Country kit
Bidding in Austria: the country kit
What a company from another country needs to know before it bids for a public contract in Austria.
Not legal advice. Rules and portals change: check the buyer's documents and the official portal.
Written notes last reviewed on November 15, 2026.
For a bidder from abroad
What a company from another country usually runs into. Each line names where you can check it.
- Portals
-
There is no single platform for bids. Notices are gathered on the federal business portal (USP); the bid goes to the platform each buyer uses, such as the ANKÖ's, vemap, provia or the Federal Procurement Agency's, and each wants its own account.
Check it at Unternehmensserviceportal (USP), Ausschreibungen
- Account to submit
-
To submit you need an account on the platform the notice names. Open it days ahead: some platforms check a new company by hand.
Check it at Unternehmensserviceportal (USP), Ausschreibungen
- Electronic signature
-
A qualified electronic signature is usually required on the bid, or on the files the documents name.
A qualified signature from a provider established in another EU state has the same legal effect (eIDAS Regulation, Article 25). Whether the platform's own tool reads your certificate is a practical matter: try it well before the deadline.
Check it at Unternehmensserviceportal (USP), Ausschreibungen, EU trusted lists of signature providers
- ESPD and eCertis
-
The European Single Procurement Document is accepted as a first proof that you are suitable; here it is called Einheitliche Europäische Eigenerklärung (EEE). eCertis shows which certificates of your own country match the ones asked for.
Check it at eCertis (European Commission)
- Registers and lists
-
The ANKÖ keeps the list of suitable companies (Liste geeigneter Unternehmer), where a company deposits its proofs once and buyers read them. It is voluntary; a company from another state can usually send the certificates of its own country instead.
Check it at ANKÖ, Liste geeigneter Unternehmer
- Language of the bid
-
Bids are usually written in German. Certificates in another language usually need a translation; the documents say whether it has to be certified.
Check it at Unternehmensserviceportal (USP), Ausschreibungen
From the register
Counted from the notices Aperlena reads. These lines change as the register does.
- Sources we read
-
- ANKOe - Auftragnehmerkataster Osterreich (Kerndaten)
- ASFINAG group procurement via provia
- AUSSCHREIBUNG.AT (Hubexo Austria GmbH)
- eVergabe.at (Kerndaten)
- Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) - Kerndaten
- OeBB group procurement via provia
- Österreichische Post AG - Kerndaten
- vemap - Vergabeportal (Kerndaten)
- Wirtschaftskammer Wien - Kerndaten
Notices above the EU thresholds also arrive through TED, the EU's Tenders Electronic Daily.
- Open now
-
1,165 open notices. See them
Busiest sectors: Construction work (611), Architecture & engineering services (118), IT services (63)
- Time to bid
-
Open procedure above the EU thresholds: usually 27 to 34 days from publication to the deadline (median: 31, from 5,080 notices).
Open procedure below the EU thresholds: usually 20 to 24 days from publication to the deadline (median: 21, from 112 notices).
- Language of the notices
- German
- Currency
- Amounts are stated in euros (EUR).
- Working days
-
Deadlines on Aperlena count working days on the national calendar of Austria: Monday to Friday, without the national public holidays. Regional holidays are not counted.
The next national holidays on a weekday: , , ,
After the award
Not legal advice. The periods run from the day the decision is sent to you. Check your award letter and national law before you rely on any of them.
- Standstill period
-
Usually 10 calendar days from the day after the decision was sent (15 when it was not sent electronically).
The buyer usually may not sign the contract before it ends.
- Time to challenge
-
Usually 10 calendar days from the day after the decision was sent.
- Review body
- Bundesverwaltungsgericht (oder das Landesverwaltungsgericht)
- Rule
- § 144, § 343 BVergG 2018
The periods are the ones for contracts above the EU thresholds. Below them national rules differ, and some awards have no standstill at all.
On the page of an awarded notice the periods are counted from its award date, with a letter asking the buyer for its reasons. Awarded contracts in Austria