Register companies in the register of prequalified companies for public tenders

Prerequisites

• You or your company are qualified and authorized to practice your trade
• You can prove the economic and financial capacity.
• You can provide evidence of technical and professional ability.
• You can prove that there are no general compelling reasons for exclusion.
• You can demonstrate that there are no general optional grounds for exclusion, eg past violations.

Documents required

• Trade, association, partnership or cooperative register excerpt (depending on the legal form and registration obligation)
• Business license, depending on the license requirement of the trade
• Business registration/change of registration (does not apply to freelancers)
• Membership certificate from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Chamber of Crafts, or a professional chamber
• Certificate/confirmation of professional/business liability insurance
• Self-declaration that there is no serious misconduct (if there are more than three persons with sole power of representation, a declaration signed by three persons is sufficient. This must include the person responsible for public procurement.)
• Certificate in tax matters from the tax office, in Saxony self-declaration
• When applying for a GmbH & Co. KG: Certificate for both the GmbH & Co. KG and the GmbH
• Certificate of statutory social security (health insurance certificate)
• Clearance certificate from the trade association
• Extract from the central trade register GZR 3 (for sole proprietorships) or extract from the central trade register GZR 4 (for legal entities, commercial partnerships and associations), when applying for a GmbH & Co. KG: the GZR 4 for the KG and GZR 4 for the GmbH

Note: Some of the certificates must be submitted in the original and, as a rule, must not be more than three months old. You can find more about this in the additional information.

Deadlines

• The certificate of entry in the official directory is valid for one year. This period starts from the date of registration.


• If there are changes in your company during the course of the year with regard to the proof of suitability and reliability, the company is obliged to inform the official directory of this, since the official directory may then have to be changed (possibly also the deletion of the entry).

Procedure

You apply for the prequalification at the prequalification office, after examination you will be included in the directory.

• You can find the online application on the website https://www.amtliches-verzeichnis.ihk.de/
• Fill this out and attach the required documents
• If you have any questions, please contact the order advice centers and Chambers of Industry and Commerce listed under "Responsibility and costs".
• The prequalification bodies check whether the entry requirements are met and, if necessary, request additional documents
• If all entry requirements are met, the responsible IHK will enter you in the official directory
• You will receive a certificate with a certificate number and an access code

In the case of public tenders, you inform the contracting authority of these two numbers in your offer so that they can access your documents stored in the official register.

Processing time

Once the documents are complete, prequalification usually takes no longer than three weeks, and the subsequent registration by the IHK takes a maximum of six working days.

Fees

• Cost framework for registration by the IHK: 50 - 74 EUR


• Budget for the prequalification: 160 to 180 EUR


• The amount of the respective costs varies depending on the federal state


• The costs are cumulative.

Legal remedies

The refusal of registration is an administrative act. Depending on the state law, an objection or an administrative court action may be possible. Detailed information can be found in the rejection notice.

Legal basis

Section 48 (8) Public Procurement Ordinance (VgV)


( https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/vgv_2016/__48.html )



Section 35 Sub-Threshold Procurement Ordinance (UVgO)


( https://www.bmwk.de/Redaktion/DE/Downloads/U/unterhöhenvergabeordnung-uvgo.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=6 )

In order to participate in public contracts, your company must prove that none of the legally stipulated formal reasons for exclusion apply. The entry in the directory is considered proof of suitability, so that you only have to enter an individual access code or enclose a copy of the certificate each time you submit a bid. As a prequalified company, you have a presumption of suitability. This means that public clients only obtain evidence of their suitability if there are reasonable doubts. As a prequalified company or freelancer, you can be found using various search criteria such as name, registered office, CPV code, etc., for example when public clients are looking for suitable companies. As a company from the supply and service sector (including freelancers) you can apply for registration. You are only excluded if you are a pure construction company, since there is a different directory for construction companies. In order to keep your prequalification, submit the proof of suitability for the preliminary examination to the prequalification office responsible for your (main) place of business once a year after registration. After a final check by the competent IHK, your company will be entered in the official directory. In addition to the mandatory evidence, you can submit further evidence of the qualification of the company/freelancer. These are also the subject of the review and can be viewed by the contracting authority as stored documents. The documents checked by the IHKs can only be viewed by the contracting authority that has the certificate with its specific access code. However, the official directory is generally accessible. The directory is updated every day.