Definitions Sectors

The following terms and abbreviations are defined in Article 3 of the Act on Public Procurement in the Sectors (ÖAWSG):

"services other than postal services": Services provided in the following areas:

• Management services for postal dispatch centers (pre-dispatch and post-dispatch services);
• Services relating to items not covered by Section 26, such as unaddressed direct mail items, provided that these services are provided by an entity that also provides postal services within the meaning of Section 25 and the requirements of Art. 8 para. 3 are not met with regard to the services covered;

"Contractor": the tenderer to whom a contract has been awarded;

"works contract": the contract for

• the execution, or the simultaneous execution and design, of a work relating to one of the activities referred to in Annex I to Directive 2014/25/EU or in Annex I to Directive 2014/23/EU or to a work; or
• the execution of a work by subcontractors in accordance with the requirements specified by the contracting entity, which has a decisive influence on the nature and design of the work, by whatever means;

"construction concession": a contract for pecuniary interest concluded in writing by which one or more contracting entities entrust one or more undertakings with the provision of construction services, whereby the consideration consists either solely in the right to use the construction work that is the subject of the contract or in this right plus a payment;

"construction work": the result of building and civil engineering works taken as a whole which, by its nature or purpose, is intended to fulfill an economic or technical function;

"Contract notice": the publishing of the intention to award a contract or concession;

"Candidate": a natural or legal person who, in a restricted procedure, a negotiated procedure, a competitive dialog or an innovation partnership, applies or has received an invitation to submit a tender or to participate in a contest or a concession procedure;

"service contract": a contract for the provision of a service not covered by Clause 3

"service concession": a contract for pecuniary interest concluded in writing by which one or more contracting authorities entrust one or more undertakings with the provision and management of services other than the provision of works in accordance with point 4, where the consideration consists either solely in the right to exploit the services covered by the contract or in that right plus a payment;

"dynamic purchasing system": a fully electronic procedure for the procurement of marketable services where the characteristics generally available on the market meet the requirements of the contracting authority; this procedure is open throughout the entire duration of the procedure to any company that meets the selection criteria. It may be subdivided into categories of works, supplies or services objectively defined on the basis of characteristics of the intended award in the category concerned. These characteristics may include a reference to the maximum permissible scope of subsequent specific contracts or to a specific geographical area in which subsequent specific contracts are to be performed;

"Entity governed by public law" means an entity that:

• is established for the specific purpose of carrying out tasks in the general interest which are not of a commercial nature; and
• Has legal personality; and
• is predominantly financed by the state, municipalities or other bodies governed by public law or is subject to supervision by the latter with regard to its management or whose administrative, management or supervisory body consists mainly of members appointed by the state, municipalities or other bodies governed by public law;

"electronic means" means electronic devices for the processing (including digital compression) and storage of data transmitted, conveyed and received by wire, by radio or by optical or other electromagnetic means;

"electronic auction" means an iterative electronic procedure in which, after an initial full evaluation of the tenders, which are ranked using automatic evaluation methods, new prices, revised downwards, and/or new values based on certain components of the tenders are submitted. Certain works and service contracts involving an intellectual service, such as the design of works, which cannot be ranked using automatic evaluation methods, may not be the subject of electronic auctions;

"European technical assessment" means a documented assessment of the performance of a construction product in relation to its essential characteristics in accordance with the relevant European Assessment Document as defined in Article 2(12) of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 laying down harmonized conditions for the marketing of construction products

"EEA Agreement" means the Agreement on the European Economic Area of May 2, 1992

"common technical specification" means a technical specification in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) drawn up in accordance with a procedure recognized by the EEA Member States or adopted in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 on European standardization

"Collective application or offer" (collective offer): the joint application or offer of several applicants or tenderers who form a consortium;

"Supply contract": a contract relating to the purchase, leasing, rental, lease or installment purchase, with or without a purchase option, of goods. A supply contract may include laying and installation work as ancillary work;

"supply, works and service contract" means a contract for pecuniary interest concluded in writing between one or more of the contracting entities referred to in Article 4 and one or more undertakings for the provision of works or services or the supply of goods

"standard" means a technical specification adopted by a recognized standardization body for repeated or continuous application, compliance with which is not compulsory and which falls within one of the following categories

• "international standard" means a standard that has been adopted by an International Standards Organization and is available to the public;
• "European standard" means a standard adopted by a European standardization organization and made available to the public
• "national standard": a standard that has been adopted by a national standards organization and is available to the public

"Tender" (offer): the declaration of a tenderer to execute a contract or concession in the event of an award;

"Tenderer" (bidder): the natural or legal person who submits a tender;

"Public undertaking": any undertaking over which the contracting authorities may exercise directly or indirectly a dominant influence by virtue of their ownership of it, their financial participation therein or the rules applicable to it. The exercise of a dominant influence is presumed if it directly or indirectly

• hold the majority of the company's subscribed capital; or
• hold the majority of the voting rights attached to the company's shares; or
• can appoint more than half of the members of the administrative, management or supervisory body of the company;

"design contest" means the procedure used to provide the contracting authority, in particular in the fields of town and country planning, architecture and construction or data processing, with a plan or design selected by a jury on the basis of a comparative assessment with or without the award of prizes;

"postal services": Services relating to the collection, sorting, transportation and delivery of postal items. This includes both services which constitute universal services within the meaning of Directive 97/67/EC on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service and services which do not fall within this definition;

"postal item" means an addressed item in the final form in which it is carried, irrespective of its weight. In addition to letters, this includes in particular books, catalogs, newspapers and magazines as well as postal parcels containing goods with or without commercial value, irrespective of their weight;

"framework agreement": an agreement between one or more contracting authorities and one or more undertakings, the purpose of which is to establish the terms governing contracts to be awarded during a given period, in particular with regard to the price envisaged and, where appropriate, the quantity envisaged;

"in writing": any representation consisting of words or figures that can be read, reproduced and communicated. It may also include electronically transmitted and stored information;

"technical reference" means any reference which is not an official standard and which has been drawn up by a European standardization body in accordance with procedures adapted to the needs of the market

"technical specification for works contracts" means the totality of the technical descriptions contained in particular in the tender dossier, defining the characteristics required of a material, product or supply to enable it to fulfill the use for which it is intended by the contracting authority. These properties include:

• Environmental and climate performance levels, "design for all" (including accessibility for persons with disabilities) and conformity assessment, specifications for fitness for use, safety or dimensions, including quality assurance procedures, terminology, symbols, testing and test methods, packaging, marking and labeling, instructions for use and production processes and methods at each stage of the life cycle of the works; and
• the rules for the design and pricing of works, the conditions for testing, inspection and acceptance of works, the methods or procedures of construction and any other technical requirements which the contracting entity is able to specify, by general and specific regulations, for the finished works or the materials or parts necessary for them;

"technical specification for supply and service contracts": a specification contained in a document prescribing characteristics for a product or service, such as quality levels, environmental and climate performance levels, "design for all" (including accessibility for persons with disabilities) and conformity assessment, performance, fitness for use, safety or dimensions of the product, including requirements for the name under which the product is sold, terminology, symbols, testing and test methods, packaging, marking and labeling, instructions for use, production processes and methods at any stage of the life cycle of the supply or service and conformity assessment procedures;

"undertaking" (economic operator) means a natural or legal person, a contracting entity or a group of such persons and/or entities, including any temporary association of undertakings, which offers on the market the execution of works, the erection of works, the supply of goods or the provision of services;

"variant offer" (variant offer): the offer for an alternative execution of the contract;

"affiliated company":

• any undertaking whose annual accounts are consolidated with those of the contracting authority, tenderer or offeror in accordance with the provisions of the Persons and Companies Act (PGR) on consolidated accounts;
• in the case of contracting entities, candidates or tenderers that are not subject to the provisions of the PGR, any company:

1. over which the contracting authority, candidate or tenderer can directly or indirectly exercise a controlling influence within the meaning of Clause 23;
2. which can exercise a controlling influence over the client, candidate or tenderer; or
3. which, together with the contracting authority, is subject to the dominant influence of another undertaking by virtue of ownership, financial participation or the rules applicable to the undertaking;

"WTO Agreement": the Agreement of April 14, 1994 on Government Procurement WTO Agreement;

"central purchasing body": a contracting authority, in particular the Principality of Liechtenstein, the municipalities and bodies governed by public law, which carries out central procurement activities and possibly ancillary procurement activities. Procurements carried out by a central purchasing body for the purpose of centralized procurement activities are deemed to be procurements for the purpose of carrying out an activity pursuant to Art. 5 to 7. Art. 12 does not apply to procurements carried out by a central purchasing body for the purpose of centralized procurement activities;

"candidates concerned": the contracting authority has not notified them of the rejection of their application before the award notice has been issued to the tenderers concerned;

"affected tenderers": they have not yet been definitively excluded. An exclusion is final if it has been communicated to the tenderers concerned and has either been recognized as lawful by the appeal authority or can no longer be subject to an appeal procedure;

"Road vehicle" means a vehicle belonging to one of the vehicle categories listed in Table 3 of the Annex to Directive 2009/33/EC. Excluded from this are vehicles in accordance with Art. 2 Para. 3 of Directive 2007/46/EC which are not subject to type approval or individual approval in accordance with road traffic legislation;

"Tender documents (concession documents)": all documents drawn up or referred to by the contracting entity to describe or define elements of the contract award, concession or procedure; these include the contract notice, the periodic indicative notice or the information on an existing qualification system where they serve as an invitation to tender, the technical specifications, the tender specifications, the proposed contract or concession conditions, formats for the submission of documents by candidates and tenderers, information on generally applicable obligations and other additional documents;

"procurement service provider" means a public or private entity offering ancillary procurement activities on the market

"Quality mark" means a document, certificate or attestation certifying that a particular work, good or service, process or procedure meets certain requirements;

"quality label requirements" means the requirements that a specific work, good or service, process or procedure must meet in order to be awarded the relevant quality label

"Innovation": the introduction of new or significantly improved products, services or processes, including production, building or construction processes, a new marketing method or a new organizational process in terms of business practice, workplace operations or external relations, in order to, inter alia, contribute to addressing societal challenges or support the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth;

"Conflict of interest": situations in which employees of the contracting authority or of a procurement service provider acting on behalf of the contracting authority who are involved in the conduct of the procurement procedure or who may influence the outcome of the procedure have, directly or indirectly, a financial, economic or other personal interest which may be considered to affect their impartiality and independence in the context of the procurement procedure;

"life cycle" means all successive and/or interrelated stages, including research and development to be carried out, manufacture, trade and associated conditions, transportation, use and maintenance, during the lifetime of a good or work or during the provision of a service, from the procurement of raw materials or generation of resources to disposal, clean-up and termination of the service or use;

'ancillary procurement activities' means activities in support of procurement activities that relate to

• the provision of technical infrastructure enabling contracting entities to award contracts or conclude framework agreements for works, supplies or services;
• advising on the execution or planning of procedures for the award of contracts;
• the preparation and management of procedures for the award of contracts in the name and on behalf of the contracting entity concerned;

"centralized procurement activities" means activities carried out on a permanent basis which concern

• the acquisition of goods and/or services for contracting entities; or
• the award of contracts or the conclusion of framework agreements for works, supplies or services on behalf of contracting entities

"concessionaire": an undertaking that has been awarded a concession

"electronic invoice" means an invoice that is issued, transmitted and received in a structured electronic format that enables it to be processed automatically and electronically;

'core elements of an electronic invoice' means a set of essential information elements that must be included in an electronic invoice and are essential for cross-border interoperability, including the information necessary to ensure compliance with the legislation

"semantic data model" means a structured and logically linked set of terms and their meanings that reflects the core elements of an electronic invoice

"syntax" means the machine-readable language or dialect of a machine-readable language used to represent the data elements contained in an electronic invoice

"Syntax specifications": guidelines for the representation of a semantic data model for an electronic invoice in the various syntaxes;

'procurement' means the acquisition of works, supplies or services by means of a contract for works, supplies or services by one or more contracting entities from undertakings selected by those contracting entities, provided that the works, supplies or services are intended for one of the purposes referred to in Articles 5 to 7

"supply" means generation and production as well as wholesale and retail trade.