Recent Public Procurement Law Introduces A New Award Procedure While A Last-Minute Regulation Dispels Confusion On Threshold Values

An amendment to the Austrian Public Procurement Act (PPA), in force since 1 April 2012, introduced, inter alia, a new direct awarding with prior notice and simplification measures in the sub-threshold area. However, these novelties were initially outshone by the confusion on contradicting threshold values. The latter was caused by a conflict between the amendment to the PPA and the Austrian Threshold Values Regulation (TVR).

Confusion on Threshold Values ‒ PPA versus TVR

The temporal scope of the TVR had been extended several times since it introduced increased threshold values in 2009. The TVR 2011, which was published on 20 December 2011, maintained the increased threshold values until 31 December 2012. Consequently, it came as a surprise when the 2012 amendment to the PPA stipulated contradicting threshold values. Opinions on whether the "old" TVR thresholds values held precedence over the new PPA ones diverged, thus, the respective confusion was