­Competition, Antitrust and Public Procure­ment Law

Public procurement law

We advise and support public contracting authorities and bidding companies at all stages of the procurement procedure from preparation of tender documents and response to bidder requests to selection of eligible bidders and awarding the contract as well as documentation of relevant facts. A further focus of our public procurement law services is the „inhouse“-privilege of municipal companies. We advise on – especially company law related – issues in order to safeguard the applicability of the „inhouse“-privilege. Beyond, our legal services include advising public and private companies in the utilities sector as well as the tender procedures for the awarding of concessions. We represent public contracting authorities as well as bidding companies in complaint, review and appeal procedures before the public procurement tribunals and courts. Next to the conceptual coverage of antitrust and state aid law, our legal services also cover interface matters regarding public funding law, public pricing law and municipal business law.

Procurement Procedure

• Supporting tenders, i.a. in tenders for IT-Services, services in the waste management industry and other complex services
• Preparation of tender documents
  
• Response to bidder requests
  
• Documentation

Representation in Proceedings

• Complaint, review and appeal procedures
  
• Preliminary ruling proceedings and infringement proceedings

Strategic Alignment/Restructuring on the basis of the Exemption of Inter-municipal Cooperations

• Corporate law and business related structuring under specific consideration of the EU procurement directives
  
• Organization on the basis of capacity as public contracting authority

Conception of and Support for Remunicipalisation Projects

• Comprehensive and cross-function counseling (including tax and economic aspects)

Interface Counselling

• Public procurement law: antitrust law
  
• Public procurement law: state aid law, public funding law and structural funds law
  
• Public procurement law : municipal business law, public pricing and fees law

Competition Law Compliance

A special focus of our competition law practice is the development, implementation and review of compliance structures as well as the preparation of manuals and guidelines and staff trainings. The counseling scope ranges from safeguarding the demands for „self-cleaning“ under public procurement law to the implementation of a comprehensive and effective Compliance Management System (CMS) as well as antitrust compliance systems.

Conception and Implementation of Compliance Management Systems

• Alignment on the basis of IDW PS 980
  
• Consideration of specific features of single areas of law

Preparation of Compliance Documents

• Corporate statement
  
• Code of Conduct
  
• Manuals/guidelines

Content-related Design of Compliance Programs

• Alignment on the basis of EU, national and state law
  
• Antitrust law & anti corruption
  
• Compliance for public contracting authorities
  
• Compliance for bidding companies (including measures for „self-cleaning“)

Implementation of Staff Trainings

• Content alignment under consideration of risk groups and branch-specific features
  
• Flexible and case-by-case concepts

Conduct of Internal Reviews together with Deloitte

• Internal Audits
  
• Forensic investigation
  
• Assessment according to IDW PS 980 by external auditor

State Aid Law

We advise public authorities (as potential aid grantors) as well as municipal and private companies (as potential beneficiaries) in all State Aid Law matters. There are various types in which a state aid might appear (i.e. loans/guarantees with preferential conditions, sale or lease of real estate under market value/gratitious, contribution of capital without appropriate rate of return, grants for operating costs) and might therefore be difficult to recognize. We conduct – supported by Deloitte’s economic experts – so-called “private investor tests” in order to evaluate the market conformity of the given public measure and, thus, its compatibility with State Aid Law. In the field of Services of General Economic Interest („SGEI“) we counsel and support our clients in all matters relating to the entrustment act. Our services also include the representation of our clients in notification proceedings and formal investigation procedures before the European Commission as well as in proceedings before the competent national courts regarding the recovery of unlawful state aid.

Assessment of Public Measures

• Evaluation of public support and funding measures as to their compatibility with State Aid Law on the basis of the European guidelines, directives and decisions
  
• Advice on municipal restructuring measures
  
• Conduct of private investor tests

SGEI-Measures

• Assessment of the conditions for a SGEI entrustment
  
• Preparation of and support in implementing the entrustment act

Representation

• Notification proceedings before the European Commission
  
• Formal investigation procedures before the European Commission
  
• Recovery proceedings before national courts