Auditing the 2026 annual financial statements of the State Forest Management Centre

The bidder and its representatives must not be subject to exclusion grounds relating to participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorism-related offences, money laundering or terrorist financing, illegal child labour or human trafficking. The bidder must also have no outstanding tax or social security payment obligations and must not have breached obligations concerning the employment of illegally staying foreign nationals or international or national sanctions. The bidder must confirm compliance in the ESPD and provide the required evidence where applicable. If an exclusion ground exists, evidence of remedial measures may be submitted where the procurement exceeds the international threshold or the tender documents allow it. During contract performance, the bidder may not involve subcontractors or suppliers exceeding 10% of the contract value who are Russian citizens, residents or entities established in Russia, or persons or entities connected with them.

The bidder must be entered in the Audit Activity Register under the Audit Activities Act and must hold a valid authorisation. A foreign bidder must demonstrate its right to provide audit services in its country of establishment and, where necessary, in Estonia. During the 60 months preceding publication of the contract notice, the bidder must have audited at least one accounting entity meeting the characteristics of a public sector entity or a public-interest entity, whose audited annual revenue was at least EUR 50,000,000 and whose assets amounted to at least EUR 200,000,000. At least one such engagement is required. An ongoing engagement may also be accepted if at least one statutory auditor’s report on the annual accounts has been approved under that engagement. The bidder must provide a list of the engagements with the clients’ contact details, revenue, asset values and performance dates. A foreign bidder must provide evidence of equivalence for comparable entities where necessary. The contract team must include one separate statutory auditor and one auditor; one person may not cover both roles. The experience of the statutory auditor and auditor must be submitted using the forms in Annexes 5 and 6, with sufficiently detailed information and digitally signed statements from the team members confirming their consent to being nominated and their participation in contract performance. The contracting authority may request additional explanations or documents. The bidder’s audit-service quality-control rating from the last six years must be green, yellow or equivalent; bids from bidders with an orange or red rating will be found non-compliant. The bid must include a contract draft complying with the tender conditions, the price form in Annex 2 and the required team information. The bid must comply with all tender documents, conditional bids are not permitted, and the price must be submitted in the prescribed structure. Equivalence must be explained and evidenced where necessary. The bidder must confirm the independence of itself and the team members involved from the State Forest Management Centre. In the case of a joint bid, a power of attorney must be submitted.