FinlandSpecial Sectors Procurement Act, ss. 75, 88 and 91, accessibility in the definition of the procurement object, quality-assurance certificates and award criteria
Laki vesi- ja energiahuollon liikenteen ja postipalvelujen alalla toimivien yksiköiden hankinnoista ja käyttöoikeussopimuksista (1398/2016), 75, 88 ja 91 §
In force since .
A procurement conditions rule binding public and private bodies.
As of .
What it requires
- If you sell goods, services or works to a contracting entity in a procurement at or above the thresholds of section 13, the entity defines the procurement object, save in duly justified cases, so as to take account of accessibility for disabled users and design for all users when the object is intended for natural persons (s. 75(1)).
- The procurement object is defined by reference to the accessibility requirements that other legislation or an act of the European Union makes mandatory; the section itself names no standard (s. 75(1)).
- The thresholds, excluding value added tax, are EUR 414,000 for goods, services and design contests, EUR 1,000,000 for the social and health services and other special services listed in Annex C, EUR 5,186,000 for works and EUR 5,186,000 for concession contracts, and the Commission's revised thresholds replace those figures; the Act does not apply to procurements below them (s. 13).
- The contracting entity may ask you for a statement of your quality-assurance measures; where it demands certificates from independent bodies that you meet quality-assurance standards, including accessibility for disabled persons, it refers to quality-assurance systems based on the European standard series (s. 88(2)).
- The entity also accepts equivalent certificates from bodies in other member states of the European Union and your certificates of equivalent quality-assurance measures (s. 88(2)); if you demonstrably could not obtain the certificates in the time set, for reasons not your own, it accepts other evidence of your measures when you show that they correspond to the requirements of the quality-assurance standards (s. 88(3)).
- Your tender may be scored on accessibility and on design for the requirements of all users where the entity sets them as quality criteria for price-quality comparison; the entity states the criteria and their weighting in the contract notice, the invitation to tender or the invitation to negotiate, and the criteria must relate to the subject matter of the procurement and be non-discriminatory (s. 91(2), (4) and (5)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (Kilpailu- ja kuluttajavirasto), to whose supervision of procurements under the Act section 127 applies chapter 15 of the Public Procurement Act
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- Any of
- Criteria
- a procurement by a contracting entity in water and energy supply, transport or postal services whose estimated value, excluding value added tax, is at least the threshold set in section 13 of the Act
What this law does
Section 1 of the Act requires the state and municipal authorities and the other contracting entities named in section 5 that operate in water and energy supply, transport and postal services to tender their procurements as the Act provides. Section 13 sets the thresholds of the Act and provides that the Act does not apply to procurements below them.
Section 75 forms part of chapter 8 of the Act on the preparation of procurement, the invitation to tender and the description of the procurement object. Section 98 applies chapter 10 of the Act, in addition to Parts I and IV, to procurements of the services listed in Annex C that reach the thresholds of section 13.
Section 75(1) requires the definition of a procurement object intended for natural persons to take account of accessibility for disabled users and design for all users, save in duly justified cases. Section 75(1) requires the procurement object to be defined by reference to the accessibility requirements that other legislation or an act of the European Union makes mandatory.
Section 75(1) requires the definitions of the procurement object to give tenderers equal opportunities to take part and not to restrict competition in public procurement without justification. Section 75(2) requires the definitions of the procurement object to be drawn up from performance or functional requirements, by reference to standards and other technical definitions each marked "or equivalent", or by a combination of the two.
Section 75(3) bars a definition of the procurement object that names a particular manufacturer or origin, or refers to a trade mark, patent, product type or specific method, in a way that favours or disadvantages particular tenderers. Section 75(3) allows such a reference only exceptionally, where the object of the contract cannot otherwise be described precisely and clearly, and then with the words "or equivalent".
Section 88(2) lets the contracting entity ask a candidate or tenderer for a statement of its quality-assurance measures. Section 88(2) requires a contracting entity that demands certificates from independent bodies that a candidate or tenderer meets quality-assurance standards, including accessibility for disabled persons, to refer to quality-assurance systems based on the European standard series.
Section 88(2) requires the contracting entity also to accept equivalent certificates from bodies in other member states of the European Union and certificates of equivalent quality-assurance measures that tenderers submit.
Section 88(3) requires the contracting entity to accept other evidence of quality-assurance measures where the candidate or tenderer could demonstrably not obtain the certificates within the time set, for reasons that are not its own, and shows that the measures correspond to the requirements of the quality-assurance standards. Section 91(2) lets the contracting entity set price-quality comparison criteria on quality, which may include accessibility and design for the requirements of all users.
Section 91(4) requires the contracting entity to state its comparison criteria and their relative weighting in the contract notice, the invitation to tender or the invitation to negotiate, allows the weighting to be given as a reasonable range, and requires the criteria to be listed in descending order of importance where the weighting cannot be determined for a justified reason.
Section 91(5) requires the comparison criteria to relate to the subject matter of the procurement, to leave the contracting entity no unrestricted freedom of choice and to be non-discriminatory. Section 128 applies the chapter of the Public Procurement Act on legal remedies to appeals against decisions made under the Act and to the sanctions imposed for unlawful procedure.
Section 127 applies the supervision chapter of the Public Procurement Act to the supervision of procurements and to the powers of the Competition and Consumer Authority.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface.