PUBLIC AND PRIVATE CLIENTS IN GERMAN CONSTRUCTION

Although the VOB/A is an important and influential document of regulation, the extent of its use must not be overestimated. As tables 3a and 3b show, public clients, for whom the VOB/A and open tender procedures are obligatory, in 1993 formed about one fifth of total construction volume only. In the main trades sector the ratio was less than one third, and only in civil engineering it was the greater part (about 75 per cent). It may be of interest, that among the public clients the local authorities form by far the greatest amount with nearly 60 per cent of all construction volume, whereas the Federal Government has little more and the Länder little less than 20 per cent.