Compliance requirements
A bidder will be excluded if the company or its management, supervisory body member, procurist or other authorised representative has been convicted of participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorist offences, money laundering or terrorist financing, illegal use of child labour or human trafficking. Exclusion also applies in the event of outstanding taxes, environmental charges or social security contributions, breaches concerning the employment of unlawfully staying foreign nationals, or where awarding the contract would breach an international or national government sanction. The bidder must confirm that neither mandatory nor discretionary exclusion grounds apply. Discretionary grounds include, among other things, breaches of environmental, social or labour law, bankruptcy or liquidation, serious professional misconduct, anti-competitive conduct, an unavoidable conflict of interest, serious previous contract breaches, false information, attempts to influence the contracting authority or submission of misleading information, and lack of the legal right to submit a tender. The bidder must also confirm that it is not established or resident in the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus, that it will not use subcontractors or suppliers covered by the Russian-related restrictions for more than 10% of the contract value, and that the offered goods are not subject to international sanctions and do not originate from sanctioned regions.
Qualification criteria and exclusion grounds
The bidder’s net turnover must have been at least EUR 700,000 in each of the last three completed financial years. The bidder must provide extracts from the annual accounts for those three years, unless the information for an entity registered in Estonia is publicly available to the contracting authority from a state register. If the financial year does not correspond to the calendar year, the requirement applies to the three latest completed financial years, and at least six months must have passed since the end of the latest completed financial year by the tender submission date. The tender must include the price offer table in the required Form 1. Partial completion of mandatory fields or changes to the listed positions and quantities may result in rejection. The required technical information for the medium-voltage switchgear must be provided in Form 2, and spare equipment prices in Form 3. From 1 January 2026, medium-voltage switchgear up to and including 24 kV may not use fluorinated greenhouse gases, including SF6, as the insulating or current-interrupting medium. If the bidder offers both SF6 and SF6-free equipment, separate tenders must be submitted. Where SF6-free equipment from two or more manufacturers is included among the tenders, tenders containing SF6 equipment will be rejected as non-compliant. The bidder must provide the names, positions and contact details of the contract signatory or signatories, the basis of their authority to represent the bidder, and the contact person for contract performance. If the authority does not arise from the articles of association, a power of attorney must be included, including a power of attorney for representing a joint bidder where applicable. Intended subcontractors must be declared using Form 4. Only subcontractors meeting the applicable requirements may be used, and prior written approval from the contracting authority is required for a subcontractor subject to a discretionary exclusion ground. The tender must identify any information claimed as a trade secret and explain the basis for that classification; the tender price and legally defined evaluation-related figures may not be classified as trade secrets.