Definitions Sectors

In Article 3 of the Law on Public Procurement in the Sectors (ÖAWSG) the following terms or abbreviations are defined:

"services other than postal services": services provided in the following sectors:

• Management services for mailing offices (pre-mailing and post-mailing services);
• Services relating to items not covered by item 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 item 25, and the conditions of Art. 8(3) relating to the services covered by it are not met;

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

"Construction contract": the contract on:

• the execution or, simultaneously, the execution and design of a works contract in connection with one of the works listed in Annex I to Directive 2014/25/EU or in Annex I to Directive 2014/23/EU activities or a work; or
• the provision of a construction work by subcontractors in accordance with the requirements specified by the contracting authority, which has a decisive influence on the nature and design of the work, by whatever means;

"Construction concession": a contract concluded in writing for valuable consideration by which one or more principals entrust one or more undertakings with the provision of construction services, the consideration consisting either solely in the right to use the work covered by the contract or in this right plus a payment; 

"Construction": the result of the totality of building and civil engineering works which, by its nature or purpose, is intended to perform an economic or technical task;

"Notice": the publication of the intention to award a contract or concession;

"Candidate": a natural or legal person applying for or having received an invitation to tender or to participate in a restricted procedure, a negotiated procedure, a competitive dialogue or an innovation partnership;

"Service contract": the contract for the provision of a service not covered by item 3;

"Service concession": a contract concluded for consideration, 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 referred to in Clause 4, the consideration for which consists either solely in the right to exploit the services covered by the contract or in that right plus a payment;

"dynamic procurement system": a fully electronic procedure for procurements of market services where the characteristics generally available on the market meet the requirements of the contracting authority; this procedure is open throughout the procedure to any company that meets the eligibility 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 relevant category. 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": an entity that:

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

"electronic 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": an iterative electronic process in which, after an initial full evaluation of the bids, which are ranked using automated scoring methods, new prices are submitted, revised downward, and/or new values based on specific components of the bids are submitted, respectively. Certain works and services contracts involving intellectual performance, 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": 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": the Agreement of 2 May 1992 on the European Economic Area;

"Common technical specification": 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 in accordance with the 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 offerers who form a consortium;

"Supply Contract": a contract involving the purchase, lease, rental or installment purchase, with or without an option to purchase, of goods. A delivery order may include, as ancillary works, laying and installation works;

"Supply, works and services contract": the written contract for pecuniary interest between one or more of the contracting entities listed in Article 4 and one or more undertakings for the provision of works or services or the supply of goods;

"Standard": a technical specification adopted by a recognized standards organization for repeated or continuous application, compliance with which is not compulsory and which falls within one of the following categories:

• "international standard": a standard that has been adopted by an international standards organization and is available to the public;
• "European standard": a standard that has been adopted by a European standards organization and is available to the public;
• "national standard": a standard that has been adopted by a national standards organization and is available to the public;

"Offer" (Offer): the declaration by an offeror to execute a contract or concession if awarded;

"Offeror" (Offeror): the natural or legal person who makes an offer;

"Public enterprise" any enterprise over which the contracting authorities may exercise a dominant influence, directly or indirectly, by virtue of ownership, financial participation or the rules governing the enterprise. The exercise of a dominant influence shall be presumed if, directly or indirectly:

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

"Design contest": the procedure designed to provide the contracting authority, especially in the fields of spatial planning, urban planning, architecture and construction or data processing, with a plan or design, the selection of which is made by a jury on the basis of comparative assessment with or without the distribution of prizes;

"Postal Services": Services involving the collection, sorting, transportation, and delivery of mail. This includes both services that are 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, as well as services not covered by it;

"Postal item": an addressed item in the final form in which it is carried, regardless of its weight. In addition to letter mail, this includes, in particular, books, catalogs, newspapers and magazines, as well as postal packages containing goods with or without commercial value, regardless 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;

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

"technical reference": any reference, other than an official standard, drawn up by a European standardization body in accordance with procedures adapted to the needs of the market;

"technical specification for works contracts": the totality of the technical descriptions contained in particular in the tender documents, defining the characteristics required of a material, product or supply in order for it to fulfil the purpose 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 inspection 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 provisions for the design and pricing of works, the conditions for the testing, inspection and acceptance of works, the methods or procedures of construction and any other technical requirements which the contracting authority is in a position to specify for finished works or materials or parts necessary therefor by means of general and special provisions;

"technical specification in supply and service contracts": a specification contained in a written document that prescribes characteristics for a product or service, such as quality levels, environmental and climatic performance levels, "design for all" (including accessibility for people with disabilities) and conformity assessment, performance, specifications for fitness for use, safety or dimensions of the product, including provisions for sales name, 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 on 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 grouping 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 company whose financial statements are consolidated with those of the contracting authority, candidate or offeror in accordance with the provisions of the Persons and Companies Act (PGR) on consolidated financial statements;
• in the case of contracting authorities, applicants or offerors not covered by the provisions of the PGR, any undertaking:

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

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

"central procurement 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 made by a central purchasing body for the purpose of central procurement activities shall be deemed to be procurements made for the purpose of carrying out an activity under Articles 5 to 7. Article 12 shall not apply to procurements made by a central purchasing body for the purpose of central procurement activities;

"affected candidates": the contracting authority has not provided them with a notice of rejection of their application before the award notice has been issued to the affected offerors;

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

"Road vehicle": a vehicle belonging to one of the categories of vehicles listed in Table 3 of the Annex to Directive 2009/33/EC referred to above. This excludes vehicles according to Article 2(3) of Directive 2007/46/EC, which are not subject to type-approval or individual approval in accordance with the road traffic legislation;

"Tender documents (concession documents): all documents prepared or referred to by the contracting authority to describe or define elements of the procurement, concession, or procedure, including the notice, periodic non-binding notice, or information on an existing qualification system when used as an invitation to compete, technical specifications, terms of reference, proposed terms of contract or concession, formats for submission of documents by candidates and offerors, information on general obligations, and other supplementary documents;

"Tender Documents (Concession Documents)"

"Procurement service provider": a public or private law entity that offers ancillary procurement activities on the market;

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

"Quality Mark Requirements": the requirements that a particular construction, good or service, process, or procedure must meet in order to receive the relevant quality mark;

"Innovation": the introduction of new or significantly improved products, services or processes, including production, construction or design processes, a new marketing method or a new organizational procedure in terms of business practice, workplace operations or external relationships, in order to contribute, inter alia, to addressing societal challenges or to supporting 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 that may reasonably be perceived to affect their impartiality and independence in the procurement procedure;

"Life Cycle": all successive and/or interrelated stages, including research and development to be performed, manufacturing, trade and related conditions, transportation, use, and maintenance, during the life of a good or structure or during the provision of a service, beginning with the procurement of raw materials or generation of resources and ending with disposal, cleanup, and termination of service or use;

"Ancillary Procurement Activities": Activities in support of procurement activities involving:

• the provision of technical infrastructure that enables contracting authorities to award contracts or conclude framework agreements for works, supplies, or services;
• the provision of advice 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 authority concerned;

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

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

"Concessionaire": a company that has obtained a concession;

"electronic invoice": an invoice issued, transmitted and received in a structured electronic format that allows its automatic and electronic processing;

"Core elements of an electronic invoice": a set of essential information components that must be included in an electronic invoice and are essential for cross-border interoperability, including the information needed to ensure compliance with the law;

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

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

"Syntax specifications": guides for representing a semantic data model for an electronic invoice in the various syntaxes;

"Procurement": the acquisition of works, supplies or services by means of a works, supply or service contract by one or more contracting entities from undertakings chosen by those contracting entities, provided that the works, supplies or services are intended for one of the purposes referred to in Art. 5 to 7;

"Feed-in": the generation and production, as well as wholesale and retail trade.