Compliance requirements
The bidder must confirm that neither it nor its management or supervisory body members, representatives or controlling persons are subject to applicable convictions within the last five years for serious offences, including participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorism, money laundering, terrorist financing or human trafficking. The contracting authority also checks payment of taxes and social security contributions, compliance with environmental, social and labour-law obligations, bankruptcy or other insolvency, liquidation, asset administration by a liquidator or court, suspended business activity, serious professional misconduct, anti-competitive agreements, conflicts of interest, involvement in preparing the procurement, and early termination or sanctions under previous contracts. Exclusion may also result from false statements, failure to provide required information or documents, or improper influence on the contracting authority’s decision-making process. National grounds are also checked, including enabling the employment of an unlawfully staying foreign national, breaches of international sanctions, local tax debt in the contracting authority’s location, and convictions for tax offences. Where applicable, the bidder may submit evidence of measures taken to restore its reliability. In Estonia, a tax debt certificate is not issued where the debt is below EUR 100 or its payment has been deferred.
Qualification criteria and exclusion grounds
The bidder’s combined turnover in software development during its two most recent audited financial years must be at least EUR 1,000,000. At the contracting authority’s request, extracts from the accounts for those financial years must be provided, unless the relevant data of an Estonian legal entity is publicly available to the authority through a state database. Joint bidders may rely on each other’s resources. Where the bidder relies on another entity’s turnover, it must also submit that entity’s ESPD, and the supporting entity is jointly and severally liable with the bidder for the relevant part of the contract.
Throughout the framework agreement, the bidder must provide a team of at least six members covering the following roles: project manager, architect, analyst, two developers, tester, UI/UX designer and AI solutions architect. One person may perform up to two roles. The qualifications must be demonstrated through signed CVs using the form included in the tender documents. The contracting authority may verify compliance throughout the term of the contract.
The project manager must have at least 3 years of software development project management experience and must have participated, in the last 48 months, in at least three development contracts using Python and PostgreSQL, personally performing project management tasks in each contract. Very good spoken and written Estonian is required and an interpreter is not permitted. The architect must have at least 5 years of experience as an architect of information systems based on Python technologies and relational databases, and must have participated as an architect in at least three software development contracts during the last 48 months. The analyst must have at least 3 years of software development analysis experience and must have personally performed software analysis work in at least three software development contracts during the last 48 months. The analyst must have very good spoken and written Estonian and may not use an interpreter.
The developer must have at least 5 years of software development experience and must have participated in at least three contracts during the last 48 months involving Python, PostgreSQL and the creation of X-Road services. The tester must have at least 2 years of experience as a tester or person responsible for software quality and must have participated in at least one software development contract during the last 48 months using Python, PostgreSQL and X-Road services. The UI/UX designer must have at least 3 years of relevant experience, participation in at least two software development projects during the last 48 months, and participation in at least one public-sector information-system project involving an e-service or a role-based user-interface system. The AI solutions architect must have participated during the last 48 months in at least one software development contract involving work on an artificial-intelligence- or language-technology-based solution, and must have experience integrating such a solution with at least one data source, information system or service interface.
All listed roles other than the project manager and analyst generally require good spoken and written Estonian. For roles where it is permitted, the Estonian requirement may be replaced at the bidder’s expense by an interpreter who has at least B2 proficiency in Estonian and the interpreted language; evidence of language proficiency must be submitted with the tender. The tender must include confirmation that it will remain valid for at least 90 days, the work overview table and required confirmations, confirmation of the necessary intellectual property rights, confirmation that the bidder has reviewed and can follow KeMIT’s technology profile, and, where necessary, confirmation that a specialist with research and development experience can join the team. The price of one development or maintenance work hour must be provided according to the prescribed pricing structure. Conditional tenders are not permitted; an authorisation document is required if the tender is signed by someone other than the statutory representative. Joint bidders must submit a power of attorney and are jointly and severally liable for contract performance. The bidder must identify and justify any trade secrets and provide explanations and evidence where an equivalent solution is used. Eligible bidders must be established in Estonia, an EU or EEA country, or a country party to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement.