In January 2009, BAG WfbM learned about the draft revision of part A of the German Construction Contract Procedures (VOB/A) from 25 November 2008. Surprisingly, paragraph 6, section 1, no. 3 included a passage stating, that non-profit organisations should be excluded from the award of public contracts. This phrase would have severely disadvantaged and partly even threatened workshops for adapted work and integration projects in their existence. In the meantime, the political contacts of BAG WfbM have contributed to the deletion of the discriminatory passage.

The draft law on the modernisation of public procurement converted the “Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts” into national law. During a meeting at the Federal Ministry of Economics in March 2008, BAG WfbM chairman Günter Mosen had already suggested to clarify the ambiguous wording in part A of the official contracting terms for award of service performance contracts (VOL/A), Paragraph 7, Section 6 and respectively in VOB, Paragraph 8, section 6. With almost identical wording, the two paragraphs exclude “prisons, youth welfare services, training centres or similar organisations” from the award of public contracts. The term “similar organisations” repeatedly raised the question whether it applied to workshops and integration projects.

The EU-legislation decreed that additional criteria, in particular relating to social, environmental or innovative aspects, could be used in addition to the requirements which had to be fulfilled by applicants. This provision had also been adopted by the draft law. However, this passage had been foiled in the rewritten VOB by excluding non-profit organisations. At the same time, word spread, that the VOL should take the same wording in the respective sections.

The demand of BAG WfbM was supported by members of the Federal Parliament. Current developments lead BAG WfbM to expect, that a satisfactory solution for workshops for adapted work and integration projects will be found.