Contract notice

A contract notice (kunngjøring) is the public notice in which a contracting authority calls for competition for a contract. It is published on Doffin, the Norwegian national database for public procurement notices. For competitions at or above the EEA thresholds, Doffin forwards the notice to TED (Tenders Electronic Daily), the EU's database of procurement notices.

The duty to advertise depends on the estimated value of the contract excluding VAT. As a rule, the contracting authority must advertise the competition at or above NOK 1.3 million. Health and social services are an exception: for them, the duty to advertise only applies at or above NOK 8.7 million. Purchases connected to a utility activity, such as water, energy, transport, ports and airports or postal services, follow the Utilities Regulations (forsyningsforskriften) instead, which only require a notice at or above their EEA thresholds: NOK 5 million for supply and service contracts, NOK 11.6 million for special services and health and social services, and NOK 62.9 million for works contracts (forsyningsforskriften § 5-1 and § 5-2). There are also exceptions for particular situations, for example when only one particular supplier can deliver. Between NOK 500,000 and NOK 1.3 million there is no duty to advertise, but the contracting authority may advertise voluntarily.

The notice must at least describe what is to be procured and give the time limit for taking part, expressing interest or submitting tenders. That is the minimum in the Public Procurement Regulations (anskaffelsesforskriften) under Part II, which applies from NOK 1.3 million up to the EEA thresholds and to special services (særlige tjenester) from NOK 1.3 million with no upper limit, and under Part IV, which applies to health and social services at or above NOK 8.7 million (§ 8-17 (2) and § 30-5 (2)). Notices on Doffin follow standard forms set by the ministry, and according to DFØ (the Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management) the forms must include a link to the tender documents and at least one qualification requirement (the directive's «selection criteria») or one criterion for limiting the number of candidates. Under Part III of the Regulations, which applies at or above the EEA thresholds for supply, service and works contracts, but not to special services (særlige tjenester) or health and social services, the contracting authority must also give free, direct and unrestricted electronic access to the tender documents from the day the competition is advertised in TED, and the notice must give the internet address (§ 14-1 (2) and § 14-3 (1)). Other information can be in the notice or in the tender documents.

There are several types of notice. A contract notice in the narrow sense (alminnelig kunngjøring) advertises the competition. A prior information notice (veiledende kunngjøring) announces a planned procurement. A voluntary ex ante transparency notice (intensjonskunngjøring) is used when the contracting authority considers that it can conclude a contract without advertising a competition. For contracts at or above the EEA thresholds (for special services, above NOK 8.7 million), the conclusion of the contract must also be published in a contract award notice, as soon as possible and no later than 30 days after the contract was concluded. This does not apply to contracts awarded under a framework agreement.

The contract notice is the first thing you read, and it decides whether the procurement is worth your time. Advice: when you read a notice, look first at who the contracting authority is and what is being bought, which time limit applies, which procedure is used, whether a framework agreement will be concluded, and which qualification requirements you must be able to document. Then look at how the tenders will be assessed, that is the award criteria and their weightings, and follow the link to the tender documents.

Under Part III, the minimum time limit runs from the day the notice is sent to TED, not from the day you find it; under Part II, the Regulations set no minimum time limit, only that the contracting authority must take into account the complexity of the contract and the time needed to prepare tenders (§ 8-14), and Part IV has no rule on time limits. In an open procedure under Part III, the time limit for receipt of tenders is as a rule at least 30 days from the day the notice is sent to TED. In some cases it can be shorter (15 days in urgent cases or after a prior information notice) or longer (35 days if tenders are not to be submitted electronically). If you find the notice late, you lose time to write your tender.

Purchases between NOK 500,000 and NOK 1.3 million are only on Doffin if the contracting authority chooses to advertise them. Advice: follow the contracting authorities you want to supply, not just Doffin.

Advice: to avoid missing notices, search Doffin regularly with fixed search terms for what you deliver, and check the buyer profiles of your contracting authorities, where prior information notices can be published. Prior information notices and contract award notices (at or above the EEA thresholds) show what the contracting authority is buying and has bought.

A county authority (fylkeskommune) is buying cleaning services for NOK 4 million. That is above NOK 2.5 million, the EEA threshold for county authorities, so the competition must be advertised on Doffin and is forwarded to TED. If the tender deadline is set at the minimum of 30 days and you find the notice 14 days after it was sent to TED, you have 16 days left to write your tender. A municipality buying the same service for NOK 900,000 has no duty to advertise, because the value is below NOK 1.3 million. The Public Procurement Act (anskaffelsesloven) and Part I of the Regulations, the general part, still apply, and the municipality may choose to advertise voluntarily.