Discusses the legal requirements for selling to the host government, including whether the government has agreed to abide by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement or is a party to a government procurement chapter in a U.S. FTA. Specifies areas where there are opportunities.
Last Published: 7/9/2019

The Bundesbeschaffung GmbH (BBG), created in June 2001, is the Austrian government’s central procurement agency and operates in compliance with EU legislation.  The agency is run as a limited liability company, independent of the federal budget, but owned by the Austrian Ministry of Finance.  More information is available online at: www.bbg.gv.at/en/      

Procurements valued at under €100,000 (approximately $130,000) are not subject to tendering regulations and can be purchased directly.  The purchase of items valued between €100,000 and €414,000 are subject to Austrian procurement regulations as outlined on the Bundesbeschaffungsgesellschaft website.       

In order to succeed in bidding on a tender in Austria, U.S. companies should have either a local presence or a trusted local partner well before the tender announcement. For government tenders, bidders must meet reliability and availability prerequisites.

Purchases of goods or services worth more than €414,000 (approximately $560,000) must be tendered through the EU. These are published on the TED database: http://ted.europa.eu/TED/main/HomePage.do)

For detailed information governing the public procurement market in the EU please see the EU single market public procurement website at:   http://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/public-procurement  and the U.S. Commercial European Union Country Commercial Guide.

The U.S. and the European Community are signatories to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), which grants access to most public supplies and services and some work contracts published by national procurement authorities of the countries that are parties to the Agreement.  In practice, this means that U.S.-based companies are eligible to bid on supplies and services contracts from European public contracting authorities above the agreed thresholds.    

While not in the case of Austria, many governments finance public works projects through borrowing from the Multilateral Development Banks. Please refer to Trade and Project Financing Sections of  Country Commercial Guides for specific countries at www.export.gov/ccg for more information. 
 

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.