Compliance requirements
The bidder must confirm that neither it nor its representatives have received a final conviction within the last five years for, among other matters, corruption, fraud, terrorist offences, money laundering, terrorist financing, the use of child labour or participation in a criminal organisation. The bidder must also have no outstanding tax or social security payment obligations.
The exclusion grounds also cover breaches of environmental, social or labour law, bankruptcy or liquidation, insolvency proceedings, agreements with creditors, suspended business activities, serious professional misconduct, agreements restricting competition, conflicts of interest, improper involvement in preparing the procurement, serious breaches of previous procurement contracts, and the submission of false information or failure to provide required documents.
The bidder must also confirm that no national exclusion ground applies, including enabling the employment of a foreign national staying without a legal basis, being subject to an international sanction, or having been convicted of tax offences. Participation is not permitted for an undertaking established or resident in the Russian Federation or Belarus. The bidder must also confirm that subcontractors, suppliers or relied-upon entities covered by the Russian sanctions regime will not account for more than 10% of the contract value, and that any goods offered are not subject to sanctions and do not originate from sanctioned regions.
If an exclusion ground applies, the bidder must, where permitted, provide a description and evidence of measures taken to restore its reliability. The required declarations and verifiable evidence must be submitted in the European Single Procurement Document or as otherwise required by the procurement documents.
Qualification criteria and exclusion grounds
The bidder must be registered in the relevant business register of its country of establishment. For an Estonian undertaking, the contracting authority will verify the registration through the business register.
The bidder’s average annual net turnover from construction of public water supply and wastewater facilities during the last three financial years completed by the tender submission deadline must be at least EUR 500,000. The turnover must be reported using Form 4.
Within the 36 months preceding the start of the procurement, the bidder must have carried out and completed at least one project involving the construction of public water supply and wastewater pipelines, with at least 1 km of such pipelines constructed under the project. The bidder must provide a short description of the contract, its performance period, the client’s contact details and, where applicable, the procurement reference number. Evidence of proper performance must be provided at the contracting authority’s request. This information must be submitted using Form 5.
The project manager or contractor’s representative must hold at least a level 7 professional qualification as a certified water supply and sewerage engineer, have at least three years of experience as a construction company project manager, and have acted as project manager in at least three construction contracts during the last three years. The total length of public water supply and wastewater pipelines constructed under those contracts must be at least 1 km. The project manager must have Estonian language skills at least at level C1 or speak Estonian as a native language.
The site manager must hold at least a level 6 professional qualification as a water supply and sewerage engineer, have at least three years of experience as a contractor’s site manager or assistant site manager, and have participated as site manager or assistant site manager in at least three public water supply and wastewater construction contracts during the last three years. Estonian language skills of at least level B2 or native-speaker proficiency are required. The project manager and site manager roles may be performed by the same person. Key personnel details must be provided using Form 6 and CVs using Form 8.
The tender must comply with all procurement documents; conditional tenders are not permitted; and the tender and documents related to contract performance must be submitted in Estonian. The tender price must be submitted in the prescribed structure together with the price schedule. For a joint tender, a power of attorney for the joint tenderers must be included. If the tender is signed by an authorised representative rather than the legal representative, a power of attorney for signing must be submitted. The specialist’s employer must provide consent if that employer is not participating in the tender. Where subcontractors are used, the required subcontractor confirmation must be submitted. If an equivalent solution is offered, its equivalence must be explained and, where necessary, supported by evidence.