# ESPD (European Single Procurement Document)

The ESPD is the self-declaration you submit as preliminary evidence that you qualify and should not be rejected. Part III and utilities rules require it.

Canonical URL: https://tendline.no/en/glossary/espd

In Norwegian: [ESPD (egenerklæringsskjema)](https://tendline.no/ordliste/espd.md)

## Definition

ESPD stands for European Single Procurement Document (in Norwegian, det europeiske egenerklæringsskjemaet). In the form you declare that you meet the qualification requirements (the directive's selection criteria) and any criteria for limiting the number of candidates (utvelgelseskriterier), and that there are no grounds for rejecting you. The declaration is preliminary evidence: you do not attach certificates and other evidence to your tender, but you must be able to provide them when the contracting authority asks (§ 17-1 of the Public Procurement Regulations (anskaffelsesforskriften), which applies to competitions under Part III; the § references on this page are to the Regulations). The standard form was laid down by the European Commission in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/7 and has the same fields throughout the EEA (DFØ (the Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management)).

In competitions under Part III the form is mandatory, whatever the procedure, and according to DFØ also in a negotiated procedure without prior publication (§ 13-3 and § 17-1; DFØ). In procurement without competition (§ 13-4) it is not required (DFØ). Part III applies at or above the EEA thresholds for supply, service and works contracts, but not to special services (særlige tjenester), which follow Part II from NOK 1.3 million with no upper limit, and not to health and social services, which follow Part I and, at or above NOK 8.7 million, Part IV (§ 5-1; DFØ). For them the form is not mandatory, not even at or above the EEA thresholds.

In competitions under Part II, the contracting authority may require a self-declaration as preliminary evidence, in a form of its own or in the ESPD (§ 8-10 (1); DFØ). The self-declaration may also be used as final evidence, if the contracting authority has said so together with the documentation requirements in the procurement documents (§ 8-10 (3) and § 8-7 (3)). Part I and Part IV have no rules on self-declarations, but that does not stop the contracting authority from asking for documentation.

In competitions under Part III, the contracting authority fills in its part of the form electronically and makes it available together with the contract notice or the invitation to confirm interest (§ 17-1 (1)). You fill in the rest and submit it with your tender, or with your request to participate where the contracting authority first selects who may submit a tender (§ 17-1 (2)). Most suppliers fill in the form in the contracting authority's e-tendering system (konkurransegjennomføringsverktøy, KGV), the online system the competition is run in, as part of submitting the tender, and DFØ states that you must be able to submit the ESPD free of charge.

## Why it matters for suppliers

The form has six parts (DFØ), numbered separately from the parts of the Regulations. The contracting authority fills in Part I of the form, about the competition, and states in Part IV of the form which points you must answer. Read the contract notice and the tender documents first, because not all the information is in the form itself (DFØ).

In Part II of the form you give information about your company and who may represent it, whether you are bidding together with others, which lots you are bidding for, whether you rely on other companies to meet the requirements, and which other subcontractors you will use, if you know who they are.

In Part III of the form you answer yes or no to each ground for rejection (the directive and the English form call them exclusion grounds), among them criminal convictions, unpaid taxes and duties, bankruptcy, conflicts of interest and grave professional misconduct. If you answer yes, you must explain the background and the measures you have taken to put things right, so that the contracting authority can assess whether you may still take part (DFØ). For several of the grounds, the contracting authority cannot reject you if you document measures showing that you still have the necessary integrity (§ 24-5). According to DFØ, the Norwegian rules go further than the form's standard questions on two points: an accepted penalty notice (vedtatt forelegg), a fine accepted without a trial, for the criminal offences in § 24-2 (2) also leads to rejection, and the ground for serious errors that cast doubt on your professional integrity (§ 24-2 (3) letter i) is wider than ‘grave professional misconduct’ in the form. DFØ takes the view that the contracting authority must then state these as national grounds for rejection in the procurement documents, and that you answer them in section D of Part III of the form.

In Part IV of the form you answer the qualification requirements, in Part V the criteria for limiting the number of candidates, and in Part VI you confirm that the information is correct and that you can provide the documentation you have referred to without delay.

In competitions under Part III, the contracting authority may ask for the documentation at any time if that is needed to conduct the competition properly (§ 17-1 (3)). DFØ states that you must be able to send it more or less immediately, and that the contracting authority may set a very short time limit, for example one to two working days. The contracting authority cannot ask for supporting documents it has already received, or that it can obtain free of charge from a database in an EEA state; for the database, this assumes that the form contains the information needed to retrieve the evidence, for example the web address (§ 17-1 (4); DFØ). DFØ takes the view that ‘contracting authority’ here means the entity that advertised the competition, and that evidence received earlier only counts if it is still up to date. If you have submitted documentation to the same contracting authority before, DFØ recommends that you say so in your request to participate or in your tender. Before the award, the contracting authority must require the selected supplier to submit up-to-date documentation without delay, but not when a contract is awarded under a framework agreement without reopening competition (§ 17-1 (5); in Part II § 8-10 (2)). Advice: collect certificates, accounts and references before you submit, also from the companies you rely on.

## Legal basis

Public Procurement Regulations (anskaffelsesforskriften) § 5-1, § 8-7, § 8-10, § 9-5, § 13-3, § 13-4, § 16-1, § 16-10, § 17-1, § 23-5, § 24-2, § 24-4 and § 24-5 · Utilities Regulations (forsyningsforskriften) § 20-7 · Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/7

## Example

A central government agency advertises a restricted procedure for a framework agreement for IT consultancy, estimated at NOK 12 million excluding VAT. That is above NOK 1.63 million, the EEA threshold for service contracts awarded by central government authorities, so Part III applies, and the ESPD is submitted with the request to participate. The agency will invite five suppliers and choose those with the most relevant references.

Two smaller consultancies join forces. Each of them submits a complete ESPD, and in Part II of the form they state that they are taking part together, the role of each company and the name of the group. The contract notice does not allow a single overall answer in Part IV of the form, so they answer each requirement the agency has listed. In Part V of the form they refer to the description of their references in the request to participate.

Before the invitations are sent, the agency asks for the documentation to check that the five going forward are qualified. The companies had collected it before they submitted, and send their annual accounts and list of references the same day.

## Frequently asked questions

### When must I submit an ESPD?

In competitions under Part III, you submit the form with your tender, or with your request to participate where the contracting authority first selects who may submit a tender, for example in a restricted procedure (§ 17-1 (2)). This applies whatever the procedure, but not in procurement without competition (DFØ). In Part II, you submit a self-declaration only if the contracting authority requires it (§ 8-10). For special services and health and social services, the ESPD is not mandatory, not even at or above the EEA thresholds. Under the Utilities Regulations (forsyningsforskriften), which apply to contracts for utility activities such as water, energy, transport and postal services, the ESPD must also be used at or above the EEA thresholds (forsyningsforskriften § 20-7 (1), which applies § 17-1 correspondingly).

### Is there a template for the ESPD form?

You do not need a template of your own. In competitions under Part III, the contracting authority makes the form available together with the contract notice, with its own part filled in (§ 17-1 (1)), and you fill in the rest, usually in the contracting authority's e-tendering system. DFØ refers to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries' guide to the ESPD, which has a PDF with the questions in the form (the translation updated as of 16 February 2017), but states that the PDF is only a view and is not to be used for filling in. The form is the same in every competition, but your answers must concern the requirements in the competition you are bidding in. If you have to pay to submit the ESPD, DFØ asks you to contact the contracting authority.

### How do I answer the qualification requirements in the ESPD?

In Part IV of the form, and only on the requirements the contracting authority has said you must answer. In competitions under Part III, the qualification requirements and documentation requirements must be stated in the contract notice or the invitation to confirm interest (§ 16-1 (3)), and in Part II in the procurement documents (§ 8-7 (3)), so read them there. If the contracting authority has allowed it, you can tick section α to say that all qualification requirements are met, without filling in the rest of Part IV of the form. Otherwise you answer each requirement. DFØ points out that in Part IV of the form you answer whether you can provide the documentation the contracting authority has asked for. Advice: check that you actually have it before you tick. More on the requirements is on the page on qualification requirements.

### Must subcontractors and partners submit their own ESPD?

It depends on their role and on which part of the Regulations the competition follows. In competitions under Part III, a company you rely on to meet the qualification requirements must submit its own self-declaration (§ 17-1 (6)). According to DFØ, it must fill in Part II and Part III of the form and the requirements in Part IV of the form that it contributes to, and you must also show that you have the resources at your disposal, for example with a written commitment (forpliktelseserklæring) (§ 16-10). If you submit a joint tender in a competition under Part III, each participant must submit a complete ESPD (§ 17-1 (6); DFØ). Other subcontractors as a main rule do not submit an ESPD (DFØ), but you list them in Part II of the form if you know who they are. The contracting authority may still require documentation on whether there are grounds for rejecting a subcontractor, and in some cases must require you to replace it (§ 24-4; in Part II § 9-5 (6)). In Part II, the Regulations have no rule on separate self-declarations from other companies; there the contracting authority decides whether to require a self-declaration at all (§ 8-10).

### Can errors in the ESPD be corrected after the deadline?

Sometimes. In competitions under Part III, the contracting authority may ask you in writing to submit, supplement, clarify or complete information and documentation within a short time limit when something appears to contain errors or to be unclear, or when something is missing, but the tender must not be improved by it (§ 23-5). According to DFØ, the provision gives the contracting authority a right and, as a main rule, no duty, but the principle of equal treatment may in some cases mean that the contracting authority must ask for clarification, for example when the lack of clarity comes from the tender documents. In case 2020/515, a national tender competition (tilbudskonkurranse) under Part II, KOFA (the Complaints Board for Public Procurement) found that a requirement that was not met at the deadline cannot be met afterwards; more on this, also for Part III, on the page on qualification requirements. If you have given seriously incorrect or misleading information that may have a material influence on the contracting authority's decisions on rejection, selection or award, the contracting authority may reject you in competitions under Part III, unless that would be disproportionate (§ 24-2 (3) letter g).

## In Tendline

[Tendline checks that certificates are valid on the deadline day and that every document matches the requirements matrix](https://tendline.no/en#how-we-work)

## Sources

- [Lovdata: Public Procurement Regulations (anskaffelsesforskriften), § 5-1, § 8-7, § 8-10, § 9-5, § 13-3, § 13-4, § 16-1, § 16-10, § 17-1, § 23-5, § 24-2, § 24-4 and § 24-5 (Norwegian)](https://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/2016-08-12-974)
- [Lovdata: Utilities Regulations (forsyningsforskriften), § 20-7 (Norwegian)](https://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/2016-08-12-975)
- [DFØ: Guide to the Public Procurement Regulations, chapter 25 The European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) (Norwegian)](https://www.anskaffelser.no/veileder-til-anskaffelsesforskriften/25-det-europeiske-egenerklaeringsskjemaet-espd)
- [DFØ: ESPD, in How to carry out a procurement (Norwegian)](https://www.anskaffelser.no/anskaffelsesprosessen-hvordan-gjore-en-anskaffelse/espd)
- [DFØ: Guide to the Public Procurement Regulations, chapter 11 Planning and advertising, on Part II (Norwegian)](https://www.anskaffelser.no/veileder-til-anskaffelsesforskriften/11-planlegging-og-kunngjoring)
- [DFØ: Guide to the Public Procurement Regulations, chapter 5 Thresholds and the parts of the Regulations (Norwegian)](https://www.anskaffelser.no/veileder-til-anskaffelsesforskriften/5-terskelverdier-og-de-ulike-delene-i-anskaffelsesforskriften)
- [DFØ: Guide to the Public Procurement Regulations, chapter 34 Submitting and clarifying documentation afterwards, section 34.6 on the duty to clarify (Norwegian)](https://www.anskaffelser.no/veileder-til-anskaffelsesforskriften/34-ettersendings-og-avklaringsadgangen)
- [EUR-Lex: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/7 establishing the standard form for the European Single Procurement Document](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0007)
- [EUR-Lex: Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement, Articles 32, 56, 57, 59, 63 and 65 (English terminology)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/24/oj/eng)

Last checked against the sources: 14 October 2026

## Related terms

- [Qualification requirements](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/qualification-requirements.md)
- [Rejection of tenders](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/rejection-of-tenders.md)
- [Tender documents](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/tender-documents.md)
- [Open and restricted procedure (anbudskonkurranse)](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/open-and-restricted-procedure.md)
- [National tender competition (tilbudskonkurranse)](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/national-tender-competition.md)
- [Competitive procedure with negotiation](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/competitive-procedure-with-negotiation.md)
- [Direct award](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/direct-award.md)
- [CPV codes](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/cpv-codes.md)
- [Access to tenders and the procurement record](https://tendline.no/en/glossary/access-to-tenders.md)