EU Infringement Cases
| Public procurement: infringement proceedings against Austria concerning award of planning services in Güssing 5 June 2008 The European Commission has decided to send a formal request to Austria concerning the award of planning services in 2007 in the context of the extension of the Montecuccoli barracks in Güssing. The services amount to 2.5 million Euros and their value is thus more than 10 times higher than the threshold for the application of the European procurement Directive 2004/18/EC. This formal request takes the form of a "reasoned opinion", the second stage of the infringement procedure laid down in Article 226 of the EC Treaty. If there is no satisfactory reply within two months, the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. The tender carried out by the Defence Ministry of the Austrian Government contained a pre-selection criterion favouring undertakings from the geographical area of Güssing and its surroundings. The application of this criterion led to the exclusion of undertakings operating from further away. These undertakings were excluded before they could actually submit offers. The Austrian Government claimed that the use of the criterion was justified to ensure the execution of the project without delay. The Commission does not question the possibility to apply award criteria relevant for the execution of a contract which are justified in view of the subject matter of the contract, for example the need to ensure that supervisors of the works have rapid access to the place of execution of the works. However, bidders not yet fulfilling such requirements at the beginning of the procedure have to be invited to provide evidence of how they will ensure that these requirements are met during contract implementation. The latest information on infringement proceedings concerning all
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