Road tenders will change in approach – government reviews qualification requirements

The Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture has updated recommendations on the procurement of road services to make them more open and efficient. As noted by the Ministry of Economy, the goal of the changes is to ensure a balance between competition, quality of work performance, and efficient use of budget funds.

The updates concern the Methodological Recommendations on the specifics of procurement of services for the maintenance of public roads of national and local significance. They were prepared after consultations with customers, market participants, industry associations, and other interested parties. During the work, both the need for uninterrupted road maintenance and the necessity to ensure equal conditions for business were taken into account.

The ministry emphasizes that qualification requirements must be justified, proportional to the subject of procurement, and correspond to international practices, rather than being used to artificially restrict competition.

International approaches to assessing participants' experience

In European and international practice, participant selection criteria are aimed at confirming their ability to fulfill the contract, not at narrowing the circle of potential performers.

European Union legislation, in particular Directive 2014/24/EU, does not require confirmation of experience exclusively through fully completed contracts or setting a specific percentage of their completion. Instead, experience can be confirmed through a list of completed works or provided services over a specified period with appropriate supporting documents. The key principle here is proportionality and non-discrimination of requirements.

Also, in the practice of international financial organizations, including the World Bank, experience confirmation by contracts completed at least 80 percent is allowed. This approach allows taking into account the real experience of companies even if contracts have not yet been fully completed.

Approach to financial capacity

International practice does not establish a single mandatory financial capacity indicator for all procurements. The customer independently determines the required level of financial criteria depending on the complexity, cost, and risks of a specific contract.

Setting strict unified requirements at the regulatory level is considered a limitation of customer flexibility compared to the practice of the EU and international organizations.

Advisory nature of changes

The ministry emphasizes that the Methodological Recommendations are not mandatory for implementation. The final requirements for tender documentation are determined by the customer within the framework of current legislation.

At the same time, the updates aim to unify approaches and bring them closer to international practice, ensuring greater competition and equal access for participants to procurement.

The ministry declares its readiness to continue dialogue with the market and work on improving the procurement system to ensure efficient use of budget funds, fair competition, and proper maintenance of road infrastructure.

The overall position remains unchanged: procurement reform must be based on the principles of openness, proportionality, and non-discrimination, taking into account the interests of the state and market participants.

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