Price Mirror

A Preisspiegel (price comparison sheet) is the tabular comparison of all bid prices received in a public procurement procedure. It is produced after the submission, the formal bid opening, and is the central working document of the contracting authority during the evaluation phase. The Preisspiegel makes visible how the bids of individual bidders differ at the position level and thus enables a robust price review.

Structure of a classic Preisspiegel

The table follows a clear schema:

• Rows: Every line item of the bill of quantities, each tendered position with quantity and unit.
• Columns: The bidders, frequently anonymised as Bidder A, B, C or numbered sequentially.
• Cells: The unit price offered by each bidder and the resulting total per position.
• Total rows: Net total, VAT, and gross total per bidder.
• Key metrics: Mean, lowest and highest price per position, plus percentage deviation from the mean.

The most striking values are colour-coded: lowest prices green, highest prices red, unusual outliers (>20 % below the mean) yellow. This lets the contracting authority see at a glance where an angemessenheitspruefung (reasonableness check) must start.

Function in the evaluation phase

The Preisspiegel performs four tasks:

1. Price comparison at position level. Only a position-by-position breakdown allows assessing whether a cheap bid is actually viable or whether it was extremely low in just a few line items.
2. Mixed calculation detection. If a bidder offers one position remarkably low (e.g. 1 cent) and another extremely high, this indicates an inadmissible mixed calculation, a classic exclusion ground.
3. Identifying abnormally low bids. If a bid lies more than 20 percent (construction) or significantly below the next cheapest bid, clarification is mandatory.
4. Documentation for the procurement file. The Preisspiegel forms part of the procurement record and is thus auditable, important for later review procedures.

Preisspiegel vs. submission protocol

The two documents are often confused. The submission protocol is created during the bid opening and records only total amounts, bidder names, and receipt times. The Preisspiegel, by contrast, is created after the submission and details bids down to each individual BoQ position. While the submission protocol must be provided to bidders on request in construction tenders, the full Preisspiegel remains fundamentally confidential, it contains sensitive competitive information and is the trade secret of the competition.

The Preisspiegel itself is not literally defined in any statute, but it follows necessarily from the evaluation and review provisions of the relevant procurement regimes.

§ 16 EU VOB/A (construction works above EU thresholds). The norm obliges the contracting authority to a four-stage review: formal check, eligibility check, reasonableness check, and substantive evaluation. Without a tabular comparison, i.e. without a Preisspiegel, this review is practically not feasible. § 16d EU VOB/A specifies how abnormally low bids must be clarified: if the gap to the next cheapest bid exceeds 10 percent, the authority must regularly request clarification.

§ 16 VOB/A (construction works below EU thresholds). Largely parallel to the EU version, with reduced justification duties.

§ 56 VgV (supply and service contracts above EU thresholds). Defines the duty to review and evaluate bids. § 60 VgV adds the clarification duty for abnormally low bids: where doubts about price reasonableness exist, the authority must request clarification before the contract award. The Preisspiegel is the tool that makes such doubts visible in the first place.

§ 41 UVgO (supply and services below EU thresholds). Reduced requirements apply, but a procedure without a price comparison sheet is in practice not properly executable.

Confidentiality under § 5 VgV / § 6 VOB/A. The Preisspiegel contains the bidders' trade secrets (calculations, margins, structures). It must be handled internally, may not be shared with third parties, and is only partially accessible in review procedure file inspections. The procurement chamber decides case-by-case which parts are redacted.

Documentation duty under § 8 VgV. The Preisspiegel must be retained as part of the procurement file. In disputes, e.g. after a challenge, it is the most important evidence that evaluation was conducted properly and that the award criteria were correctly applied.

A water association in the Allgäu tenders the renovation of a wastewater treatment plant worth €4.8 million across the EU under VOB/A. The bill of quantities comprises 387 positions, split into seven trades (earthworks, concrete, steel construction, electrical, MSR, piping, outdoor works). Seven bids arrive at the submission.

Day 1 after submission. The procurement officer imports bid data from the GAEB file into her AVA software (iTWO). The software automatically generates a Preisspiegel with 387 rows × 7 bidder columns. Totals range from €4.21 million (Bidder C) to €5.67 million (Bidder F), a 35 percent spread.

Day 2, position analysis. The eye scans the colour-coded markings. At position 3.2.14 (reinforced concrete slab 28 cm, B25) something stands out: Bidder C has priced €38 per m², while the mean is €142 – 73 percent below average. At position 5.1.7 (low-voltage switchgear), however, the same Bidder C prices €89,000 – 41 percent above the mean. Suspicion: mixed calculation.

Day 3, clarification. The contracting authority requests written clarification under § 60 VgV. Bidder C submits a calculation breakdown. It shows that the concrete slab is not cross-subsidised via the switchgear position but via an intra-group supply of prefabricated parts from a nearby plant. The contracting authority finds the explanation plausible.

Day 14. Bidder C receives the contract award. Bidder A files a challenge, alleging insufficient price review. In the subsequent review procedure the contracting authority presents the Preisspiegel with all clarification documents, the procurement chamber confirms the award as lawful. For construction companies like Bidder A, Patterno Hit additionally surfaces comparable tenders where similar pricing structures have appeared.

The Preisspiegel looks simple, just a table. In practice, however, it conceals numerous pitfalls leading to faulty evaluations and successful review claims.

• Comparing only the totals. Whoever lines up only the gross amounts and awards to the lowest violates the review duty under § 16 EU VOB/A. Evaluation must occur at position level, otherwise mixed calculations and abnormally low single prices go undetected.
• Ignoring mixed calculations. If individual positions are offered at €0.01 and others at exaggerated levels, an inadmissible mixed calculation typically exists. Case law (BGH, OLG Düsseldorf) demands exclusion in such cases, even if the total looks attractive.
• Missing clarification of outliers. Abnormally low bids must be clarified under § 60 VgV or § 16d EU VOB/A, there is no discretion. Skipping clarification regularly makes the evaluation challengeable in review.
• Wrong mean calculation. Calculating the mean across all bidders including the outlier dilutes the comparison base. A trimmed mean, dropping highest and lowest, then averaging, is cleaner.
• Forwarding the Preisspiegel to bidders. Some contracting authorities accidentally send the full Preisspiegel to bidders during file inspection or pre-information. This breaches the confidentiality duty and can trigger damages claims.
• Excel without version control. If the Preisspiegel circulates as an unprotected Excel file, subsequent manipulation is possible. Evidentiary weight becomes shaky in disputes. AVA software like iTWO or ORCA AVA stores every version audit-proof.

Whether you produce Preisspiegel professionally or respond to one as a bidder, these routines apply.

• AVA software over Excel. For complex BoQs with around 100+ positions, specialised AVA software (iTWO, ORCA AVA, ARRIBA, RIB iTWO civil) is essential. It imports GAEB files automatically, creates audit-proof Preisspiegel, and flags outliers without manual formula upkeep.
• Three key metrics per position. Display mean, trimmed mean, and median side by side. With many bidders (>10), the median is a far more robust comparison base than the simple arithmetic mean.
• Document the outlier threshold. Define before evaluation at what deviation a position counts as unusual, standard is 20 percent below the position mean or 10 percent below the next cheapest total. This threshold belongs in the procurement record.
• Structured clarification questions. Address unusual prices concretely, e.g. "Please explain the calculation basis for position 3.2.14 indicating material costs, labour costs and overhead surcharges." Vague questions yield vague answers and unacceptable delay risk.
• Bidder view: document your own calculation cleanly. Even if no clarification arrives, keep an internally traceable calculation for each position. This proves in dispute that your bid is not a mixed calculation but market-appropriate.
• Market intelligence from past Preisspiegel. From your own lost bids and won submission protocols over years, a price database can be built. With Patterno Hit you additionally identify current tenders with comparable scope, valuable benchmarks for your own calculation and for assessing whether a contracting authority's Preisspiegel reflects realistic price levels.