The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action has defended a provision within the new law designed to accelerate procurement processes, addressing concerns raised by several industry associations.
Responding to inquiries from the dts news agency on Wednesday in Berlin, a ministry spokesperson asserted, “We believe a good balance has been struck between supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and the necessary acceleration”. They emphasized that the procurement acceleration law contains numerous other elements beneficial to the broader economy and industrial sector.
Previously, a joint letter was sent to Economics Minister Katharina Reiche (CDU) by eight industry associations expressing caution regarding the proposed regulation concerning the principle of dividing large contracts into “lots”. The associations warned that the regulation risks generating “massive additional workload and bureaucracy.
The regulation aims to divide significant contracts into multiple, distinct lots. The associations are advocating for the possibility of awarding several partial or specialized lots, either entirely or partially, together, where justified by economic, technical, or temporal considerations. According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, exceptions to the principle of lot division are possible, particularly in relation to projects financed by the special fund.
