procurement" project is based on a joint initiative of the Procurement Office of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Bitkom. Other public organizations such as the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw), the Federal Employment Agency, the IT Service Center Berlin (ITDZ Berlin) and the Berlin Police are also involved as partners in the development of the recommendations. The common goal could only be achieved through the intensive collaboration of experts from the digital economy.
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