Bid Opening

In German procurement law, Submission is the formal act of opening bids at a precisely defined point in time. The term originates from the construction sector and is enshrined in VOB/A as a mandatory procedural step. In everyday use, however, practitioners apply the term to any form of bid opening, including procedures under VgV for supply and service contracts or under UVgO below the EU thresholds.

The submission date is referred to as the Submissionstermin or opening date. It is set bindingly in the contract notice and in the tender documents. By that moment, often identical with the end of the bid submission deadline, all bids must have arrived at the contracting authority, either sealed in paper form or encrypted electronically. Late bids are excluded without exception.

Purpose

Submission fulfils three core functions:

1. Securing competition. Because all bids are opened simultaneously, no bidder can react to competitors' prices or improve their bid afterwards. Competition is locked at the submission moment.
2. Transparency and tamper protection. The four-eyes principle and a complete written record prevent changes to bids after the deadline. Disputes can later be reconstructed via the submission protocol.
3. Equal treatment. All bidders are treated at the same moment under the same rules, a core principle of European procurement law.

How the submission proceeds

The classic submission follows a strict script:

• Before the date, bids received on time are kept under lock and key at the contracting authority. Paper bids carry a sealed receipt stamp; in e-procurement, the bid remains encrypted on the platform until opening.
• At the start of the submission, officers establish which bidders have submitted and whether all bids arrived on time.
• Then bids are opened, in construction under § 14 EU VOB/A in the presence of interested bidders, in supply and service tenders without the public.
• Finally, each bidder's name and address as well as the total bid amount, in construction often also key price positions, are read out and recorded in the protocol.

After submission the formal bidding phase is over. The procedure enters the evaluation and review phase. Until the contract award, bidders remain bound to their bid, this period is called the binding period and typically lasts 30 to 60 days.

Submission vs. bid opening, one concept, two regimes

In VOB/A the process is officially called opening date (§ 14 EU VOB/A), colloquially Submission. In VgV for supply and services the same process is simply called bid opening (§ 55 VgV). The differences are not merely linguistic: in construction submissions, bidders have a right to attend; in VgV openings they do not. The historic reason is that construction tenders traditionally demand higher transparency because works are delivered locally with local partners.

Companies bidding regularly on public contracts should understand both variants. Patterno Hit lets you monitor all tender types centrally, including submission date, bid deadline and binding period in a single dashboard.

The submission is anchored in several procurement regulations. Which applies depends on the type of contract and the contract value.

§ 14 EU VOB/A (construction works above EU thresholds). Here the term opening date is statutorily defined. The provision requires that bids be kept sealed until the deadline and opened only at the opening date. At least two representatives of the contracting authority must attend. Bidders are entitled to be present. The bidders' names and addresses, total bid amounts, and further price details required in the notice are read out. The protocol must be provided to bidders on request.

§ 14 VOB/A (construction works below EU thresholds). Below the EU thresholds, the national VOB/A largely parallels the EU version. Bidder attendance is permitted, and essential bid contents are read out.

§ 55 VgV (supply and services above EU thresholds). For supply and service contracts the process is officially called Angebotsöffnung. The opening is not public; bidders have no right to attend. Nothing is read out aloud; instead a written or electronic record is created under the four-eyes principle.

§ 40 UVgO (supply and services below EU thresholds). A record must also be created here, but with reduced formal requirements.

Four-eyes principle as a baseline rule. The requirement that at least two officers of the contracting authority participate in the submission does not stem from a single statute but from the general transparency and competition principles of § 97 GWB. Federal audit authorities and procurement chambers treat it as mandatory.

Consequences of formal errors. If the submission is conducted without the four-eyes principle, if the protocol is incomplete, or if bids are opened before the set time, these errors can be challenged in a review procedure. In severe cases the entire procedure may have to be cancelled and restarted.

A city in the Ruhr region tenders the renovation of a primary school worth €3.2 million across the EU under VOB/A. Submission date: Thursday, 11:00 a.m., in the conference room of the school administration office. 14 construction companies submit bids on time via the DTVP e-procurement platform.

The submission day:

1. 10:45 a.m. The two procurement officers jointly log into the platform. Each holds a partial key; only both together can decrypt the bids. Six bidder representatives appear in the conference room; the other eight have declined to attend.
2. 11:00 a.m. The senior officer opens the session, notes the four-eyes principle, and confirms that no late bids have been received. The platform displays each submission time down to the second.
3. 11:05 a.m. Bids are opened one by one. For each bidder the following is read aloud: company name, location, main bid total, number of alternative bids, eligibility documents. Example: "Bauunternehmen Müller GmbH, Essen, main bid €3,180,450 gross, 2 alternative bids, eligibility documents complete."
4. 11:45 a.m. All 14 bids have been read. The protocol is generated electronically, signed by both officers, and stored in the system. Attending bidders receive a copy on request.
5. Aftermath. In the following weeks the formal eligibility check, the price reasonableness check, and the evaluation against the award criteria take place. Six weeks later the most economically advantageous bid receives the contract.

For construction companies, attending the submission date is valuable market intelligence: you instantly learn who your competitors were and at what price range the contract moves, information that is not transparent in VgV procedures.

Even a seemingly trivial procedural step like submission has pitfalls, for both contracting authorities and bidders. The most common mistakes:

• Late bid arrival. What matters is receipt at the contracting authority, not dispatch by the bidder. Postal delays, platform latency, and last-minute uploads cause hundreds of bids to be excluded every year. Even one second late triggers mandatory exclusion.
• Improper sealing. For paper bids, the envelope must be sealed and bear a submission stamp until the opening. If a bid is opened prematurely, e.g. by a mailroom employee, a formal challenge and even cancellation of the procedure may follow.
• Submission without four-eyes principle. If the only officer available opens the bids alone due to illness or absence, the submission is formally defective. Subsequent claims can force a repeated submission.
• Incomplete protocol. If the protocol lacks bidder names, totals, or receipt times, the procedure becomes vulnerable to challenge. Handwritten additions without clear dating are also problematic.
• Believing in post-submission supplements. Some bidders think they can still submit forgotten eligibility documents or price sheets after the submission. This is only possible via a formal request for completion by the contracting authority, unsolicited additions are ignored.
• Inconsistent bid totals. If the total in the cover letter differs from the total in the bill of quantities, VOB/A rules give priority to the latter in case of doubt. This can have serious financial consequences and cannot be corrected at the submission date.

Companies regularly bidding on public contracts should treat the submission date as a critical milestone in their bid management process. Six recommendations from practice:

• Plan a 48-hour buffer. Submit bids at least two working days before the submission date. This leaves time for technical issues, missing signatures, or last-minute corrections. Platform support is often unavailable on Friday afternoons.
• Document submission timestamps. After electronic submission, immediately save the receipt confirmation with timestamp as PDF. Should any dispute arise about timely arrival, this is your strongest evidence.
• Attend construction submissions. For VOB tenders, attending the submission date, in person or via a representative, usually pays off. You instantly learn the competitive landscape and can benchmark your own market position.
• Verify bid totals multiple times. Before dispatch, check that totals in the cover letter, price sheet, and bill of quantities match. A simple transcription error can cost the contract.
• Actively request the submission protocol. In VOB tenders you have the right to receive the protocol. Use this: competitors' prices are valuable market intelligence for future bids.
• Monitor submission dates centrally. When bidding on multiple tenders in parallel, dates blur. A central tool like Patterno Hit lets you monitor submission dates, bid deadlines, and binding periods of all active procedures in one overview, including automatic reminders three and seven days before the deadline.