(1) Public contracts shall be awarded in open procedures, restricted procedures, negotiated procedures, competitive dialogue or innovation partnerships.
(2) Contracting authorities may freely choose between the open procedure and the restricted procedure which always requires a prior publication of a call for competition. The other types of procedures are only available to the extent permitted by this Act.
(3) The open procedure is a procedure in which the contracting authority publicly invites an unlimited number of undertakings to submit tenders.
(4) The restricted procedure is a procedure in which the public contracting authority, after a previous public invitation to participate, selects a limited number of undertakings in accordance with objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria (procedure with prior publication) and invites these to submit tenders.
(5) The negotiated procedure is a procedure in which the public contracting authority, with or without prior publication, approaches selected undertakings in order to negotiate on the tenders with one or more of those undertakings.
(6) The competitive dialogue is a procedure for awarding public contracts with the objective of identifying and determining the means that best satisfy the needs of the public contracting authority. After prior publication, the public contracting authority shall open a dialogue with the selected undertakings to discuss all aspects of the contract award.
(7) The innovation partnership is a procedure for developing innovative supplies, works or services which are not yet available on the market and for acquisition of the services that result from this. After prior publication, the public contracting authority negotiates in several phases with the selected undertakings on the initial and subsequent tenders.