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Public procurement

Wikborg Rein has one of Norway's most proficient legal groups within the area of public procurement. The group is headed by Morten Goller - lawyer, partner and member of the Norwegian Complaints Board for Public Procurement (KOFA), and numbers a total of eleven lawyers at Wikborg Rein's offices in Oslo and Bergen.

We assist procuring entities as well as suppliers and have over the last years experienced a heavy demand for legal advice within this area of law.

As examples of the major projects where the group has recently rendered assistance, we may mention procurement of fighter planes to the Norwegian Ministry of Defence as well as new trains to the Norwegian State Railways, procurement of the Altinn II-solution, finance and logistics system to the Norwegian Ministry of Defence and procurement of temporary staff to all Regional Health Authorities in Norway.

Typically, our assistance to public procuring entities may be as follows:

- Assistance in connection with the procurement process, including:

  • Preparation of or quality assurance of the tender documents with appendices
  • Preparation of distribution mechanisms in parallel framework agreements
  • Evaluation of possible refusal issues of tenderers and tenders
  • Quality assurance of the procuring entity's evaluation and choice of supplier • Preparation and quality assurance of award letter and contract
  • Handling disputes on the part of the public entity
  • Handling complaints reported to KOFA
  • Disputes brought before the ordinary courts (preliminary injunction and claim for compensation)
  • Retrospective evaluation of a finalised procurement process

- Replying to general issues presented by the procuring entity

Wikborg Rein also assists tenderers in connection with public procurement. This assistance may typically be:

  • Advice in connection with the bidding process both during the period prior to submitting the tender and through subsequent negotiations
  • Advice in connection with disputes towards the procuring entity and towards KOFA
  • Handling disputes brought before the ordinary courts (preliminary injunction and claim for compensation)

The group arranges customised courses in public procurement for public procuring entities and suppliers. The Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Difi) has also chosen Wikborg Rein to arrange courses in public procurement for public management.

The group is part of Wikborg Rein's practice area for EU/EEA and competition law.