Compliance requirements
The bidder, its administrative, management or supervisory body members, authorised representatives, procurists and persons with authority to represent or control it must not have been finally convicted within the last five years of participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorist offences, money laundering, terrorist financing, child labour or other forms of trafficking in human beings. A continuing exclusion obligation imposed by a court judgment also constitutes grounds for exclusion.
The bidder must not have breached its obligations to pay taxes or social security contributions. Debts arising in Estonia or another relevant country are considered; under the tax rules, a tax debt below EUR 100 or a rescheduled tax debt is not treated as a certifiable tax debt.
Grounds for exclusion may also include a serious breach of professional conduct, insolvency-related circumstances, a conflict of interest or other conduct casting doubt on the bidder’s integrity. The procedure also checks whether the bidder has enabled an unlawfully present foreign national to work, is subject to an international sanction, or is otherwise legally restricted from participating in the procurement.
The bidder must confirm in the European Single Procurement Document that no exclusion grounds apply and must provide relevant evidence where necessary. If an exclusion ground exists, evidence of remedial measures may be submitted in cases where this is permitted in the procedure.
Qualification criteria and exclusion grounds
The bidder must hold a valid licence under the Estonian Auditors Activities Act to provide audit services in Estonia, be registered in the audit activity register, and have an active professional status. The contracting authority will verify the registration in the audit activity register.
The bidder must have professional liability insurance of at least EUR 45,000 covering the annual value of the services offered. The bid must include confirmation that the insurance exists; the successful bidder must submit the policy or other evidence before the contract is signed.
During the last three financial years, the bidder must have properly audited at least one local government consolidation group with revenue of at least EUR 65,000,000. The European Single Procurement Document must include details of at least one qualifying service contract, including its description, value, period and client contact details.
The audit team must include at least two sworn auditors registered in the sworn auditors’ register, holding public-sector sworn auditor qualifications, with neither activity suspended nor terminated. At least one of them must meet the stated experience requirement concerning the audit of a local government consolidation group. The bid must include the sworn auditors’ CVs using Form 1 and provide the team members’ names.
The bid price must be submitted according to the structure specified by the contracting authority. The bidder must confirm that the bid complies with all tender document requirements; conditional bids are not permitted. In a joint bid, a power of attorney for the joint bidders must be included. Any trade secret must be described and justified, but the bid price and numerical figures characterising the bid against the award criteria may not be classified as trade secrets.