Legal requirements for procurement

Alongside the legal framework for the awarding of mandates, the FDFA provides information on threshold values and on the various publication platforms. In addition, the FDFA highlights the conditions that apply to the direct procedure.

Threshold values for the three types of procedure: tender, invitation and direct award

Under the tender procedure, the FDFA publishes the mandate on the simap.ch platform. All interested parties and suitable tenderers can submit an offer. The FDFA evaluates the offers using pre-defined, published criteria. The mandate is awarded to the most economically advantageous bid, which is published on SIMAP, the official electronic public procurement platform of the federal government, the cantons and communes.

Under the invitation procedure the FDFA decides which tenderers ae to be invited directly to submit offers. Wherever possible the FDFA must obtain three tenders.. The FDFA compares the offers and awards the mandate to the most advantageous bid.

Under the direct award procedure, the FDFA awards the mandate to a supplier directly. When reviewing the bid prior to making the award, the FDFA complies with the requirement to use public funds efficiently and economically.

Planned Mandates under CHF 230,000

Publication on the list of planned mandates

Mandates of CHF 230,000 and over

As a rule, mandates of CHF 230,000 and over (services and goods) or CHF 2,000,000 and over (construction works) are published on SIMAP, the official electronic public procurement platform of the federal government, the cantons and communes.

SIMAP

Exceptions for direct awards

As a rule, mandates with a value equal to or exceeding of CHF 230,000 and over for services and supplies of goodsgoods, and with a value equal to or exceeding CHF 2 million and over for constructions works are put out to tender. Mandates for services and construction worksupplies of goods with a mandate value of less than CHF 150,000 can be awarded under the direct award procedure (for goods constructions under CHF 50300,000).

With the scope of the FDFA's area of activity, the following exceptions may benefit from the direct award procedure:

Technical particularities

Exemption from standard regulations is invoked when due to technical particularities or for the protection of intellectual property, the stakes involve only one supplier or no adequate alternative exists.

Reasons for other exceptions

The Federal Law on Public Procurement defines exceptions related to development cooperation and humanitarian aid. Free allocation is possible for:

• Mandates within the frame of agricultural or food-aid programmes;
• Mandates based on an International treaty between the States Parties to the GATT Agreement or Switzerland and third countries
• Mandates in the frame of a particular procedure of an international organization

The awarding of mandates is governed by the legal requirements of the Federal Act on Public Procurement and the Ordinance on Public Procurement as well as by the FDFA's own internal directives.

Federal Act of 21 June 2019 on Public Procurement (fr)

Ordinance of 12 February 2020 on Public Procurement (fr)

Federal Act of 21 June 2019 on Public Procurement (fr)

Ordinance of 12 February 2020 on Public Procurement (fr)