Under the title "Avoidance of Conflicts of Interest", the BVergG 2018 for the first time provides for a legal obligation for public contracting authorities to establish internal procurement compliance. Thus, according to § 26 BVergG 2018, "the contracting authority [...] shall take appropriate measures to effectively prevent, detect and remedy conflicts of interest arising during the performance of award procedures".

Particularly in view of the economic importance of public procurement (the total procurement volume in Austria amounts to around EUR 61.7 billion annually, or 18% of GDP), it is clear that the legal safeguarding of an economically efficient and transparent use of public funds is necessary in terms of realpolitik.

All contracting authorities (outsourced legal entities, federal government, provinces, municipalities, etc.) are therefore now subject to the legal obligation to implement comprehensive procurement compliance internally and proactively. However, the basic obligation in § 26 BVergG 2018 does not conclusively regulate procurement compliance. An audit-proof and legally compliant orientation goes further and is based on the 3 pillars "fundamentals", "core obligations" and special obligations".