On 29 October 2019, the Competition Working Group met in Berlin to discuss the practice of VgV awards together with bdla legal counsel Dr. Sebastian Schattenfroh.

From the point of view of the planners, such award procedures are sometimes problematic, e.g. due to a lack of transparency or because the principle of equal treatment of all bidders is undermined. The aim of the discussion was to develop starting points and possible courses of action for the bdla as well as for planners in order to achieve an improved procedural culture at one point or another.

According to Dr. Schattenfroh, the problem with VgV procedures is not so much the public procurement ordinance as a legal framework, but the implementation and application of the ordinance. With many public clients, in particular with smaller municipalities, it lacks appropriate specialized knowledge and experience. Here the bdla and in particular the chambers of architects have the opportunity to offer seminars for qualification - preferably on a regional level, in order to make it easier for the public clients to participate.

As a concrete aid for clients as well as planners, the creation of a checklist is agreed in the working group, which briefly and concisely defines the minimum requirements of VgV procedures. In the event of ambiguities or inconsistencies arising from the comparison of VgV tenders with the checklist, planners should contact the contracting authorities and specifically request clarification or correction. In parallel, the checklist can be used for the bdla's lobbying work vis-à-vis the Garden Authorities' Conference, the Association of Towns, Municipalities and Counties.

Further topic of the meeting was the discussion of guidelines for the competition system, which were developed by a working group of the bdla
Berlin/Brandenburg, and which are to be published soon as position paper of the bdla.

Source: bdla association magazine "Landschaftsarchitekten" 4/2019

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