Federal Act on Public Procurement (PPA) (PPA)
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force.
Art. 51 Notification of decisions
1 The contracting authority shall notify the tenderers of its decisions by publication or individual notification. The tenderers have no right to be heard before the decision is notified. 2 Appealable decisions must be summarily substantiated and include instructions on rights of appeal. 3 The summary substantiation for an award shall include: a. the type of procedure and the name of the successful tenderer; b. the total price of the successful tender or, by way of exception, the lowest and highest total prices of the tenders submitted in the award procedure; c. the decisive features and advantages of the successful tender; d. where applicable, the rationale for using the direct award procedure. 4 The contracting authority may not disclose any information if disclosure would: a. violate applicable law or harm public interests; b. prejudice legitimate economic interests of the tenderers; or c. jeopardise fair competition between the tenderers.
Art. 52 Appeal
1 The contracting authorities' decisions may be appealed to the Federal Administrative Court: a. in the case of supplies of goods or services: when the contract value exceeds the applicable threshold for the invitation procedure; b. in the case of construction work: when the contract value exceeds the applicable threshold for the open or selective procedure. 2 In the case of contracts outside the scope of international treaties, the appeal may only seek a declaration that a decision violates federal law; this does not apply to appeals against decisions in accordance with Article 53 paragraph 1 letter i. Foreign tenderers may appeal if the state in which they are domiciled grants reciprocal rights. 3 The Federal Supreme Court has direct jurisdiction for appeals against procurements of the Federal Administrative Court. 4 The Federal Supreme Court shall appoint an internal appeals committee to assess appeals against Federal Supreme Court procurements. 5 There is no right of appeal against
Art. 53 Object of appeal
1 Solely the following may be contested by appeal: a. the invitation to tender for the contract; b. the decision on the choice of tenderers in the selective procedure; c. the decision to include a tenderer on a list or to remove a tenderer from a list; d. the decision on recusal requests; e. the award; f. the revocation of the award; g. the abandonment of the procedure; h. exclusion from the procedure; i. the imposition of a sanction. 2 Orders in the tender documentation whose significance is apparent may be challenged only within the framework of an appeal against the invitation to tender. 3 The provisions of this Act on the right to be heard in the decision-making procedure, on suspensive effect and on limiting the grounds for appeal do not apply to appeals against the imposition of a sanction. 4 Decisions under paragraph 1 letters c and i may be appealed irrespective of the value of the contract. 5 There are no further rights of appeal against decisions under this Act. 6 There is no
Art. 54 Suspensive effect
1 The appeal does not have suspensive effect. 2 The Federal Administrative Court may, upon request, grant suspensive effect to an appeal against a contract within the scope of international treaties if the appeal appears to be sufficiently justified and there are no overriding public interests to the contrary. As a rule, only an exchange of correspondence takes place on the issue of suspensive effect. 3 A suspensive effect request that is an abuse of law or not made in good faith is not protected. Claims for damages by the contracting authority and the tenderer selected must be assessed by the civil courts.
Art. 55 Applicable law
Unless otherwise provided for in this Act, the decision-making and appeals procedure is governed by the provisions of the Federal Act of 20 December 1968 on Administrative Procedure (APA).
SR 172.021
Art. 56 Appeal timeframe, grounds for appeal and entitlement to appeal
1 Appeals must be submitted in writing with a statement of the grounds within 20 days of the decision being notified. 2 The provisions of the APA and the Federal Act of 17 June 2005 on the Federal Supreme Court on legal holidays do not apply to the award procedures under this Act. 3 The appropriateness of a decision cannot be reviewed in appeal proceedings. 4 Only those that can prove that they can and wish to provide the goods, work or services requested or equivalent goods, work or services may appeal against awards in the direct award procedure. An appeal may be filed only on the grounds that the direct award procedure was wrongly applied or that the contract was awarded based on corruption.
Para. 2 — SR 172.021 Para. 2 — SR 173.110
Art. 57 Inspection of files
1 There is no right to inspect files in the decision-making procedure. 2 In the appeal procedure, the complainant must be granted access, upon request, to the evaluation of its tender and other procedural files relevant to the decision, unless there are overriding public or private interests to the contrary.
Art. 58 Appeal decision
1 The appeal body may decide on the case itself or refer it back to the previous instance or to the contracting authority. In the event of referral, it must issue binding instructions. 2 If the appeal proves to be justified and the contract has already been concluded with the tenderer selected, the appeal body shall determine the extent to which the contested decision violates the applicable law. 3 At the same time as establishing the violation, the appeal body shall decide on any claim for damages. 4 Damages are limited to the necessary expenses incurred by the tenderer in connection with preparing and submitting its tender.