April 7th, 2020, Source> CMS Law-Now, Authors: Dr. Jakob Steiff LL.M. (Edinburgh), Dr. Tobias Sdunzig

In the course of the current COVID-19 pandemic various measures have been adopted in Germany both on federal and state level to enable public purchasers to procure services to help contain the pandemic and facilitate the public administration’s ability to respond quickly.

1. Ongoing procurement procedures are not automatically suspended

The German parliament has not passed any law or issued any decree suspending deadlines within public procurement procedures. Thus, deadlines such as the deadline for submitting offers, continue to apply. There is also no reliable information on whether contracting authorities have generally suspended deadlines on their own initiative. However, if a contracting authority has not prolonged a deadline, bidders can request an extension. It is conceivable and also permissible that contracting authorities may extend deadlines in response to the current situation, especially if bidders cannot collect all necessary documents because of external reasons or restrictions imposed by law.

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