Source: http://bpp.worldbank.org/en/data/exploreeconomies/austria/2017
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 06:25:45+00:00

Document:
Austria has not adopted a specific regulatory framework for PPPs. PPPs can be developed following the general public procurement framework. As a consequence, if the PPP is based either on a construction, supply or service contract or a construction or service concession, the Austrian Federal Public Procurement Act (Bundesvergabegesetz, BVergG 2006, BGBl. I Nr. 17/2006), as amended in 2016, is applicable (hereinafter referred as "PPA"). If the scope of business of the PPP encompasses the operation of a plant, the procedure pursuant to sec 356 to 359c Austrian Industrial Code (GewO) has to be observed. This last case does not fit with the case study assumptions, so our analysis will be based on the former.
A revision of the current Federal Public Procurement Law is planned in order to transpose EU Directives 2014/23, 2014/24 and 2014/25 is currently in the legislative process (the so-called "Federal Public Procurement Law 2017", Vergaberechtsänderungsgesetz 2017; Link: https://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/VHG/XXV/I/I_01658/fname_640090.pdf).
According to Section 58 (2) of the Federal Budget Law, projects of extraordinary financial importance have to be approved by the Ministry of Finance before its implementation: (2) Where the intention is to execute a project pursuant to sec. 57 (1) from which it is envisaged that Federal Government allocations will arise which are of extraordinary financial significance in light of the type or scope of the project, the competent line ministry shall consult and reach agreement in a timely fashion during the planning stage with the Federal Minister of Finance. Such agreement may be dispensed with where projects of this kind have been previously prescribed by Federal Act. The Federal Minister of Finance shall issue regulations prescribing when a project is deemed to be of extraordinary financial significance. That regulation may authorize the Federal Minister of Finance, in consultation with any line ministry, to agree to departures from these rules which are specific to the ministry; compliance with the budgeting principles pursuant to Art. 51 (8) Austrian Federal Constitution [B-VG] in conjunction with sec. 2 may not be adversely impacted thereby. It is possible for higher ceiling amounts to be set with respect to reaching agreement where, on the basis of experience with budget execution over the course of several years, compliance with the principles of Art. 51 (8) Austrian Federal Constitution in conjunction with sec. 2 and thus simultaneously due performance of the duties of the Federal Minister of Finance under Art. 51b (1) Austrian Federal Constitution is not adversely impacted. Additionally, Section 60. (1) states that the competent line ministry shall reach agreement with the Federal Minister of Finance on execution of any project (sec. 57 (1)) and creation of related liabilities, the settlement of which upon maturity shall require expenditures by the Federal Government in multiple fiscal years or at least in a single future fiscal year (future obligations). The Federal Minister of Finance shall in the context of his or her collaboration take particular care to ensure that the prerequisites under sec. 58 (1) have been met and that the requisite report is submitted pursuant to sub-sec. 3 or that the required federal statutory authority under sub-sec. 4 is obtained. According to Section 60. (2) it shall not be necessary for such agreement to be reached under sub-sec. 1 hereof if agreement has already been reached with the Federal Minister of Finance under sec. 58 (2) with respect to this project and there have been no material changes to the terms and conditions envisaged for execution of this project since that time (sec. 59 (2)).
Section 60. (1) of the Federal Budget Law states that the competent line ministry shall reach agreement with the Federal Minister of Finance on execution of any project (sec. 57 (1)) and creation of related liabilities, the settlement of which upon maturity shall require expenditures by the Federal Government in multiple fiscal years or at least in a single future fiscal year (future obligations). The Federal Minister of Finance shall in the context of his or her collaboration take particular care to ensure that the prerequisites under sec. 58 (1) have been met and that the requisite report is submitted pursuant to sub-sec. 3 or that the required federal statutory authority under sub-sec. 4 is obtained. According to Section 60. (2) it shall not be necessary for such agreement to be reached under sub-sec. 1 hereof if agreement has already been reached with the Federal Minister of Finance under sec. 58 (2) with respect to this project and there have been no material changes to the terms and conditions envisaged for execution of this project since that time (sec. 59 (2)).
Section 60 of the Federal Budget Law regulates particular budgetary requisites to be met in order to execute a project entailing an obligation in future fiscal years; future obligations and Section 61 that of a project creating entitlements on the part of the Federal Government; future entitlements. Both cases may be present in the case of a PPP and thus this provision is applicable in such cases.
European System of Accounts applicable according to the Austrian Federal Budget Act 2013 (Bundeshaushaltsgesetz 2013, BHG) Austrian Cost Estimate and Accounting Order 1999 (Voranschlags- und Rechnungsabschlussverordnung) for Federal regions and municipalities.
Section 60.3 of the Federal Budget Law mandates that within one month from the end of each calendar quarter, the Federal Minister of Finance shall report to the National Council committee charged with preliminary deliberations on the Federal Finance Acts with respect to every future obligation, the creation of which the Federal Minister of Finance has consented to within the preceding calendar quarter, provided that the total of future obligations reaches the value equal to the ceiling on expenditures for a global budget contemplated in the current Federal Finance Act at the time of consenting to creating the future obligation. All liabilities previously incurred, to the extent of maturing liabilities in future fiscal years, shall be debited against this maximum amount.
According to Sec. 58. (1) of the Federal Budget Act A project may only be executed where it is necessary to perform tasks of the Federal Government, is in line with the objectives pursuant to sec. 2 (1) and financial coverage thereof is assured by the Federal Medium-Term Expenditure Framework Act and the Federal Finance Act. The Federal Minister of Finance shall issue regulations prescribing more detailed rules with respect thereto.
According to Section 17. (1) of the Federal Budget Law all entities assigned to make preparations for issuing legal rules of the Federal Government (laws, regulations, supra- or international agreements, agreements pursuant to Art. 15a Austrian Federal Constitution) other legislative measures of fundamental type pursuant to sec. 16 (2) or of projects pursuant to sec. 58 (2), shall take account of their material effects when undertaking an impact assessment pursuant to sub-sec. 2. In any event, the financial, economic, environmental, consumer protection effects as well as the effects on children and youth and the administrative cost to citizens and to businesses including in social respects and, in particular, also on actual equality of the genders, shall be taken into account. Section (2) of the same article continues detailing that the member of the Federal Government or the line ministry within whose remit the draft is prepared or the project was planned shall append an outcome-oriented impact assessment to every draft legislative proposal or any other project (sub-sec. 1). Only the material effects shall be the subject of the impact assessment; financial effects shall, in any event, be deemed material.
Relevant legal/regulatory provision (if any) It is part of the assessment required by Section 17 of the Federal Budget Law mentioned above.
Article 19 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act provides impacted citizens and communities with the opportunity to participate in the assessment.
The invitation to tender has to contain specifications, either constructive (listing partial services) or functional (provisional and functional requirements), pursuant to secs 95 and 96 PPA. Also, while the current legal provisions regarding concessions do not explicitly require the attachment of a draft contract, the procuring authority is required to provide all information a bidder for a PPP contract needs to prepare his bid. Moreover, as PPPs can be regarded as public works or service contracts (or a mix of both) according to Section 79 and Section 99 of the PPA the request for proposals (RFP) needs to include a draft PPP contract.
According to Section 88 of the PPA the tender documents must be available online except in cases where the contracting authority does not have the necessary technical resources to do so.
The environmental permits have to be obtained by the developer, which might be a private person applying for a private project, or a public authority, which initiates a project (according to Art 1 lit b Dir 2011/92/EU). This Directive was implemented in Austria by the Law on environmental impact assessment (UVP-G). Thus according to this Austrian Law the public partner of a PPP has to obtain the environmental permits.
According to Par 74, 353 Trade Regulation Act (Gewerbeordnung) these permits may be obtained by the private partner or the authority. However, if an environmental permit has to be obtained prior to the construction of e.g. a road, the environmental permit covers also the operational permit. This is based on Sec. 3 (3) of the Austrian Law on environmental impact assessment (UVP-G). According to this provision, the procedure regarding the environmental impacts of a project is a “concentrated procedure”, which means, that in this procedure it is also decided on further necessary permits such as operational permits.
Generally, according to Section 122 PPA the evaluation committee has to have sufficient qualification: The examination and assessment of an offer is to be transferred only to persons who fulfill the professional requirements. Where necessary, impartial experts, independent of the tenderers, shall be consulted.
Section 46 PPA: 46. (1) To be announced are: 1st- the intended award of a construction, supply or service contract in the open procedure, the restricted procedure with prior notice or the negotiated procedure with prior notice; 2nd- the intended implementation of an open or restricted competition; 3rd- the intended award of a construction concession contract or a construction contract to be awarded by a construction concessionaire who is not a client (§ 3 para. 1); 4th - unless the possibility of applying the negotiation procedure is used without prior notice to conclude a framework agreement, - the proposed conclusion of a framework agreement; 5th the intended establishment of a dynamic purchasing system; 6th - the intended award of a construction, supply or service contract by means of a competitive dialogue.
Section 142.2 PPA: In awarding construction concession contracts, the contracting authority may freely choose between the open procedure, the restricted procedure with prior notice and the negotiated procedure with prior notice. If the prerequisites of § 34 are met, the contracting authority may also award building concession contracts by means of a competitive dialogue. In this case, §§ 159 to 162 apply mutatis mutandis.
Section 46.3 PPA: (3) The contracting authority shall indicate in the contract notice which proof or evidence of authority (§ 71 (1)), professional reliability (§ 72), financial and economic capacity (§ 74) and technical capacity (§ 75) or to be submitted at the request of the client. This in connection with Sections 19, 78 and 79 ensures that in restricted procedures the selection criteria will be available to all bidders. Annex VIII and XI of the PPA regulates in detail the content of the tender notice and the tender documents including, when applicable, the selection criteria. Also, Section 103 establish the details to be followed in the prequalification during the restricted procedure.
The majority of contributors agree that this is the case. According to some of them, given easy access to appealing procedures, authorities strive to comply with the specified criteria.
According to Section 58 of the PPA: 2. If the request is submitted in a timely manner, the contracting entity or the competent authority shall provide additional information on the tender documents, additional documents or description of the competitive dialogue without delay, but not later than six days, in the case of restricted procedures or accelerated negotiation procedures to issue Sections 63 and 67 no later than four days before the deadline for the receipt of tenders.
Answers to request for clarifictions based on the possibility established on Section 58 of the PPA will have to be provided to all the potential bidders according to the equal treatment requirement (article 19 PPA) and case law that requires fair treatment of bidders.
Section 130. (1) PPA: Tenders shall be awarded to the technically and economically most advantageous tender or to the tender offering the lowest price, in accordance with the information given in the invitation to tender.
Section § 54 PPA (1) The contracting authority shall notify the Commission of any contract awarded for the construction, supply or service and the result of any competition.
Section 131 PPA: § 131. (1) The contracting entity shall provide evidence of the tenderers remaining in the contract award procedure to which tenderer the contract will be awarded. In this notification, the remaining bidders are informed of the respective end of the standstill period pursuant to § 132 para. 1, the reasons for the rejection of their offer, the total price as well as the characteristics and advantages of the successful offer the legitimate business interests of entrepreneurs, or harm free and fair competition.
§ 132. (1) In the case of other absolute nullity, the procuring authority may not award the contract within the standstill period. The standstill period shall begin with the date on which the notification of the award decision is sent. The standstill period will be 10 days if notified by electronic means or by fax and 15 days if notified by letter.
Evaluation of project implementation is conducted by the procuring authority itself (according to Section 18 Budget Law) as well as there might also be an external control by an audit office (Rechnungshof): Art 121 B-VG (Austrian Constitution); Additionally, it is common practice to establish in the PPP-contract reporting obligations and monitoring rights. Section 18 of the Federal Budget Law establishes in its Paragraph (2) Every head of a budget managing body shall, at reasonable intervals, evaluate the implementation of a project (sec. 57) or of a programme comprising multiple related projects, which it shall determine in light of the nature or scope of the project or programme. According to Paragraph (3) of the same Section: (3) That internal evaluation must show 1. whether the intended outcome and the measures contemplated to achieve it continue to be in line with the objectives referenced in sec. 2 (1); 2. whether and to what extent the goals and targets have been achieved and what the impacts of the measures are and 3.
how great the actual financial impacts on the federal budget are.
Universal or partial succession into the position of the initial contractor, following corporate restructuring, including takeover, merger, acquisition or insolvency, of another economic operator that fulfils the criteria for qualitative selection initially established provided that this does not entail other substantial modifications to the contract and is not aimed at circumventing the application of this Directive is one of the grounds that allow for a legal change in contracts according to Art 72 lit d) ii of the Directive 2014/24/EU.
Article 72 of the Directive 2014/24/EU (still to be implemented in Austrian Law) is applicable and regulates the modification of contract during its term. This limitation to modification of contracts was already applicable in due to European Court of Justice case law.
According to Section 58 (3) Fed. Budget Law and the directive of the Ministry of Finance based on this provision, an approval from the Ministry of Finance is necessary, if the proposed budget is exceeded by more than 10%. Section 58 (3) of the Federal Budget Law states that to the extent that, for execution of any project or programme referenced in sec. 18 (2), agreement with the Federal Minister of Finance was or is required, the line ministry shall also reach agreement with the Federal Minister of Finance on the intended termination of or material change to the project or programme in question, or with respect to the continuation of the project or programme in question, which is deemed necessary despite a lack of conformity with the objectives referenced in sec. 2 (1); for purposes of evaluating when any change should be deemed material, the regulation issued pursuant to sub-sec. 1 by the Federal Minister of Finance shall apply mutatis mutandis.
(ii) would cause significant inconvenience or substantial duplication of costs for the contracting authority.
Contracting authorities having modified a contract in the cases set out under points (b) and (c) of this paragraph shall publish a notice to that effect in the Official Journal of the European Union. Such notice shall contain the information set out in Annex V part G and shall be published in accordance with Article 51.
(ii) 10 % of the initial contract value for service and supply contracts and below 15 % of the initial contract value for works contracts.
However, the modification may not alter the overall nature of the contract or framework agreement. Where several successive modifications are made, the value shall be assessed on the basis of the net cumulative value of the successive modifications.
3. For the purpose of the calculation of the price mentioned in paragraph 2 and points (b) and (c) of paragraph 1, the updated price shall be the reference value when the contract includes an indexation clause.
(d) where a new contractor replaces the one to which the contracting authority had initially awarded the contract in other cases than those provided for under point (d) of paragraph 1.
5. A new procurement procedure in accordance with this Directive shall be required for other modifications of the provisions of a public contract or a framework agreement during its term than those provided for under paragraphs 1 and 2.
When such change implies a material change to the contract according to the regulation of Article 72 Directive 2014/24/EU about modification of contracts during their term mentioned and transcribed in the previous answer.
Section 83 PPA contains detailed provisions regarding changes of subcontractors in case of public works or services contracts. For concessions Section 145 PPA sets out basic requirements.
In general dispute resolutions will be considered in the PPP contract. Particularly, Section 343 of the PPA states that in cases where an arbitration court has been agreed upon, the validity of the provisions of Section 4 of Section 6 of the Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO), RGBl. No 113/1895 . Any derogations from these rules may not be provided for in the invitation to tender. The Federal Government may, by ordinance, make more detailed provisions regarding the principles governing thriftiness, efficiency and expedience.
The Jurisdiction of local courts is based on the Civil Procedure Code. Arbitration and Mediation may be chosen if provided for in the contract. As mentioned, Particularly, Section 343 of the PPA states that in cases where an arbitration court has been agreed upon, the validity of the provisions of Section 4 of Section 6 of the Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO), RGBl. No 113/1895 . Any derogations from these rules may not be provided for in the invitation to tender. The Federal Government may, by ordinance, make more detailed provisions regarding the principles governing thriftiness, efficiency and expedience.
Sections 1 to 16 EO (Act on Enforcement of Awards, Exekutionsordnung). In particular Section 1 of the EO recognizes as execution title the judgments of arbitrators and arbitral tribunals which are no longer subject to appeal by a higher arbitral tribunal and the settlements concluded before them.
Universal or partial succession into the position of the initial contractor, following corporate restructuring, including takeover, merger, acquisition or insolvency, of another economic operator that fulfils the criteria for qualitative selection initially established provided that this does not entail other substantial modifications to the contract and is not aimed at circumventing the application of this Directive; and in the event that the contracting authority itself assumes the main contractor’s obligations towards its subcontractors where this possibility is provided for under national legislation pursuant to Article 71;are two of the grounds to allow for a legitimate change in the operator according to Art 72 lit d) ii and iii of the Directive 2014/24/EU.
Monitoring and evaluation system of the PPP contract implementation Yes. Performance assessment against established criteria. Abatement of payments for non-performance.

References: Art. 51
 Art. 51
 Art. 51
 Art. 15
 Art 1
 § 34
 § 54
 § 131
 § 132

§ 132
 Art 121
 Art 72
 Art 72