# Contracting authority

The body that must follow the procurement rules, such as the state, municipalities and public-law bodies. A buyer that is not one is outside the Act.

Canonical URL: https://tendline.no/en/glossary/contracting-authority

In Norwegian: [Oppdragsgiver](https://tendline.no/ordliste/oppdragsgiver.md)

## Definition

A contracting authority (oppdragsgiver) is the body that buys and must follow the rules on public procurement. The Public Procurement Act (anskaffelsesloven) § 2 names six groups: central government authorities, county and municipal authorities, bodies governed by public law (offentligrettslige organer), associations formed by one or more of these, public undertakings that carry out a utility activity, and other entities that carry out a utility activity on the basis of exclusive or special rights. As a starting point, the Act applies when such a contracting authority concludes a contract with an estimated value of NOK 500,000 excluding VAT or more. Three instruments are cited on this page, so every § reference names the one it belongs to: the Act, the Public Procurement Regulations (anskaffelsesforskriften) or the Utilities Regulations (forsyningsforskriften).

The Regulations apply to the first four groups (Regulations § 1-2). Central government, county and municipal authorities include all their agencies and bodies, for example ministries, directorates, courts and municipal schools and nursing homes (DFØ, the Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management). A body governed by public law is a separate legal person, such as a limited company or a foundation, that is established to meet needs in the general interest, does not have an industrial or commercial character, and is linked to the public sector. The link exists when the body is financed for the most part by the public sector, is subject to public management supervision, or has an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, typically the board of directors, more than half of whose members are appointed by the public sector. All three conditions must be met, but for the link one of the three alternatives is enough. DFØ names the health trusts (helseforetakene), Innovation Norway, NRK (the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) and Enova SF as examples. An association is a cooperation involving public contracting authorities that is not organised as a separate legal person, and it may also have private participants (DFØ).

The Utilities Regulations apply to the same four groups and also to public undertakings and other entities with exclusive or special rights (enerett eller særrett) (Utilities Regulations § 1-2), but only when the procurement is linked to a utility activity, among others drinking water, electricity, gas and heat, transport, ports and airports, and postal services (Utilities Regulations § 1-1). Such procurements follow the Utilities Regulations and not the Public Procurement Regulations (Regulations § 2-1), also when the buyer is a municipality. A public undertaking is an undertaking over which the public sector can exercise a dominant influence, for example by owning the majority of its capital (Utilities Regulations § 1-2 (3)). A right granted through a procedure with sufficient transparency and objective criteria does not count as an exclusive or special right (Utilities Regulations § 1-2 (4)). In the EU utilities directive, Directive 2014/25/EU, a buyer under these rules is called a «contracting entity»; Norwegian law uses the one word oppdragsgiver for both. See the page on the Utilities Regulations.

A recipient of a subsidy can also become a contracting authority. If a contracting authority directly subsidises by more than 50% a works contract of NOK 8.7 million or more for building hospitals, sports, recreation and leisure facilities, school and university buildings or buildings used for administrative purposes, or for civil engineering works listed in Annex 1 to the Regulations, the recipient of the subsidy is the contracting authority for that contract. The same applies to related service contracts of NOK 2.5 million or more (Regulations § 1-3).

## Why it matters for suppliers

Whether the buyer is a contracting authority decides whether the Public Procurement Act applies, and so whether you can have rights under it. If it is, and the contract is worth NOK 500,000 or more, the Act applies as a starting point. Some contracts are excluded, for example in-house procurement (utvidet egenregi) (Regulations § 3-1) and procurements that can be excluded under Article 123 of the EEA Agreement (Act § 2 (3)). Where the Act applies, you can ask the district court (tingretten) to set aside a decision that breaches the rules, as long as the contract has not been concluded (Act § 8). You can claim damages for loss you have suffered as a result of a breach (Act § 10), and you can complain to KOFA (the Complaints Board for Public Procurement), where the contracting authority is obliged to take part (Act § 11). If the buyer is not a contracting authority, the rules do not apply. The buyer then has no duty under them to advertise or to treat suppliers equally, and you have no right to complain under the Public Procurement Act.

The rights apply to suppliers that are rights holders under Act § 3: businesses established in Norway, and businesses established in another EEA state, in a state party to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) or in a state party to another agreement binding Norway, to the extent that agreement gives them rights. Businesses that are not rights holders may take part in competitions, but do not have the rights that follow from the Act (Act § 3 (2)).

Which group the contracting authority belongs to also affects the rules for the competition. For supply and service contracts, the EEA threshold is NOK 1.63 million for central government authorities and NOK 2.5 million for contracting authorities other than central government authorities (Regulations § 5-3). If the procurement is linked to a utility activity, the thresholds of the Utilities Regulations apply instead.

Advice: to find out whether the buyer is covered, check the following. If the buyer is part of the state, a county authority or a municipality, it is a contracting authority. If it is a separate company or a foundation, look at the three conditions. DFØ writes that the link condition is as a rule met when the public sector owns the body, because the owner normally appoints the board. The condition that the body must not have an industrial or commercial character requires an overall assessment. Factors DFØ points to include whether the business operates in a market exposed to competition on normal market terms, aims to make a profit and bears its own commercial risk, or whether the public sector covers its losses. Once a business is a body governed by public law, the rules as a starting point apply to all its procurements, including those that concern commercial activities (DFØ). The exceptions in Regulations § 2-1 still apply, and procurements linked to a utility activity follow the Utilities Regulations. Advice: also read which regulations and which part of them the tender documents refer to, and ask the contracting authority if it is unclear.

## Legal basis

Public Procurement Act (anskaffelsesloven) § 2, § 3, § 8, § 10 and § 11 · Public Procurement Regulations (anskaffelsesforskriften) § 1-2, § 1-3, § 2-1, § 3-1 to § 3-3 and § 5-3 · Utilities Regulations (forsyningsforskriften) § 1-1 and § 1-2 · Freedom of Information Act (offentleglova) § 2

## Example

A Norwegian cleaning company is considering submitting a tender to a limited company that owns and runs a municipality's sports halls. The municipality owns all the shares and appoints the board, and the company is mainly financed by the municipality. The link condition is therefore met. The halls are run to give residents somewhere to do sport, not on commercial terms, and the municipality covers the deficit. That points to the company being a body governed by public law, and then it is a contracting authority.

The cleaning contract is estimated at NOK 2 million excluding VAT. That is above NOK 1.3 million but below NOK 2.5 million, the EEA threshold for contracting authorities other than central government authorities. The competition must therefore be advertised in Doffin, Norway's national database for public procurement notices, and follows Part II of the Regulations, which applies from NOK 1.3 million up to the EEA thresholds (except health and social services), and to special services (særlige tjenester) from NOK 1.3 million with no upper limit. If the company were not a contracting authority, the procurement rules would not apply, and the cleaning company would not have the rights under the Act.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is a municipal or state-owned limited company a contracting authority?

It depends on the three conditions in Regulations § 1-2 (2), and all of them must be met. Public ownership as a rule meets the link condition, according to DFØ, but it is not enough on its own. The company must also be established to meet needs in the general interest and not have an industrial or commercial character. If the company competes on normal market terms, aims to make a profit and bears its own commercial risk, DFØ's factors point against it being a body governed by public law. If the purchase is linked to a utility activity, such as electricity or drinking water, the Utilities Regulations may still apply, because they also cover public undertakings (Utilities Regulations § 1-2).

### Which EEA threshold applies to the contracting authority?

For supply and service contracts, it is NOK 1.63 million excluding VAT for central government authorities and NOK 2.5 million for other contracting authorities, among them municipalities and county authorities. For works contracts it is NOK 62.9 million, and for special services and health and social services NOK 8.7 million, for all contracting authorities (Regulations § 5-3). Supply contracts awarded by central government authorities in the field of defence and security have a special rule. The Utilities Regulations have their own thresholds. See the page on EEA threshold values.

### Can the contracting authority buy from its own company without a competition?

Yes, if the conditions for in-house procurement (utvidet egenregi) are met (Regulations § 3-1). The contracting authority must exercise a control over the company similar to that which it exercises over its own departments, the company must carry out more than 80% of its activities for the contracting authority or for others the contracting authority controls, and there can be no direct private capital participation in the company. The Public Procurement Act and the Regulations then do not apply to the purchase. If one of the conditions is not met, the purchase may still be excluded under the rules on joint control (Regulations § 3-2) or cooperation between contracting authorities (Regulations § 3-3). Otherwise it must follow the normal rules.

### Does the Freedom of Information Act (offentleglova) apply to all contracting authorities?

Not necessarily. Who must give access is decided by the Freedom of Information Act (offentleglova) § 2, and its conditions are not the same as in the procurement rules. The Freedom of Information Act applies among others to the state, the county authorities and the municipalities, and to separate legal persons in which the public sector holds an ownership share that gives more than half of the votes in the highest body, or the right to elect more than half of the members with voting rights there. It does not, however, apply to legal persons that mainly carry on business in direct competition with private businesses and on the same terms. See the page on access to tenders.

## In Tendline

[Tendline writes each answer the way the contracting authority scores it, and reads the justifications afterwards](https://tendline.no/en#how-we-work)

## Sources

- [Lovdata: Public Procurement Act (anskaffelsesloven), § 2, § 3, § 8, § 10 and § 11 (Norwegian)](https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/2016-06-17-73)
- [Lovdata: Public Procurement Regulations (anskaffelsesforskriften), § 1-2, § 1-3, § 2-1, § 3-1 to § 3-3 and § 5-3 (Norwegian)](https://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/2016-08-12-974)
- [Lovdata: Utilities Regulations (forsyningsforskriften), § 1-1 and § 1-2 (Norwegian)](https://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/2016-08-12-975)
- [Lovdata: Freedom of Information Act (offentleglova), § 2 (Norwegian)](https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/2006-05-19-16)
- [DFØ: Guide to the Public Procurement Regulations, chapter 2 Scope of the Regulations (Norwegian)](https://www.anskaffelser.no/veileder-til-anskaffelsesforskriften/2-anskaffelsesforskriftens-virkeomrade)
- [EUR-Lex: Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement, Articles 2 and 12 (English terminology)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/24/oj/eng)
- [EUR-Lex: Directive 2014/25/EU on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors, Article 4 (English terminology)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/25/oj/eng)

Last checked against the sources: 14 October 2026

## Related terms

- [Public Procurement Act (anskaffelsesloven)](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/public-procurement-act.md)
- [Public Procurement Regulations (anskaffelsesforskriften)](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/public-procurement-regulations.md)
- [Utilities Regulations (forsyningsforskriften)](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/utilities-regulations.md)
- [Central purchasing body](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/central-purchasing-body.md)
- [E-tendering system (KGV)](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/e-tendering-system.md)
- [EEA threshold values](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/eea-threshold-values.md)
- [KOFA (Complaints Board for Public Procurement)](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/kofa.md)
- [Access to tenders and the procurement record](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/access-to-tenders.md)
- [Fundamental principles](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/fundamental-principles.md)