Compliance requirements
The tenderer must declare whether it or its representatives have, within the relevant period (generally the previous 5 years, or while an exclusion period remains in force), been convicted of participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorist offences, money laundering or terrorist financing, or child labour or human trafficking offences. Other grounds include unpaid taxes or social security contributions; breaches of environmental, social or labour-law obligations; bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation, suspension of business or comparable proceedings; serious professional misconduct; agreements intended to distort competition; an unresolvable conflict of interest; involvement in preparing this procurement that creates an unfair advantage which cannot otherwise be avoided; and significant or repeated failures under a previous contract resulting in early termination, damages or comparable sanctions. Exclusion may also follow from false or misleading information, withholding required information or documents, improper attempts to influence the procurement or obtain confidential information, enabling unlawful employment of a foreign national, being subject to international sanctions, or conviction for tax offences. Where an exclusion ground applies, the tenderer may describe measures taken to demonstrate its reliability where permitted. For Estonian tax debts, the notice explains that a tax-debt certificate is not issued where the relevant debt is below EUR 100 or payment has been rescheduled; foreign tenderers are assessed under the rules of their country of establishment.
Qualification criteria and exclusion grounds
The tenderer must have completed at least 2 consultancy assignments during the 60 months preceding the commencement of the procurement. Each assignment must be comparable in nature and complexity, have been fully performed and accepted by the client before the tender submission deadline, and concern the assessment, approximation, implementation or development of legislation or regulatory frameworks in the context of EU legislation or the EU acquis in one or more of these fields: cybersecurity; digital or ICT regulation; product safety, regulation or compliance; conformity assessment; accreditation; standardisation; or market surveillance. Together, the 2 assignments must demonstrate experience in at least 3 of these work types: legal or regulatory gap analysis; assessment of national legislation against EU legal requirements; recommendations for incorporating a public policy option into the domestic legislative system; regulatory impact assessment, including socioeconomic impact; institutional or governance analysis; or development and comparative assessment of regulatory policy options.
Submit a signed free-form declaration confirming the assignments and providing, for each: title; client or contracting entity; country; start and completion dates; brief description of the services; the tenderer’s role, including any consortium or subcontractor role; total contract value where disclosure is permitted; and the client representative’s name, position and email address and/or telephone number so the experience can be verified.
The tenderer must confirm that its offer complies with the procurement documents, that the price is presented in the prescribed structure, and that any proposed equivalent is explained and supported by evidence. For a joint tender, the members must appoint an authorised representative and provide the power of attorney. The tenderer must identify any trade secrets in the offer and justify their designation; price and other specified evaluation-related figures may not be treated as trade secrets. The tenderer must also confirm that it will not use subcontractors or suppliers covered by the applicable EU sanctions restriction for more than 10% of the contract value.