The award procedure has a great deal of influence on the software process. Therefore the choice of a qualified type of award procedure is of particular importance for the success of a software development project in the public sector, as well as electronic government projects. The condition for the use of the open procedure or the restricted procedure is a complete and detailed requirements specification, to enable the comparison of the tenders. From a software development point of view, the application of one of these types means using the waterfall model. The disadvantages of the waterfall model are well known. The approach presented in this paper uses the negotiated procedure to support the advantages of an iterative, risk mitigating software process.