Purchasing

All orders and procurements at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research are handled centrally by the Purchasing & Materials Management department. As a service provider for science, our aim is to realise both economical and optimal solutions for our customers. The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research is therefore looking for competent partners to implement its projects.

As a public client, we are bound by legal framework conditions when awarding orders and contracts. Procurement processes and tenders are therefore based on the relevant requirements for public clients. These include, in particular, the provisions of the Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB), the Public Procurement Ordinance (VgV), the Sub-Threshold Procurement Ordinance (UVgO), the Procurement and Contract Regulations for Construction Work (VOB) and the Federal Budget Code (BHO).

Terms and conditions

Please note the research centre's terms and conditions of purchase and contract and the safety regulations.

Technical requirements for electronic tendering

The changeover to electronic tendering is intended to achieve a completely digital and thus media-break-free as well as legally secure processing of tendering procedures.

The electronic tender documents of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research will be made available to you on the subreport ELViS tendering platform. Prior registration is required once. This is free of charge. If you are not yet registered, you can do so here.

The latest version of Adobe Reader is recommended so that you can read the PDF files correctly. A link to the free download of Adobe Reader can be found here.

In order to use the RSS feed or the link to the current tenders of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, you need an up-to-date browser.

If you encounter technical problems when requesting documents, you are welcome to contact the free support service (subreport) by telephone on 0221/98578-0.

Further information on the technical requirements for using eProcurement with subreport ELVIS can be found here.

Information on Section 11 VgV - Requirements for the use of electronic means in the award procedure

According to Section 11 (3) VgV, the public client must provide companies with all necessary information on the electronic means used in a tendering procedure, the technical parameters for submitting requests to participate, offers and confirmations of interest by electronic means and the encryption and time recording procedures used. Below you will find a summary of this information for subreport ELViS for download:

Summary § 11 Public Procurement Ordinance [VgV para. (3)]

German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) at HZI

The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) is intended to ensure that human rights and environmental due diligence obligations along supply chains are observed by business partners and suppliers as well as their business partners and suppliers in Germany and abroad, that violations are avoided and that violations are punished and remedied appropriately and promptly.

The HZI is obliged to implement the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act by 1 January 2024.

At the HZI, the Human Rights Officer is tasked by the management with ensuring compliance with the legal requirements:

Dr Christiane Kügler-Walkemeyer
Human Rights Officer
Head of Legal Affairs 
Inhoffenstraße 7
38124 Braunschweig
Email
Phone: +49 (0)531 6181 2400

Complaints procedure

The HZI has set up a complaints procedure in accordance with the legal requirements of the LkSG. You can access it here: https://whistlefox.heuking.de/start/hzi-gmbh

Whistleblowers who observe misconduct or an increased risk with regard to the requirements specified in the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act can contact the lawyer of confidence appointed by the HZI. The whistleblower can remain anonymous to the HZI if they wish.

The lawyer of confidence takes care of the initial intake and assessment of incoming complaints/reports in accordance with the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act. After a plausibility check the lawyer passes them on to the HZI Human Rights Officer for further processing in accordance with the LkSG, helps to clarify the facts of the case if necessary, while maintaining the anonymity of the whistleblower, and acts as a communication interface between the HZI and the whistleblower.

Lawyer Dr André-M. Szesny, LL.M. works for the law firm Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek. He has extensive experience with regard to legal issues that may arise in the context of the German Supply Chain Duty of Care Act (LkSG).

Dr André-M. Szesny will carefully examine your complaint or report. If necessary, he will contact you to clarify any queries. In order for the lawyer of confidence to contact you, you must disclose your contact details as part of your complaint. The lawyer is obliged to maintain confidentiality and will not pass on your identity and contact details to the HZI without your consent.

Once the investigation has been completed, you will be informed in written form of the outcome of the complaints procedure.

Complaints can be submitted by e-mail or telephone in German or English, also in anonymous form.

Lawyer Dr André-M. Szesny, LL.M.
Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek 
Georg-Glock-Strasse 4
40474 Düsseldorf
Email
Phone: +49 (0) 221 600 55-217
Fax: +49 (0) 221 600 55-210

Details on the procedure can also be found in the procedural regulations, which we have provided here in the common languages of our business partners and suppliers.

Suppliers

We expect all our business partners and suppliers to commit to respecting human rights, to comply with the due diligence obligations described in the LkSG with regard to human and environmental rights and to pass on this expectation to their own business partners, suppliers and service providers. We also expect them to commit to establishing appropriate processes for compliance with due diligence obligations, to take appropriate measures in the event of breaches of the rules and to actively inform us of measures taken in the event of breaches of the LkSG. 
The HZI also reserves the right to take measures against the suppliers and service providers in question in the event of non-compliance with legal requirements, which may also include exclusion in the event of repeated violations. At the same time, the HZI is interested in a trusting and solution-orientated cooperation and expressly requests affected suppliers to actively exchange information on suitable remedial measures. 

If you have any questions about the LkSG in the purchasing process, please contact:

Uwe Krutzinna 
Purchasing Department
Inhoffenstraße 7
38124 Braunschweig
Email
Tel. +49 (0)531 6181 2314

Opening hours of goods receiving points

Opening hours of our central goods receiving points:

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research incl. DSMZ and DZIF, Braunschweig
Twincore, Hanover
Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research, Würzburg

• Monday - Thursday: 8.00 - 12.00 a.m. and 1.00 - 3.00 p.m.
• Friday: 8:00 - 12:00 a.m.
• Chilled goods: 8:00 - 12:00 a.m.

Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland, Saarbrücken

• Monday - Friday: 9:00 - 11:00 and 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.