Almost one year after the two-year transition period of the EU directives on public procurement law expired, Austria published a consultation draft of the new Federal Procurement Act 2017 to implement the directives. While Austria took a somewhat conservative approach when implementing the directives, there are some areas where the Austrian draft for the transposition of the directives is significantly stricter than the directives themselves.

In a recent decision, the Seventh Circuit joined the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits in holding that the federal disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) programme is constitutional on its face because it serves the compelling government interest in remedying a history of discrimination in highway construction contracting. With four appellate courts approving of the constitutionality of this federal DBE programme, should non-DBE specialty subcontractors be worried?