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Amendments to the Public Procurement Act to enter into force on 1 November 2026
Amendments to the Public Procurement Act to enter into force on 1 November 2026
On 1 November 2026, extensive amendments to the Public Procurement Act will enter into force. The broader aim of the reform is to simplify and accelerate procurement procedures below the international thresholds and reduce the administrative burden on contracting authorities and tenderers.
According to Keidi Kõiv, Head of Public Procurement practice and Attorney-at-Law at RASK, the objective of the reform is well-founded, but fewer procedural steps do not necessarily make procurement simpler: “The amendments will allow contracting authorities to focus on higher-risk issues, while the requirements of transparency, equal treatment and effective competition will remain unchanged. Greater discretion requires well-considered choices and the ability to substantiate them.”
Preparing procurement procedures will therefore become more important than before. Contracting authorities will need to determine which procedure and level of scrutiny are appropriate for each procurement and clearly set out those choices in the procurement documents. It is therefore advisable to review internal procurement procedures and procurement document templates before the amendments enter into force. Tenderers, in turn, will need to examine the terms of each procurement carefully, as the contracting authority’s choices may determine both the extent of the checks carried out and the course of the procedure.
Whether the new rules will reduce the administrative burden in practice or whether some of that burden will re-emerge in the form of questions of interpretation and disputes will become clear as the new rules are applied. Fewer procedural steps may accelerate procurement, but they do not reduce the need for legally sound and well-reasoned decisions. The actual impact of the reform will therefore also depend on how administrative and review practice develops.
When planning and conducting public procurement, contracting authorities will be required to consider security alongside social considerations, environmental sustainability and innovation.
The simplified procurement procedure will become the principal procedure for procurements below the international thresholds, while stricter procedural rules will apply to procurements exceeding the international thresholds.
For contracting authorities in the public sector, the threshold for simplified procurement procedures for supplies and services will increase from EUR 30,000 to EUR 50,000, while the threshold for works will increase from EUR 60,000 to EUR 100,000. In the utilities sector, the threshold for supplies and services will increase to EUR 100,000 and the threshold for works to EUR 500,000. The threshold for special services and design contests will be EUR 100,000, while the threshold for social services will be EUR 500,000.
Under the new rules, a contracting authority may first evaluate the tenders and then verify only the compliance of the tender it intends to accept. If the initially highest-ranked tender does not meet the requirements, or the tenderer fails the verification of grounds for exclusion or qualification requirements, the contracting authority will proceed to the next tender in the ranking. The other tenderers’ bids will not be automatically rejected but will remain in the procedure.
Currently, contracting authorities must verify all discretionary grounds for exclusion set out in § 95(4) of the Public Procurement Act in every procurement procedure, while retaining discretion as to whether a tenderer should be excluded on the basis of an identified circumstance. From 1 November, contracting authorities will be able to specify in the procurement documents whether, and which, discretionary grounds for exclusion will apply to a particular procurement. This will allow them to tailor the scope of verification to the risks associated with the procurement.
If a tenderer is found to have tax arrears, the contracting authority must give the tenderer at least three working days to pay the outstanding amount or arrange for payment by instalments. Under the new rules, this guaranteed opportunity will generally only have to be provided once during the procurement procedure. If the tenderer subsequently incurs new tax arrears, the contracting authority will not be required to grant a further deadline.
Under the new rules, a contracting authority will be able to request supporting evidence from the tenderer whose tender it intends to accept. Following verification, decisions on exclusion, qualification and the successful tender may be made at a single stage of the procedure.
According to Keidi Kõiv, Head of Public Procurement practice and Attorney-at-Law at RASK, the objective of the reform is well-founded, but fewer procedural steps do not necessarily make procurement simpler: “The amendments will allow contracting authorities to focus on higher-risk issues, while the requirements of transparency, equal treatment and effective competition will remain unchanged. Greater discretion requires well-considered choices and the ability to substantiate them.”
Preparing procurement procedures will therefore become more important than before. Contracting authorities will need to determine which procedure and level of scrutiny are appropriate for each procurement and clearly set out those choices in the procurement documents. It is therefore advisable to review internal procurement procedures and procurement document templates before the amendments enter into force. Tenderers, in turn, will need to examine the terms of each procurement carefully, as the contracting authority’s choices may determine both the extent of the checks carried out and the course of the procedure.
Whether the new rules will reduce the administrative burden in practice or whether some of that burden will re-emerge in the form of questions of interpretation and disputes will become clear as the new rules are applied. Fewer procedural steps may accelerate procurement, but they do not reduce the need for legally sound and well-reasoned decisions. The actual impact of the reform will therefore also depend on how administrative and review practice develops.