Germany – News-agency services – KI-gestütztes Medienmonitoring

Deutsche Bahn AG (DB) is the parent company of the DB Group. Within the DB Group, its railway transport companies ("EVU" - in particular DB Regio AG and DB Fernverkehr AG) and railway infrastructure companies ("EIU" - in particular DB InfraGO AG) provide services in the railway sector and thus sectoral activities according to § 102 GWB. The EVU plan and provide transport services by transporting passengers and using tracks and station services. The EIU perform tasks in the field of railway infrastructure, in particular the provision, operation, maintenance and expansion of rail tracks and passenger stations, as well as the provision of infrastructure services for EVU. Deutsche Bahn (DB) and its subsidiaries, as the contracting authority (AG), are seeking a contractor (AN) as a framework agreement partner for the provision and support of an AI-based media monitoring service. Artificial Intelligence (AI) must be used to accelerate processes, aggregate content, automate analyses and enable the inclusion of larger volumes of media. As a "Media Intelligence Consultant", the AN must, in dialogue with the AG, curate, interpret the results generated through media monitoring, and convert them into defined analysis, editorial and reporting formats with concrete recommendations for action, and, if requested by the AG, create ad-hoc analyses. The contracting authority is voluntarily applying the provisions of the Sectoral Directive to the tendering procedure announced here, even if it should not be obliged to do so. For the contracting authority is not a public contracting authority according to § 99 No. 2 GWB (VK Bund, decision of 14.04.2025 – VK2-19/25), and it is also not a sectoral contracting authority if the services procured through the tender do not have a sufficient link to sectoral activities (OLG Düsseldorf, decision of 14.01.2026). It is voluntarily conducting a procedure that follows the rules of sectoral procurement law by conducting a negotiated procedure with a prior qualification stage in accordance with § 15 SektVO. Since the contract to be awarded cannot be awarded without negotiations due to its complexity, such a procedure would also be permissible under § 14 (3) No. 3 VgV, if this procedural regulation – which the contracting authority does not assume – were applicable.