FAQ - Public procurements

You should find out if the products or services have been put out to contract before and when the next tendering round will be arranged. Questions relating to competitive tendering by email: hankinta@espoo.fi.

If there is no valid procurement contract and no tendering is in sight, you can ask the City about its interest in a new procurement directly from the sectors. The more thoroughly the City knows the offering and potential tenderers in the marketplace, the better they can take these into account in future tendering rounds. If products or services being offered have not been used before, the company should do its marketing work thoroughly. This is especially important in cases where the offering includes new or even unique elements that cannot be found elsewhere in the marketplace.

The business services of the City provide assistance with charting the City’s procurement needs and contact persons, if necessary. Enquiries: info@businessespoo.fi, +358 9 81636363.

The City purchases products and services through tendering rounds from selected contracting suppliers. Contracts are not circumvented when products and services are purchased. However, tenderers can also be active in selling their products and services and ask the City questions about its contractual obligations. The City is responsible for complying with the Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts.

In procurements that exceed the threshold value, calls for tenders are not sent to anyone as they are available in Hilma (hankintailmoitukset.fi)(external link, opens in a new window). Depending on the value of the procurement, those under the threshold value known as small-scale purchases, are either published in the tarjouspalvelu.fi service(external link, opens in a new window) or sent directly to known suppliers. This is why you should contact units of the City that use products or services that are in line with your offering. Familiarity with services, offerings and tenderers is a requirement for sending a call for tenders to a wide target audience.

A market dialogue can mean many things, such as requests for information, a public event for willing tenderers or bilateral, company-specific negotiations. The purpose is to determine at a general level opportunities in the marketplace and perspectives associated with the upcoming procurement, from upper level policies to the details in the terms of contract.

It is important to attend these events or respond to requests for information. Market dialogue gives a company an opportunity to present its own offering and perspectives, and thus influence the contents of the procurement. In addition, market dialogues provide suppliers with information about the requirements in competitive tendering. This gives the company time to obtain any certificates and prepare reports.

Market dialogues are reported in Hilma(external link, opens in a new window), and participating in them does not obligate the company to take part in competitive tendering.

All procurements that exceed the threshold value are available in Hilma(external link, opens in a new window) which provides a link to tendering documents, in Espoo’s case to Tarjouspalvelu(external link, opens in a new window). You should register with these, examine tendering rounds in progress, practise using the service and, most importantly: It is advisable to make a search agent according to your own industry in Hilma(external link, opens in a new window). Also, you should read a call for tenders as soon as it has been published and not leave it to the last moment.

Published calls for tenders for small-scale purchases are available in the Tarjouspalvelu.fi service(external link, opens in a new window).

An organiser of competitive tendering cannot give an individual tenderer further information while competitive tendering is in progress. However, questions can be answered in a centralised manner, so that both the questions asked and the answers to them are visible to all potential tenderers in the same channel. This is why each call for tenders published in the tarjouspalvelu.fi service always has a Questions and Answers section; if you do not understand something after you have read the entire call for tenders twice, you can ask about it in this section. You should note that the Questions and Answers section is only open for part of the time limit of the call for tenders.

A tender can also be submitted as a consortium. In such a case, all members of the consortium must participate in the implementation of the service or work according to the procurement contract. No specific legal form is required from a consortium in the tendering phase. The contracting entity can report, on a procurement-specific basis, how tenderers as a consortium must meet the requirements for financial and technical performance, among other things. A subcontractor’s references can also be used in a tender, if that party has been designated as a resource subcontractor in the tender. If a member of the consortium can meet the eligibility requirements alone and perform the service or work according to the entire contract, this is a reason to seriously doubt the tender’s compliance with competition legislation.

 

Price is usually one of the comparison criteria, but you should be aware that the most affordable price does not always win. Anyone planning to submit a tender can request a procurement decision according to the offering in any prior competitive tendering from the address hankinta@espoo.fi. It describes the selected supplier and the grounds on which that selection was made during the earlier tendering process. You can think about pricing on the basis of this, but do not forget the other comparison criteria.

It is difficult to amend a call for tenders after publication, unless the case involves an outright error. In the Questions and Answers section you can point out any inconsistencies in the specification or request clarification of their contents and purpose. Still, the best time to influence the terms is during the market dialogue before competitive tendering.

The service of a procurement decision includes instructions for submitting a claim for adjustment and an appeal. In principle, the object of an appeal can be any decision made during the procurement process. The time limit for submitting these is 14 days. A claim for adjustment should be submitted to the address indicated in the procurement decision. If the claim for adjustment states clear and valid grounds for correction, contracting entities are usually happy to rectify the procurement decision. An appeal against a procurement decision can be submitted to the Market Court at the same time with a claim for adjustment of the procurement. Typically, an appeal should be made only if solid grounds exist for it, and winning it means that the appellant’s own company wins the competitive tendering.

A tender is a binding document which obligates the tenderer to sign the procurement contract. Failure to sign it can lead to a claim for compensation.

Procurement legislation limits amendment of the terms of contract during the contract period, so it may not be possible and may in the worst case require the arrangement of a new tendering process.  The best way to influence the terms of contract is during the market dialogue and, in some cases, during the competitive tendering. It is important to read the terms of contract enclosed with the call for tenders carefully before submitting a tender.

In principle, procurement contracts always indicate the terms and conditions for price adjustments, and these terms are observed during the contract period. 

Yes, it is worthwhile. There are many good examples of success enjoyed by small companies.