VOB/A
also: VOB/A · German award rules for works contracts
The VOB/A is Part A of the German Vergabe- und Vertragsordnung für Bauleistungen, the rules on awarding construction works contracts. It is divided into sections: Section 1 applies below the EU thresholds, Section 2 (VOB/A-EU) above them, and Section 3 (VOB/A-VS) in the defence and security field. It is not a statute but a rulebook issued by the German committee for construction contract procedures; it becomes binding through budgetary law, state procurement acts and — above the thresholds — the reference to it in the VgV.
1,859 open procedures name the VOB/A explicitly. The field it governs is much larger: 7,529 open German procedures are construction works (CPV division 45).
What it means for a bidder
Bidders meet the VOB/A in three practical ways. In the procedure types: Öffentliche and Beschränkte Ausschreibung below the threshold, open and restricted procedure above it. In the handling of the bid itself: the rules on excluding incomplete or late bids are strict and are applied strictly — a missing price schedule or a missing declaration normally means exclusion, not a follow-up question. And in proving suitability, where an entry in the German construction prequalification register replaces the individual certificates.
One point matters for pricing: Part A only governs the award. The contract itself follows Part B (VOB/B) and the technical rules follow Part C (VOB/C). Anyone costing a bid should read the payment and time-limit rules of Part B before signing, because they depart considerably from the default German law on contracts for work.
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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