Public Procurement

For many, public procurement law associates with complex and seemingly impractical rules which often hinder rather than favour the conclusion of an economically advantageous contract. To not get lost in this maze and instead, make the rules work in one’s favour, the best of the best should be asked for advice. NOVE’s Centre of Excellence for Public Procurement Law is the absolute top player in the Estonian legal services market. The core team is made up of two former members of the Public Procurement Review Committee, Veiko Vaske and Mart Parind, and Veikko Puolakainen, who has over 20 years of experience in litigation. Our experience from hundreds of procurement disputes helps us prevent problems in procurement proceedings and pull our customers’ chestnuts out of the fire in legal disputes.

Attorney-at-law Veiko Vaske as head of the field has been one of the authors of the Public Procurement Act, worked as a member of the Public Procurement Review Committee from 2007 to 2012 administering justice in the first instance, and has 10 years of experience as an attorney specialising in public procurements. He is also a renowned lecturer and author. In 2007–2022, Mart Parind was a member of the Public Procurement Review Committee. The core work of Estonian public procurement law has been published under his co-authorship: the commented edition of the Estonian Public Procurement Act (Juura 2019) and today, he is teaching young lawyers at Tallinn University. Veikko Puolakainen is a highly experienced trial lawyer and an expert in administrative court procedure, who is appreciated by clients for his solution-oriented thinking and a good grasp of business needs. If necessary, we involve experts of other fields as well, such as construction or IT law, in the work of our team, to find a comprehensive solution to the client’s problem.

In relation to public procurement we provide assistance to our clients in the following areas:

  • Representation of tenderers in procurement procedures 
  • Preparation of tenders and consultation
  • Advising contracting entities in preparation of procurement documents and conduct of procurement procedure 
  • Challenging of procurement documents and decisions of contracting entity 
  • Requests for review filed with the Public Procurement Review Committee and litigation, as necessary  
  • Performance, amendment and supervision of public contracts


Public procurement team:

Veiko Vaske (team leader)
Veikko Puolakainen
Mart Parind

Our portfolio includes:

  • Successful representation of Saaremaa rural municipality in the Public Procurement Review Committee, Tallinn Administrative Court and Tallinn Circuit Court of Appeal in connection with the public procurement “Reconstruction of Hariduse 13 Kuressaare school building” (2021)
  • Representation of AS Lääne-Tallinna Keskhaigla (West Tallinn Central Hospital) in a dispute related to the procurement of catering services (2021)
  • Successful representation of AS Lääne-Tallinna Keskhaigla (West Tallinn Central Hospital) in the Public Procurement Review Committee in a dispute with Elisa Eesti AS related to the procurement of communication services (2021)
  • Representation of Industry62 OÜ in the review and supervision proceedings in connection with the public procurement of the analysis, programming and maintenance services for the Transport Administration’s information systems (2021)
  • Representation of Bytelife Solutions OÜ in the review procedure in connection with the public procurement of the comprehensive solution for the Hyper-Converged Infrastructure of Eesti Energia (2021)
  • Representation of Bytelife Solutions OÜ, CybExer Technologies OÜ and Vector Synergy Sp. z o.o. in the review procedure and in judicial proceedings in connection with the public procurement of the NATO Cyber Range WP2 Automation Management System of the Ministry of Defence (2019–2020)
  • Successful representation of Merko Ehitus Eesti AS and GRK Infra AS in the public procurement dispute “Design of the infrastructure of the land part of the south-eastern border of the Republic of Estonia and commissioning of construction works” (2020)
  • Representation of Bussitanklad OÜ (a company belonging to the Eesti Gaas AS group) in a dispute with Tallinna Linnatranspordi AS (compressed gas procurement) (2019–2020)
  • Representation of Tallinna Lennujaam AS in a public procurement dispute with a tenderer (procurement of cleaning services)
  • Successful representation of SEBE AS in a public procurement dispute related to the procurement of “Organization of Public Bus Transportation on Harju County East 2 Direction Bus Lines” organized by MTÜ Harjumaa Ühistanspordikeskus, where the contracting authority eliminated OÜ ATKO Liinid due to previous significant and persistent breaches of contract. The dispute was taken through both the Public Procurement Review Committee and all court instances (2019)
  • Successful representation of the leading Estonian bus company SEBE AS in the public procurement dispute concerning the public bus line procurement of Pärnu County, organized by Pärnumaa Ühistranspordikeskus, with a value of more than 22 million euros. The dispute went through Procurement Complaints Board and all court levels (2019)
  • Successful representation of the US arms manufacturer Lewis Machine & Tool Company (LMT) in the Public Procurement Complaints Board and Administrative Court Proceedings in connection with the procurement by the State Defense Investment Center for the Defense Forces to purchase new 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm handguns. It is one of the largest public arms procurement projects in Estonia ever (up to a total of EUR 75 million in the framework contract), which, in addition to purchasing weapons, includes accessories, spare parts and maintenance services over a life cycle of at least 20 years (2019)
  • Successful representation of SEBE AS in the public procurement litigation case related to the procurement organised by MTÜ Harjumaa Ühistranspordikeskus: Organisation of Public Regular Carriage of Passengers by Bus on Northbound Bus Routes of Harju County regarding a public regular service contract of Harju County with the value of more than 21 million euros. The dispute was taken through the Public Procurement Review Committee and all court instances (2018)
  • Representation of AS Merko Ehitus Eesti and KMG Inseneriehitus AS in the public procurement litigation case (public procurement of the Ministry of the Environment Design and Construction Work for Recovery of Hazardous Site at Purtse River, Kohtla River and Phenol Swamp (reference number 172886), with the monetary value of approximately 18 MEUR). The dispute was taken through all court instances (except the Supreme Court) (2017)
  • Advising Danpower Eesti AS in several different public procurement procedures (including preparation of procurement documents, and drafting of decisions taken in the procurement procedure, advising on submission of tenders and assisting in the review procedure)
  • Public procurement for the services of Haljala Municipality Government: Preparation of Preliminary Building Design Documentation and Work Project for the Architectural Part of the Building Design Documentation and Conduct of Author Supervision for Haljala School Building (reference number 194492). Preparation of the procurement documents and procurement contract. The value of the contract was 186 000 euros (2017)
  • Advising SA Vaba Lava in the conduct of the public procurement Acquisition of Lighting Equipment for the Theatre Centre Vaba Lava Narvaand public procurement Acquisition of the Stand for the Theatre Centre Vaba Lava Narva (2018)
  • Representing the winner of the procurement for the construction and design of the public procurement of Elering AS construction work of Balticconnector gas pipeline, Design and Construction of Gas Pipeline Kiili – Paldiski DN700 MOP 54 (consortium EG Ehitus AS et al) in contract negotiations, analysis of the draft public contract and proposing modifications (reference number 191431) (2018)
  • Representing the contesting party AS Dieta in litigation related to the procurement for the kitchen equipment of the Estonian National Museum organised by Riigi Kinnisvara AS. The monetary value of the dispute was approximately 500 000 euros (2016)
  • Representing the subsidiary of SEBE AS in the public procurement litigation case: Ordering of Public Regular Carriage of Passengers by Bus in the City of Tartu for the Period 01.07.2017 – 30.06.2027 (with the monetary value of approximately 64 MEUR) (2016)
  • Representing SEBE AS / Eesti Buss OÜ (Mootor Grupp AS companies) parallelly in three public procurement litigation cases concerning Ordering of Public Regular Carriage of Passengers by Bus in the City of Tartu for the Period 01.07.2019 – 30.06.2029 (2017–2018, with the monetary value of approximately 64 MEUR, the disputes were taken through all court instances, except the Supreme Court)
  • Representing Selfdiagnostics OÜ as a tenderer in the public procurement litigation case (public procurement of the National Institute for Health Development, Purchase of Medical Devices: Condoms for Men (Including Extra Strong Condoms and Lubricants), Syringes, Needles and Disinfection Pads, Urine Tests and Solution for Infusion (reference number 193025), with the value of approximately 200 000 euros (2018)
  • Representing and advising the Estonian Internet Foundation in litigation related to the purchase of software development service and in respective public procurement supervisory proceedings (2016–2018)