BaWü: possible pilot project for awarding contracts to start-ups up to EUR 100,000

According to a report in the Südwestpresse, it should be possible to award contracts for goods and services worth up to 100,000 euros plus VAT to start-ups without a procurement procedure. A date is not yet known.

Stuttgart - In 2022, InnoLab_bw invited start-ups and the administration to a joint exchange. The participating start-ups expressed the wish that tendering procedures should be made more innovation-friendly in order to make the process more accessible and effective for innovative companies.

The public sector is Germany's largest procurer. It is time for it to fulfill this role and invest heavily in innovative technology by procuring it.

Danilo Jovicic-Albrecht, Vialytics

According to the report at the time, all participants were in agreement and liked the idea of the French model. They said that it is important for young companies to be able to participate in procurement procedures. This allows the state to provide targeted support for innovation. They particularly liked measures such as the French model, in which innovative solutions from small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups up to a value of 100,000 euros can be awarded directly.

A position paper from the digital association Bitkom contains seven specific points aimed at giving start-ups greater consideration in public procurement. Daniel Breitinger was involved in the exchange on behalf of Bitkom and contributed the association's perspective and interests to the discussion.

The introduction of an innovation-friendly allocation of up to 100,000 euros can help to promote innovative ideas and further digitalize the state

Daniel Breitinger, Head of Startups Digital Association Bitkom

It seems that many of these ideas could now be tested in a pilot project in Baden-Württemberg. This would once again put Baden-Württemberg in a pioneering role among the German federal states. The pilot project could help to validate the proposals in the position paper and pave the way for improved cooperation between start-ups and the public sector.

The Südwest Presse did not have an exact date for the change in the award amount or the start of the project.