Austrian procurement law is guided by rules contained in three different regulations: first of all, in the Federal Procurement Act (Bundesvergabegesetz – "BVergG") which sets out regulations for general procurement procedures (works, supplies, services) including the sectors of water, energy and transports (utility sectors); secondly, in the Federal Procurement Act for Concessions (Bundesvergabegesetz Konzessionen) which sets out regulations for procurement procedures regarding concessions and thirdly, in the Federal Procurement Act Defence and Security (Bundesvergabegesetz Verteidigung und Sicherheit – "BVergGVS") which sets out regulations for the sector of defence and security (see below point 1.d.).

Public procurement regulations also apply in case the thresholds regarding the contract values contained in the European Directives are not equalled or exceeded. There are, however, slight simplifications for public authorities in this area.

Austrian procurement law is based largely on the EU Directives on public procurement. These in turn are influenced by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) as the European Union and each of its 28 Member States are signatories to the GPA. The scope of the GPA covers any law, regulation, procedure or practice regarding any procurement by any contractual means as soon as the procuring entity and the type of contract are listed in Appendix I to the GPA and the thresholds stated there are exceeded.

As Austrian procurement law aims largely at implementing the EU Directives on public procurement, it concentrates on principles resulting from European primary law. Thus, public contracts may only be awarded on the basis of a competitive award procedure, which must be transparent and non-discriminatory and respect the principles of economic procurement and proportionality. Additionally, the promotion of small business’ interests should be considered. Aspects of quality and innovation as well as social and environmental aspects have to be taken into account, too. These principles have to be observed during every step of the procurement process and are further detailed in Austrian procurement laws and regulations.

While, in principle, government procurement in the field of defence and security falls under the general EU procurement rules (Directive 2014/24/EU), these general rules do not accommodate the specificities of defence-related procurement contracts. Consequently, in the past, most EU Member States have opted to derogate from the general EU procurement rules for practically all defence and security related contracts by invoking Art. 346 TFEU (former Art. 296 EC Treaty), which allows for a derogation for national security reasons. The respective contracts were awarded to national rules which in many cases do not reflect European principles. Against that background EU Directive 2009/81/EC was introduced which offers tailor-made procurement rules for contracts in the defence sector and aimed at preventing derogation from procurement law based on Art. 346 TFEU. Consequently, under the regime of EU Directive 2009/81/EC derogation is only possible in very exceptional cases.

In Austria the procurement in the defence and security sector is guided by the Federal Procurement Act Defence and Security (Bundesvergabegesetz Verteidigung und Sicherheit – "BVergGVS") that transposes Directive 2009/81/EC. The BVergGVS sets forth procurement rules specifically tailored to the defence and security market. Thus, the BVergGVS applies to sensitive public supply contracts and public service contracts, in the fields of defence and security and stipulates a number of specific procedural features tailored to the characteristics of sensitive public defence and security supply contracts. The applicable threshold value for this sector is € 418,000. As for works contracts in the defence and security area, the threshold value is €5,225,000.

However, reflecting Art. 346 TFEU Austrian procurement law does not apply to the procurement of hard military equipment, civil goods and dual-use goods that are related to interests of national security.

In contrast, there are no special regulations applicable to aerospace procurement. The award of contracts in this field is governed by general Austrian procurement laws (see above under a).