VOB Check: review tenders before you price them

Public clients in Germany have to write their tenders according to the VOB. In practice, many bills of quantities have gaps, and every gap is money: a change order after the award, or a risk that belongs in the price. Streckenheld checks the bill of quantities and the contract terms against the VOB in minutes and tells you, as the bidder, what to do.

Why a VOB review before pricing takes so long

A bill of quantities often has hundreds of positions, plus dozens of pages of preliminary remarks and contract terms. Reading all of it carefully against the VOB takes days, and those days are rarely there before a submission deadline. What typically slips through:

• Missing work you will certainly have to do, such as trench excavation that falls between two sections.
• Missing information on soil, groundwater or the site that section 0 of the trade standard requires.
• Open wording like "nach Erfordernis" or "approx.", which turns pricing into guesswork.
• Unusual risks such as "all difficulties are to be included in the price".
• Deviating contract terms: penalties without justification, retentions on every interim payment, a 5-year warranty instead of 4, clauses that exclude change orders.

How Streckenheld checks a tender against the VOB

Every position against the VOB/C trade standards

The AI assigns every position to the trade standard that governs it, from earthworks to concrete to drainage, and checks it against that standard's rules and against VOB/A: units of measurement, ancillary and special services, missing information, brands without "or equivalent", contingency and alternative positions. Each section is also looked at as a whole, so work that no position covers stands out.

Preliminary remarks and contract terms against VOB/B

Preliminary remarks, the building description and separate documents such as the ZVB or BVB are read against VOB/B: execution periods, contract penalty, securities, acceptance, payment, defect liability, remuneration and change orders, liability. For public clients, also against VOB/A's rules on contract terms.

Evidence, double-checked

Every finding quotes the tender word for word and names the exact VOB clause. A second, independent AI check confirms that the clause backs the finding. You get a short list of points you can rely on, not a flood of guesses.

What to do

Your rules, applied every time

Tell the check once what matters to your company, for example trades you carry out yourselves, and add instructions for a single tender when you need them. The check suggests from the client's name whether it's a public body bound by VOB/A.

How the VOB check works with Streckenheld

1. Upload the bill of quantities as a GAEB file or PDF; the AI reads positions, sections and preliminary remarks. More in the guide BoQ analysis.
2. Add the contract documents if the ZVB or BVB come separately.
3. Click "Check against VOB": the check runs in the background.
4. Review the findings right on the affected positions, sorted by impact, with the full VOB wording.
5. Price the tender: build in the risks, send your bidder's questions, keep the change orders for later and continue with the budget estimate.

Who the VOB check is for

• Estimators and bid managers who price public tenders and can't afford to miss an expensive detail under time pressure.
• Commercial managers who want to know the risks before submitting and enforce change orders after the award, prepared.
• Managing directors who want to win with competitive prices without giving away margin.

Bills of quantities often come as GAEB files; the article GAEB explains what the format contains. The VOB check supports your team with clear references to the VOB; it doesn't replace legal advice.