Display Installation Tenders: Which Credentials an Installation Partner Really Needs to Provide

Display rollouts at schools have long become a mass market in German public procurement: Hamburg's progress report alone counts over 13,000 delivered digital presentation systems and around 95 percent of classrooms equipped by the end of 2024. With the volumes, the spread in quality and reliability across the provider field grows. Whether a rollout succeeds is therefore often decided in the tender documents themselves, in the suitability criteria and the required evidence. That applies to school authorities and municipalities just as much as to system houses that award installation work to subcontractors and share liability for their chain. We show which credentials an installation partner really needs to provide, what is merely nice to have and how to spot unreliable providers early.

The procurement framework: UVgO, VgV, VOB/A and the 2026 thresholds

In procurement terms, display installation in schools is as a rule not a construction work but a supply and service contract: the focus lies on delivering the hardware and putting it into operation, without substantial structural changes to the building. Typical contract notices speak of the „supply and installation of interactive displays“. Only where major structural interventions are added, such as wall reinforcements, wall openings or cable routing within the building fabric, can the work qualify as construction under the VOB/A (the German procurement rules for construction works). The contracting authority defines the nature of the contract in the notice, and the rulebook follows from it: above the EU thresholds, supplies and services fall under the VgV (the German ordinance for above-threshold procurement), below them under the UVgO (the German procurement rules below the EU thresholds), while construction works are covered nationally by the VOB/A.

The EU thresholds were adjusted as of 1 January 2026 and apply net of VAT: for sub-central contracting authorities such as municipalities and school authorities, the threshold for supplies and services is now 216,000 euros (previously 221,000 euros), for central government bodies 140,000 euros, and for construction works 5,404,000 euros. At the same time, the national VOB/A value limits were revised: direct awards up to 50,000 euros net, negotiated awards up to 100,000 euros net, restricted tenders without a call for competition up to 150,000 euros net. Federal procurement bodies may award supplies and services up to 15,000 euros net directly under section 14 UVgO.

Practice confirms this split. The Burgenland district tendered „Digital boards for schools“ as an open procedure with an estimated value of 1,159,664 euros net, covering among other things 220 interactive board displays; 14 bids were received and the contract was awarded at around 813,500 euros. Bonn awarded a framework agreement for the supply and installation of interactive displays, expressly labelled a supply and service contract. Large rollouts thus regularly run above threshold under the VgV, while individual school sites are often awarded under the UVgO; we examine the funding situation behind this in our article on the DigitalPakt 2.0 and the budget freeze.

Suitability: expertise, capability, reliability and the role of prequalification

Procurement law sorts suitability criteria into three categories: authorisation to pursue the professional activity, economic and financial standing and technical and professional ability; the classic German shorthand „Fachkunde, Leistungsfähigkeit, Zuverlässigkeit“ (expertise, capability, reliability) stems from the VOB/A system. For contracting authorities the rule is: requirements must be stated transparently in the contract notice, must be materially linked to the subject of the contract and must be proportionate.

Above the thresholds, the Einheitliche Europäische Eigenerklärung (EEE, the European Single Procurement Document) serves as preliminary evidence that the suitability criteria are met and no grounds for exclusion exist; only the bidder earmarked for the award then submits the complete certificates. Missing documents may be requested subsequently within a reasonable deadline, and below the thresholds a simplified check based on self-declarations is often sufficient.

Prequalification substantially relieves both sides. For construction works, the German association for the prequalification of construction companies maintains the nationwide PQ-VOB register; an entry establishes a presumption of suitability, and verified credentials are available to registered contracting authorities. For supplies and services, this role is played by the official register of prequalified companies (AVPQ), run by the chambers of industry and commerce and the procurement advisory offices: section 48 VgV refers to the AVPQ as a recognised means of proof, mirrored below the thresholds by section 35 UVgO. The entry must be recognised nationwide and replaces many individual certificates.

Standard commercial evidence: the foundation of every suitability check

Regardless of procedure type and volume, there is a core set of commercial evidence that display installation tenders regularly require. It proves that a company is legally in good order, meets its obligations towards the state and the social insurance system, and can bear a loss if things go wrong:

• Commercial register extract, usually no older than six months, supplemented depending on legal form by the trade registration and membership of the chamber of industry and commerce or the chamber of crafts.
• Clearance certificate from the tax office confirming that tax obligations are met, plus certificates from the health insurance funds confirming that social insurance contributions have been paid.
• Certificate from the employers' liability insurance association (such as BG BAU, the statutory accident insurer for construction) confirming membership and paid contributions; these certificates are usually subject to maximum ages of three to six months.
• Business liability insurance with cover amounts for personal injury, property damage and financial loss, proven by the policy or a current confirmation; for installation work in public buildings, cover amounts of several million euros are customary.
• Turnover figures for the last two to three financial years, frequently related to the relevant field such as school IT or display installation.
• Where electrical connections are made, an entry in a grid operator's installer register may additionally be required.

Qualification and safety credentials of the installation crews

Display installation is work on electrical systems, at height and in existing buildings, in the middle of everyday school life. This is exactly where tender documents should get specific, because these credentials separate the professional firm from the casual installer:

• Qualified electrician under DGUV regulation 3 (the German statutory accident insurance rule for electrical systems): work on electrical systems and equipment may only be carried out by qualified electricians or by persons under their direction and supervision; this also covers non-electrical work in their vicinity. Widely used are electricians qualified for defined tasks, with a training certificate and a written appointment for a clearly defined scope of work.
• Inspections under DGUV regulation 3: before first commissioning and at fixed intervals, electrical systems and equipment must be inspected by competent persons, for example via insulation measurement and protective conductor testing, documented in inspection reports.
• Operator card for aerial work platforms: DGUV principle 308-008 (the German training standard for platform operators) requires operators who are at least 18 years old, instructed, examined in theory and practice and appointed in writing by the employer; for work on high walls and ceilings, a customary mandatory credential.
• Personal fall protection equipment: whether it is needed follows from the risk assessment and the platform's operating manual; typically required are the risk assessment, proof of instruction and sometimes fall protection training certificates.
• First aider on the team: construction sites must have a sufficient number of trained first aiders available; for school installations it is common to require at least one first aider per installation crew, with a valid certificate as a rule no older than two years.
• Asbestos competence under TRGS 519 (the German technical rule for work involving asbestos): plasters, filler compounds or building boards of older school buildings can contain asbestos; certain work may then only be carried out by competent persons with an officially recognised course and a passed examination. Why this becomes relevant so often with school walls is shown in our article on wall types and installation price.

Important for system houses: these credentials must exist per subcontractor and per installation crew and must be kept current. At FASTNET we therefore maintain our crews' qualifications as a bundled credentials package that can be dropped directly into tender documents or subcontractor declarations.

Manufacturer certificates and references: what is mandatory and what is optional

Many display manufacturers certify installation partners through partner programmes with training and minimum requirements for competence and service quality. In school IT tenders, such certificates sometimes appear as suitability evidence, yet in procurement practice they are more optional than mandatory: a rigid tie to the certificate of a single manufacturer quickly collides with the requirement of non-discriminatory procurement; the cleaner route is to treat them as an indication of particular expertise or as an award criterion. The same applies to ISO 9001: the certificate may only be made mandatory where the subject of the contract justifies it; it is frequently phrased as a welcome bonus whose absence does not lead to exclusion.

The hard core of technical suitability is the references. Customary are a minimum number of comparable projects, for example three references from the last three to five years, each with project title, client, volume, period and a reachable contact person, often on standard forms, sometimes only counted with proof of acceptance. Procedures close to the DigitalPakt frequently demand school IT references stating the number of equipped classrooms or displays: in large rollouts, what counts is proof that a bidder can handle high unit counts across several sites on schedule. References work on two levels: as a minimum requirement whose absence excludes a bidder, and as an award criterion, for example for work during ongoing school operations.

Risks and red flags: subcontractor chains, MiLoG, bogus self-employment

Subcontractors are common and legitimate in installation work; it becomes critical when the chain grows long and opaque. A proven tool are subcontractor declarations, in which the contractor discloses their deployment and provides the suitability evidence of its subcontractors, supplemented by consent requirements for every further subcontractor.

Economically explosive is the minimum wage liability: section 13 MiLoG (the German Minimum Wage Act) refers to section 14 of the Posted Workers Act and establishes a no-fault liability like a guarantor without the defence of prior enforcement, across the entire subcontractor chain. It affects businesses that deploy subcontractors to fulfil their own contractual obligations, in the school context the main contractor or the system house acting as general contractor; the school authority itself regularly is not. Protection comes from contractual minimum wage obligations, audit rights and documentation duties such as payroll records or A1 certificates. How cooperation between system house and installation partner works cleanly is shown in our article on the white label rollout.

The second structural risk is bogus self-employment: formally self-employed installers who are in fact integrated like employees. Indicators are working exclusively for one client, a lack of own equipment, being bound by instructions on time and place, and the absence of entrepreneurial risk. Back payments of contributions, fines and reputational risks for contracting authorities loom; the countermeasure is clear requirements on the social insurance status of the deployed staff, backed by evidence.

Checklist: evidence to require in your tender documents

You can adopt these points directly into your tender documents, adapted to volume and procedure type. For system houses, the same list works as a vetting grid for subcontractors:

• Define the contract type (supply and service contract or construction work) and derive the regime: VgV from 216,000 euros net, below that UVgO or VOB/A
• State the suitability criteria transparently in the contract notice and check them for relevance to the contract and proportionality
• Allow the ESPD or self-declarations and expressly recognise prequalification (PQ-VOB, AVPQ) as proof
• Require the commercial package: commercial register extract (no older than six months), clearance certificates from the tax office and health insurance funds, accident insurer certificate, business liability insurance with cover amounts appropriate to the contract
• Require crew credentials per installation team: qualified electrician under DGUV regulation 3, operator card for aerial work platforms (DGUV principle 308-008), fall protection instruction, first aider, TRGS 519 asbestos competence for existing buildings
• Contractually stipulate inspections under DGUV regulation 3 including inspection reports for the installed systems
• Request references in a structured way: at least three comparable projects from the last three to five years, with volume, period, contact person and ideally acceptance confirmation; plan for spot checks
• Govern subcontracting: subcontractor declaration, consent requirement, notification duty for changes, minimum wage obligation with documentation duties (payroll records, A1 certificates)
• Use manufacturer certificates and ISO 9001 as award criteria rather than exclusion criteria, unless strictly justified

Frequently asked questions about credentials in display installation tenders