Rechtsschutz bei der Vergabe von Aufträgen unterhalb der Schwellenwerte

This doctoral thesis deals with the legal protection of a private legal subject when a contract is awarded by a public authority to another private party containing a contract volume below the threshold amounts. The threshold amounts are used, among other things, to distinguish between two different ways of legal protection dependent on the contract volume in question. The thesis examines several questions which affect public law as well as private law and which have also been a subject of the highest judicial authority. In particular, there is an analysis of the legal opinion of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht) whereby the dichotomy of the German public procurement law does not violate the constitution. The matter is also discussed in the context of EC Law. The author draws the conclusion that the legal situation neither matches the standard of Art. 19 IV 1 German Basic Law, an article which defines the core principles of legal protection in Germany, nor the European guarantee of legal protection. Neither legal system allows that unsuccessful bidders are left to actions for damages after a contract is concluded. However, an entire harmonisation of the different systems of legal protection below the threshold amounts on the one hand and above on the other is not legally required by the Equal Protection Clause. The thesis offers various reasoned solutions for the creation of lawful conditions and it also deals with other disputed questions such as the legal process which has to be undertaken below the threshold amounts if a bidder does not achieve the award of contract. In opposition to the Federal Administrative Court of Germany (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) the author argues that the legal form of the asserted claim is crucial, which means finally that the administrative courts are regularly open to discussion on the matter.