Framework agreement (Rahmenvereinbarung)
also: framework agreement · framework contract · Rahmenvereinbarung
A framework agreement is an agreement between one or more contracting authorities and one or more economic operators that establishes the terms governing individual contracts to be awarded during a given period — in particular the price and the quantity envisaged. It is not itself a contract to perform: the obligation arises only with the individual call-off. Its term may as a rule not exceed four years in the classic sector and eight in the utilities sector; longer terms require justification by the contracting authority in exceptional cases.
4,282 open procedures describe themselves in the title as a framework agreement, Rahmenvereinbarung or Rahmenvertrag — 5% of the open corpus.
What it means for a bidder
For bidders a framework agreement is a switch point with long consequences: losing one shuts you out of that buyer for the entire term — including purchases that, taken individually, would fall far below any threshold. That is exactly why it pays to track when running frameworks expire and to prepare for the re-tender rather than wait for the notice.
Two structures should be told apart. Under a single-operator framework, call-offs are placed on the terms already fixed. With several operators two routes are permitted: a direct call-off following a ranking published in advance, or reopening competition (a mini-competition) among the framework partners. Being admitted to a multi-operator framework therefore produces no revenue by itself — only a ticket to the second competition. A framework agreement should also not be confused with a dynamic purchasing system, which stays open to new applicants throughout its lifetime.
Look it up in the corpus
Related terms
DEFINITION · a description of the law with a citation, not legal advice · FIGURE · from nightly-built aggregates of our own corpus · all terms: friedrich-clement.com/en/glossar