Utilities Regulations (forsyningsforskriften)

The Utilities Regulations (forsyningsforskriften), in full the Regulations on procurement rules in the utility sectors, apply instead of the Public Procurement Regulations (anskaffelsesforskriften) when a contracting entity buys goods, services or works, or holds a design contest (plan- og designkonkurranse), linked to a utility activity (forsyningsaktivitet). The limit is the same as in the Public Procurement Act (anskaffelsesloven): an estimated value of NOK 500,000 excluding VAT or more (§ 1-1). Bare § references on this page are to the Utilities Regulations; the Act and the Public Procurement Regulations are always named. The Public Procurement Regulations do not apply to these purchases (Public Procurement Regulations § 2-1), but the Act does, with the exceptions in Act § 2 (3). In Directive 2014/25/EU, the EU utilities directive, a buyer under these rules is called a «contracting entity», the term used on this page. Norwegian law calls it oppdragsgiver, the same word it uses for a contracting authority.

The Utilities Regulations name seven utility activities: operating and supplying networks for gas and heat, for electricity and for drinking water; networks for transport by railway, automated systems, tramway, trolleybus, bus or cable; ports and airports; postal services; and extraction of oil and gas, or exploration for and extraction of coal and other solid fuels (§ 1-3 to § 1-9). Telecommunications is not among them. An entity that operates a drinking water network also follows the Utilities Regulations when it buys for the disposal or treatment of wastewater. What decides is whether the purchase is linked to the activity: a municipality that runs a waterworks follows the Utilities Regulations when it buys for the waterworks, and the Public Procurement Regulations when it buys for its schools.

The Utilities Regulations apply to the same contracting authorities as the Public Procurement Regulations, that is central government, county and municipal authorities, bodies governed by public law and associations of them. They also apply to public undertakings and other entities that carry out a utility activity on the basis of exclusive or special rights (enerett eller særrett) (§ 1-2). A public undertaking is an undertaking over which the public sector can have a dominant influence, for example by owning the majority of its capital. An exclusive or special right is a right granted by a competent authority by law, regulation or administrative decision, which limits the activity to one or more entities and substantially affects the ability of others to carry it out. A right granted under an open and objective procedure does not count as an exclusive or special right (§ 1-2 (4)). An activity is exempt if the EFTA Surveillance Authority has decided that it is exposed to competition, with free access to the market (§ 2-9).

The Utilities Regulations have five parts, numbered differently from the Public Procurement Regulations. Part I applies to all procurements from NOK 500,000. Part II applies at or above the EEA thresholds, NOK 5 million for supply and service contracts and NOK 62.9 million for works contracts, except special services and health and social services. It corresponds to Part III of the Public Procurement Regulations. Part III applies to special services and health and social services at or above NOK 11.6 million, and Part IV to design contests at or above NOK 5 million. Part V contains final provisions. Below the EEA thresholds only Part I applies, and the Utilities Regulations there have no duty to advertise and no procedural rules (§ 5-1).

The differences from the Public Procurement Regulations affect how you find and win these contracts.

Fewer notices below the EEA thresholds. Under the Public Procurement Regulations, a competition must as a rule be advertised from NOK 1.3 million. Under the Utilities Regulations, there is no duty to advertise below NOK 5 million for supplies and services, NOK 62.9 million for works and NOK 11.6 million for special services and health and social services. Public Procurement Act § 4 on fundamental principles is nevertheless not excluded for utility contracts. The repeal of § 4 has been adopted, but had not entered into force as at 14 October 2026, when this was last checked; see the page on fundamental principles. Advice: get to know the utility entities in your market, and watch for prior information notices (veiledende kunngjøringer).

Free choice of procedure. In competitions under Part II, which covers contracts at or above the EEA thresholds except special services and health and social services, a contracting entity may always choose an open or restricted procedure (åpen eller begrenset anbudskonkurranse), a negotiated procedure with prior call for competition (konkurranse med forhandling etter forutgående kunngjøring) or a competitive dialogue (§ 9-1). Under Part III of the Public Procurement Regulations, negotiation and dialogue require the conditions in § 13-2 of those Regulations to be met.

Qualification systems. Under Part II, a contracting entity may set up a qualification system (kvalifikasjonsordning) that suppliers can apply to join at any time (chapter 13). The notice of the system meets the requirement to advertise the competition, and only suppliers that have been admitted are invited to submit a tender (§ 13-3 and § 17-2 (3)). If you are not in the system, you do not get the invitation. An application must be decided within a reasonable time and within six months at the latest, a rejection must be notified in writing with brief reasons no later than 15 days after the decision, and the contracting entity may charge a fee in proportion to its costs (§ 13-2). Advice: apply to join well before the contracts you want to compete for come up.

Longer framework agreements. A framework agreement under Part II of the Utilities Regulations may not last longer than eight years, against four years under Parts II and III of the Public Procurement Regulations (Public Procurement Regulations § 11-1 (4) and § 26-1 (4)), unless there are special circumstances, for example relating to its purpose, the investment costs or the users' needs (§ 22-1 (4)). Part I and Part III of the Utilities Regulations have no such limit.

Own rules on social considerations. Several of the requirements in the Public Procurement Act, among them the climate requirement in § 5b and the labour standards requirements (seriøsitetskrav) in § 5e to § 5l, do not apply to utility contracts. The Utilities Regulations have their own provisions instead; see the question below.

Legal proceedings over breaches of the Utilities Regulations must be brought before Stavanger District Court (Stavanger tingrett) when the contracting entity is engaged in oil, gas, coal or other solid fuels (§ 28-1). The standstill period (karensperiode) applies under Part II and Part III; see the page on the standstill period.

A municipal waterworks is buying new pumps for NOK 3 million. The purchase is linked to the drinking water supply, so the Utilities Regulations apply. The value is below the EEA threshold of NOK 5 million, so only Part I applies: the municipality has no duty to advertise, no procedural rules to follow and no standstill period. If the same municipality buys computers for its schools for NOK 3 million, the Public Procurement Regulations apply. The value is then above the EEA threshold of NOK 2.5 million for municipalities, and the competition must be advertised under Part III of the Public Procurement Regulations.

For a pump supplier, this means that the competition for the waterworks' pumps may never appear in Doffin, Norway's national database for public procurement notices. Public Procurement Act § 4 is not excluded for utility contracts, so the fundamental principles also apply to the waterworks' purchase. Advice: keep track of which utility entities buy what you supply, and apply to join the qualification systems they use for larger purchases.