Compliance requirements
A bidder may be excluded if it, or a person in its management, supervisory or representative bodies, has a final conviction within the last five years—or is still subject to an exclusion period—for participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorist offences, money laundering or terrorist financing, unlawful child labour or human trafficking. The grounds also cover convictions for enabling a foreign national to work without a legal basis or in breach of employment conditions, including paying below the statutory wage rate; this is a mandatory exclusion ground. A bidder may also be excluded for unpaid taxes or social security contributions, or where entering into the contract would breach an international or Estonian government sanction. The notice states that a tax-debt certificate is not issued where the relevant total debt is below EUR 100 or payment has been rescheduled; foreign bidders are assessed under the rules of their country of establishment. Where legally available or allowed by the tender documents, a bidder may submit evidence of measures taken to restore its reliability.
Qualification criteria and exclusion grounds
The bidder must hold a valid Estonian authorisation to provide audit services, be entered in the register of audit activities, and have professional activity that is neither suspended nor terminated. The bidder must submit the authorisation; the contracting authority will check the register entry and the status of the professional activity.
The person responsible for delivering the service and signing the auditor’s report must hold the public-sector auditor qualification. The bidder must identify this person and, if requested, provide evidence of the qualification. That auditor must have signed at least two auditor’s reports on the annual accounts of public-sector entities during 2022–2025. The bidder must provide an overview of the auditor’s experience.
The bid must comply with the tender documents and must not be conditional. The price must follow the structure in the designated pricing schedule, and the bid table must be submitted. Any claimed trade secrets must be identified and justified; the bid price and other numerical indicators used for evaluating service bids may not be marked as trade secrets. Where equivalence is relevant, the bidder must explain it and provide supporting evidence.