Compliance requirements
Exclusion grounds are checked in relation to the bidder and its representatives and members of its management or supervisory bodies. They include convictions for participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorism-related offences, money laundering, terrorist financing, child labour or human trafficking. Grounds also include failure to pay taxes or social security contributions and breaches of environmental, social or labour-law obligations.
Other possible grounds include bankruptcy, liquidation, insolvency, an arrangement with creditors, assets administered by a liquidator or court, suspended business activity, serious professional misconduct, agreements distorting competition, an unavoidable conflict of interest, or an unjustified competitive advantage resulting from involvement in preparing the procurement. Relevant grounds also include serious or repeated breaches of previous contracts, misrepresentation, withholding information, failure to provide required documents, or seeking confidential information to obtain an unjustified advantage.
Under Estonian law, checks also cover enabling a foreign national residing in Estonia without legal grounds to work, the risk that awarding the contract would breach an international or Estonian sanction, convictions for tax offences, and restrictions on submitting a tender based on the bidder’s place of residence or establishment. The stated threshold for unpaid taxes and social security contributions is EUR 0. Under the Estonian Taxation Act exception, a tax-debt certificate is not issued where the debt is below EUR 100 or payment has been deferred. Where an exclusion ground applies, the bidder may provide evidence of measures taken to restore its reliability where this option is applicable.
Qualification criteria and exclusion grounds
The bidder must hold a valid specific-category operational authorisation issued by the Estonian Transport Administration, or an approved standard scenario (STS/LUC), permitting survey flights in infrastructure corridors and populated or active areas and, where needed, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). The contracting authority will verify the authorisation in the Transport Administration’s online register.
The bidder’s net turnover for the last financial year completed by the start of the procurement must be at least EUR 90,000. Joint bidders may aggregate their turnovers. A bidder may rely on another entity’s turnover; in that case, it must provide that entity’s ESPD and, if requested by the contracting authority, its consent stating the turnover amount made available, confirming that it will provide the necessary financial resources and accept joint and several liability for the relevant part of the contract. The contracting authority recommends submitting extracts from annual accounts or other turnover evidence with the tender if the information is not publicly available.
The tender must include a fully completed cost schedule in Excel format. Prices must be entered for every payment item. The item list, names, work descriptions, parameters, units, quantities and other data specified by the contracting authority must not be changed or deleted. Prices must be stated in euros to two decimal places. The bidder must confirm acceptance of the contract notice and procurement documents and confirm that its tender covers all matters for which the contracting authority requested competing tenders.
The bidder must confirm that it will use remote pilots holding valid A1/A3, A2 and specific-category certificates during contract performance. The bidder determines the number of pilots needed and must provide their details to the contracting authority after the contract is signed. For a joint tender, each joint bidder must submit an ESPD and the authorised representative’s signed power of attorney. For exclusion checks, the bidder must identify any persons authorised to represent, make decisions for or control it who are not shown in the business register, providing their personal identification codes, or confirm that there are no such persons.
The tender must identify any information claimed as a trade secret and explain that designation. The tender price, individual prices and numerical indicators relating to service award criteria may not be designated as trade secrets. The available information does not specify the award criteria or their scoring.