What does two-stage procurement procedure mean?
A two-stage procurement procedure (zweistufiges Vergabeverfahren) is a procurement process divided into two clearly separate phases. In the first stage, the competitive call for participation, contracting authorities check the suitability of the interested companies and select those admitted to the second stage. In the second stage, the bidding phase, only the applicants previously selected and found suitable submit a bid. This structure allows the procedure to run efficiently, because only qualified companies have to put in the effort of preparing a bid.
Two-stage procurement procedures include the restricted procedure, the negotiated procedure with a competitive call for participation, the competitive dialogue and the innovation partnership. What they all have in common is the upfront suitability check, which allows the participants to be preselected. In contrast, the open procedure is a single-stage procedure in which any company can submit a bid directly.
The advantage of the two-stage structure is the targeted preselection of qualified bidders. The contracting authority can limit the group of bidders to a manageable number of competent companies, which makes bid evaluation easier and improves the quality of the procedure. At the same time, companies that are clearly unsuitable are removed from the procedure early, which saves effort on both sides.
Relevance for bidders
For bidders, taking part in a two-stage procedure first means extra effort in the first phase, because a complete request to participate with proof of suitability, references and declarations has to be prepared. This effort is offset, however, by the fact that fewer competitors take part in the second phase and the chances of winning the contract are correspondingly higher.
Bidders should analyze the selection criteria of the first stage closely and tailor their request to participate to them. The quality of the references and the presentation of your own capabilities are decisive in this phase. It is a good idea to choose references that are as similar as possible to the contract being tendered and to describe them in detail and in a way that is easy to follow. Companies that do not have enough references of their own can consider forming a bidding consortium or relying on the capacities of other entities (Eignungsleihe).
Legal framework
Two-stage procurement procedures are governed in various sections of the VgV (Public Procurement Ordinance): the restricted procedure in Section 16, the negotiated procedure in Section 17, the competitive dialogue in Section 18 and the innovation partnership in Section 19. The suitability check in the first stage follows Sections 44 to 49 VgV. The selection of applicants is governed by Section 51 VgV. At EU level, the rules are in Articles 28 to 31 of Procurement Directive 2014/24/EU. For construction work, the corresponding provisions of VOB/A-EU apply.