KfW as an official contracting authority – Europe-wide awarding procedure

The state sector is governed by the German Award Law. As a state-owned bank, KfW is the official contracting authority.

Above a certain contract value – Euro 221,000.00 net for supplies and services and Euro 5,538,000.00 net for construction work – KfW formally tenders the contract throughout Europe in accordance with the German Award Law. KfW awards contracts that do not reach the aforementioned value thresholds in accordance with its internal procurement guidelines.

The workflow for a Europe-wide invitation to tender is completely electronic. To take part, interested companies must register on the KfW Group’s procurement portal and download the procurement documents.

Practical notes:

You can find KfW’s current Europe-wide invitations to tender here:

• In the Official Journal of the EU: https://ted.europa.eu
• In KfW’s procurement portal: https://ausschreibungen.kfw.de
• In the Federal Gazette: https://www.service.bund.de

Compare the suitability requirements with the resources and capabilities of your company. In particular:

• Do you have suitable references?
• Do you have suitably qualified specialists?
• Do you have the right technical equipment?

Be aware of the following:

• Compliance with the minimum requirements that KfW places on performance.
• Completeness of your bid (price information, concepts and documents)
• Timely submission
• Do not modify tender documents (exception: change requests in negotiation procedures)
• Reasons for exclusion pursuant to sections 123, 124 GWB (German Restraints of Competition Act)
• According to KfW’s tender documents, is the weighting on the evaluation criterion “bid price” or on the criterion “bid quality”?

We inform all bidders about the outcome of the invitation to tender and wait at least 10 calendar days before awarding the contract. After that, successful bidders will receive a letter from us stating that they have been awarded the contract.

Upon receipt of the award letter, the contract between the bidder and KfW will be concluded.