Latvia
Copyright Lex Mundi Ltd. 2012
Public Procurement
LATVIA
LAWIN Riga office
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Maris Brizgo
LAWIN Riga office
Elizabetes 15
Riga, Latvia LV-1010
371.6781.4848
maris.brizgo@lawin.lv
www.lawin.lv
A. Overview of Public Procurement
1. What are the principal elements of Public Procurement regulation in your
jurisdiction?
Latvian Public Procurement Law implements Directive 2004/18/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of
procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and
public service contracts. The main principle of public procurement in Latvia and
other EU Member States is that any award of a contarct should be done in nondiscriminatory and transparent way. According to the Public Procurement Law of
Latvia, any procurement procedure should be transparent, free competition of
suppliers should be ensured, as well as equal and fair attitude to suppliers, and
effective use of state and local government funds should be provided.
B. Legal Framework for Public Procurement
1. What are the basic principles applicable to Public Procurement?
1) Non-discriminiation;
2) Transparency;
3) Free competition of cuppliers;
4) Effective use of State and local government funds.
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2. What are the main regulations applicable to Public Procurement in your
jurisdiction?
The following procurement procedures should be applied:
1) an open competition;
2) a closed competition;
3) a price quotation;
4) a negotiated procedure; and
5) a design competition.
The Public Procurement Law shall be applied to procurement procedures if the
procurement contract price is 10 000 lats or more.
3. What public agencies are subjected to the general Public Procurement
regime?
State or local government institution, a local government, other derived public
person or institution thereof.
4. What public agencies are not subjected to the application of the general
Public Procurement regime?
State defence institutions with specified exceptions.
5. Are there any non-public entities subjected to the application of the general
Public Procurement regime?
Legal person governed by private law, which concurrently conforms with the
following criteria:
a) is established or operates in order to ensure the needs of the public, which are
not of commercial or industrial nature; and
b) is subordinate or subject to the decisive influence of a State or local
government institution, a local government, other derived public person or
institution thereof, or subject to the decisive influence of a legal person governed
by private law conforming to these criteria (this influence manifests as the
majority of voting rights upon electing the members of the supervisory or
executive authority or upon appointment of the administration) or more than 50
per cent of financing for activities of such legal person governed by private law
comes from the State, local government, other derived public person, institution
thereof or another legal person governed by private law conforming to these
criteria.
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C. Requirements for Foreign Companies to Participate in Public Procurement
Processes
1. Are foreign companies required to set up branches or subsidiaries or
otherwise enter into any commercial agreements with local partners in order
to participate in Public Procurement Processes?
In general no, foreign companies do not need to establish any branch or subsidiary
or enter into any commercial agreement with local partner.
2. Are there any reciprocity regulations?
n/a
3. Are there any contracts or matters from which foreign companies are
restricted (eg. national defense, hazardous waste disposal, security services,
etc)?
Yes, there are certain restrictions depending on a particular subject matter of the
tender. E.g. security services could be provided only by company established in
Latvia and having a license; if the procurement contains classified information or
state secrets, only companies estblished in Latvia and having obtained industrial
certificate may participate in such tender.
D. Procedures for Awarding Public Procurement Contracts
1. Is there a Bidders Registry?
No, Latvia has not established any bidders' registry.
2. Is electronic procurement fully implemented?
Yes, electronic procurement is implemented in Latvia. Latvia provides for
following types of electronic procurement:
1) dynamic purchase system;
2) electronic auction.
3. What steps and measures should be addressed for a bidder to be able to
present a bid in an electronic procurement procedure?
Dynamic purchase system - any bidder should conform to the qualification
requirements and should have submitted an indicative tender. Electronic auction any bidder should have submitted admissible tenders and should have individual
connection to the electronic equipment being used in the auction.
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4. What are the possible ways of association for participating in public
procurement proceedings?
In general association may participate in public tender.
5. What type of procurement procedures exist?
1) an open competition;
2) a closed competition;
3) a price quotation;
4) a negotiated procedure; and
5) a design competition.
6. What are the modes of selection processes and when are they applicable?
The criteria for selection of tenders shall be as follows: 1) the economically most
advantageous tender; and 2) the tender with the lowest price. The choice of a
selection mode is subject to discretion of a commissioning party.
7. Is the bidding company required to post any bond or insurance?
This is subject to rules of each particular procurement.
8. What are the criteria for evaluation and comparison of bid proposals?
Any selection should consist of two parts:
1) qualification - selection of candidates complying with conditions specified by
each particular procurement;
2) offers - evaluation and selection of winning bidder according to selection
criteria.
If the selection criteria is lowest price then bidder with lowest price should get the
award of a contract. If the selection criteria is economically most advantageous
tender then a contract should be awarded to a bidder having obtained highest
points according to rules of particulat procurement.
9. What are the requisites for execution of contracts after awarding?
A procurement contract shall be entered into not sooner than either on the 11th
day or 16th day, depending on a case in question, after a notification on the results
of the procurement procedure. If the tender results are chellenged, the
procurement contract shall not be executed until review of the application.
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E. Private Initiative Projects
1. Are there any regulations for Public Procurement of projects proposed by
private companies?
n/a
2. Does the private company proposing the project have any advantage for
purposes of bidding?
No, there are no advantages for such companies.
F. Review Procedures
1. Are there any judicial review procedures applicable to the bidding
processes?
In general any complaint or application regarding procurement procedure should
be submitted to the Procurement Monitoring Bureau which is a state institution.
Limited application should be submitted only to the court.
2. Are there any judicial review procedures applicable when the contract has
been executed?
In limited cases, it is allowed to request the administrative court to annul,
terminate, amend or reduce contractual term of the procurement contract already
executed.
G. Overview of Public Procurement Contracts
1. What are the regulations applicable to contract terms and its extension?
The term of any procurement contract shall not be more than 5 (five) years. In
general, any extension of a term should be done only through a new procurement
procedure.
2. Are there any guarantees that have to be posted for the performance of the
contract?
This is subject to rules of a particular procurement procedure.
3. Are there any special powers upon the State?
The Government of Latvia may exclude application of the Public Procurement
Law if it has recognised the information regarding a contract or the
implementation thereof as an official secret or application of the Law may cause
harm to the protection of substantial interests of the State.
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4. Can fines or penalty clauses be agreed upon?
Yes, this is allowed in procurement contracts.
5. Can the contract be assigned?
No, the contract should be implemented by a winning bidder.
6. Can advance payments be established?
Yes, this is allowed.
7. How is dispute resolution regulated?
Subject to each particular contract.
8. Can international arbitration be agreed upon?
Yes, this is allowed.
9. Is there any procedure for liquidation of the contract?
Subject to each particular contract.
H. Applicable Regulation
1. Please list any relevant regulation and, if possible, web links to up-to-date
versions of the same.
Public Procurement Law http://www.vvc.gov.lv/advantagecms/LV/tulkojumi/meklet_dokumentus.html?qu
ery=Public+Procurement+Law+%28with+amendments+to+16.07.2009%29&Sub
mit=Mekl%C4%93t&resultsPerPage=10
