10021436.1-Maintenance of the refrigeration systems at the GIZ site in Eschborn

✓For subcontracting and use of other entities’ capacities, bidders must use VVB 235 (“Verzeichnis der Leistungen/Kapazitäten anderer Unternehmen”) and, where capacities are used for suitability, the “Verpflichtungserklärung anderer Unternehmen” (VVB 236), which includes joint liability commitments.

✓Candidate/bidding consortia must submit a consortium declaration (VVB 234) naming a lead member with power of representation and joint and several liability.

✓As to the scope of the contract (what, how much, where, when), the contract covers, such as, one‑off maintenance (“Einmalige Instandhaltung”) of the refrigeration systems in buildings 1, 2, 4 and 5 at the GIZ site in Eschborn, Germany.

✓The detailed list of installations and specific quantities is contained in the Leistungsbeschreibung and the Leistungsverzeichnis (not reproduced in full in the text, but explicitly referenced as defining the “Anlagen” and services).

✓The Besondere Vertragsbedingungen clarify that the contractor is assigned the services described in those documents and must also perform certain minor repair measures per maintenance period and installation up to cost thresholds (e.g. up to EUR 100 or EUR 500 per unit/period), with further measures only upon separate approval and order by GIZ on the basis of separate offers.

✓The place of performance is explicitly the Eschborn site; the contractual term is defined as starting on the date of the order specified in the award letter and ending after one year.

✓During performance, the contractor must maintain operational safety and, as far as possible, operational availability of the systems, comply with legal safety and accident‑prevention rules and recognised technical standards, immediately inform facility management about safety‑critical defects (including putting installations out of service where necessary, with written confirmation), and also report other non‑urgent defects in text form.

✓On award criteria and weighting, there are both general GIZ rules and procedure‑specific indications.

✓The general “Terms and conditions for application” state that tenders are evaluated on their technical merits using an assessment grid, and that, for those procedures, only offers with at least 500 technical points proceed to financial evaluation; technical minimum/mandatory criteria in the terms of reference must be fulfilled, and the weighting between technical and financial offers is communicated in the invitation letter.

✓However, for this specific procedure under UVgO, the standard form “631 (UVgO – Aufforderung zur Abgabe eines Angebots)” shows that, such as, the contract can be awarded solely on the basis of price: under “Angebotswertung” it names “Zuschlagskriterium Preis” and explains that the price is determined from the (checked) offer sum, taking into account discounts.

✓It also mentions the alternative of multiple criteria via a separate “Formblatt Zuschlagskriterien”.

✓The Besondere Vertragsbedingungen list “Zuschlagskriterien” as an annex, which would set out the concrete criteria and weighting for this contract; details are not reproduced in the text but this annex is expressly binding.

✓Concerning risks and special conditions (penalties, guarantees, subcontracting, validity period, question deadline, site visit), the contract documents provide several important rules.

✓The ZVB 2026 and Besondere Vertragsbedingungen regulate such as: remuneration (all ancillary costs like travel, disposal, allowances, surcharges for overtime and Sundays/holidays are deemed included unless otherwise stated); no remuneration for work done in fulfilment of warranty obligations; invoicing only once per month after performance; contract duration (one year) with provisions on termination, including extraordinary termination if installations are sold, destroyed, long‑term taken out of service, must be serviced by third parties for legal reasons not described in the specification, or if the contractor’s operation can no longer perform the required maintenance due to significant changes in installations.

✓The ZVB also deals with security/guarantees: if securities in the form of advance‑payment or instalment‑payment guarantees are required by the tender documents, they must comply fully with GIZ’s standard guarantee forms and be issued in one single document; guarantees are returned once the secured obligation is fulfilled.

✓Liability provisions include, such as, the contractor’s mandatory professional or business liability insurance with minimum cover of EUR 1,000,000 for property damage, EUR 100,000 for financial losses, and EUR 2,000,000 for personal injury (Besondere Vertragsbedingungen).

✓The contractor’s liability otherwise follows statutory rules; GIZ limits its liability for contractor’s property and financial losses to intent and gross negligence.

✓The ZVB further contains detailed clauses on notification of damages and information security incidents, indemnification of GIZ against third‑party claims caused by the contractor’s breach, language requirements (communication and documents in German, with translations where foreign‑language documents are used), prohibition on assignment of claims without prior written consent, and jurisdiction (Frankfurt am Main, with additional options for GIZ).

✓Subcontracting and consortium risks are expressly governed: as noted, consortia must have a lead firm and joint and several liability, and the use of other entities’ capacities requires formal commitment declarations where those entities also accept joint liability towards GIZ for performance.

✓The general application conditions also specify that candidates/tenderers, consortia members or supporting entities from “non‑covered third countries” may be excluded and have no entitlement to public‑procurement legal remedies.

✓GIZ reserves the right to perform compliance and supply‑chain‑related checks under the Verhaltenskodex (Code of Conduct) attached to the ZVB, including, such as, risk analysis, agreed preventive measures (training, own measures by the contractor), and control measures (including on-site inspections).

✓In case of serious or unremedied breaches of the Code, GIZ may suspend performance and, ultimately, terminate the contract with the termination deemed attributable to the contractor.

✓The bid validity period is referred to in the offer letter: the bidder binds itself to the offer until expiry of the stated binding period; failure to sign or to be recognisable as bidder in electronic text‑form submission leads to exclusion.

✓Questions on the tender must be submitted exclusively via the platform communication tool and within the deadline stated for the procedure; replies of general interest are published anonymously to all participants.

❓A mandatory site visit is not explicitly mentioned in the provided excerpts; if such a requirement exists, it would normally be set out in the specific tender notice or Leistungsbeschreibung, which are referenced but not detailed in the text.

✓As to contradictions or corrections within the documents, the text itself contains some potentially conflicting or overlapping rules, which must be read in light of the standard hierarchy: specific tender documents (UVgO form 631, Besondere Vertragsbedingungen, Leistungsverzeichnis, Zuschlagskriterien annex) prevail over general GIZ application conditions (Bewerbungsbedingungen) and general contract conditions (ZVB) where they differ.

✓For example, while the general Bewerbungsbedingungen describe a typical GIZ evaluation model with technical and financial weighting and a minimum technical score of 500 points, the UVgO form for this particular procedure explicitly provides that the award criterion is price alone, or alternatively that multiple criteria will be defined in the attached “Formblatt Zuschlagskriterien”; since the Besondere Vertragsbedingungen list “Zuschlagskriterien” as an annex specific to this contract, that annex and the UVgO form govern the actual award criteria and weighting, and the generic description in the Bewerbungsbedingungen applies only insofar as it is not overridden.

✓Likewise, general remarks that requests to participate and tenders “must” be submitted electronically are complemented by the UVgO invitation, which allows electronic submission (in several forms) and, in principle, also written submission; for this specific procedure, the UVgO form and the technical guide for electronic submission clarify that GIZ requires electronic submission via the platform, using text‑form signature as per § 126b BGB, so these detailed instructions take precedence.

✓No explicit corrigenda are reproduced in the text, but there are several “notes” clarifying that where alternative or different conditions are foreseen in the specific tender, these will override the default rules; bidders must therefore follow the particular forms and annexes (especially the Aufforderung zur Angebotsabgabe, Besondere Vertragsbedingungen, Leistungsverzeichnis and Zuschlagskriterien) in case of doubt.