Contracts with state entities and/or intergovernmental organisations feature specific characteristics. The procurement process must comply with administrative law requirements. For example, German administrative bodies must use the German standard construction contract VOB/B when they procure a construction project (in Germany). Even after a contract has been awarded, the procurement process may oblige the parties to comply with specific rules, both substantively, and in terms of dispute resolution.
Contracts with intergovernmental organisations may not be subject to any specific national law but to generally recognised principles of international law.
In international contracts (i.e. in contracts with parties from different jurisdictions) with both state entities and intergovernmental organisations businesses will often expect sovereign immunity waivers, to ensure that judgments and/or awards obtained can also be enforced. The extent to which the counterparties are prepared to accord such waivers varies from case to case.
In construction in Germany, Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects have become an important tool for administrative bodies to implement construction projects with private finance. For example, several sections of the German motorway network have been procured using PPP structures, as well as many school buildings.
An important area where state entities are involved are infrastructure projects procured by the World Bank or similar funding organisations. In 2006 and 2010, the world’s leading Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) published versions of the FIDIC Pink Book which are amended versions of the FIDIC Red Book 1999. In comparison to the Red Book, the position of the employer is strengthened under the FIDIC Pink Book (so that the financing organisation can better control the project). The FIDIC Pink Book contract is contained in the Standard Bidding Documents of the World Bank for construction projects, e.g. for the construction of roads in developing countries. These circumstances illustrate the global reach of FIDIC contracts.
BODENHEIMER have vast experiences in projects involving state entities, intergovernmental organisations and Public-Private Partnerships, both in Germany and abroad.
BODENHEIMER Representative Matters as Parties’ Counsel
Represented a German supplier of metal facades in a dispute arising out of a CISG contract, in connection with a public infrastructure project in central Asia, against the Turkish buyer before the German state courts, including in interim relief
Advised an engineering business on a motorway project procured under a PPP structure in Southern Germany
Drafted several architectural contracts for a German administrative body
Advised a contractor on works regarding the new Stuttgart Central Railway Station
Advised a structural designer in a dispute with an airport about limitation of liability in a defect case
Advised an EU administrative body on both, its national and EU procurement law in regard to several construction contracts, e.g. in Ireland.
Advised an EU government on negotiations and disputes pertaining to FIDIC construction contracts for embassy buildings and other government facilities in multiple host countries around the world
BODENHEIMER Representative Matters as Arbitrators
Acted as Sole Arbitrator in a DIAC arbitration between a Qatari subsidiary against two subsidiaries one Qatari and one Spanish revolving around claims arising out of a construction contract connected to an infrastructure project, with Qatari Law as the governing law and Dubai as the place of the arbitration (Dr Rouven F. Bodenheimer)
Acted as Sole Arbitrator in a DIAC arbitration between two United Arab Emirates parties, a manufacturer and a construction firm, revolving around claims arising out of a construction contract connected to an infrastructure project, with United Arab Emirates Law as the governing law and Dubai as the place of the arbitration (Dr Rouven F. Bodenheimer)
CONTACTS FOR THIS PRACTICE AREA:
