We represented Tallinna Haridusamet (Tallinn Education Department) in 7 public procurement disputes which arose in one of the largest public tenders for catering services in Estonia of all time.
Impacting nearly half of all the municipal schools in Tallinn
The public tender concerned the provision of school catering services for 24 municipal schools in Tallinn. Hence, the tender was divided into 24 lots. The total estimated value of all the lots was approximately 25 million euros, making it one of the largest tenders of catering services in Estonia of all time. With a total of 65 municipal schools in Tallinn, the procurement and following disputes concerned the catering in nearly 40% of the schools in Tallinn.
Our services
In total, 8 disputes arose from the public tender. We successfully represented the client in the 7 disputes which required representation. In total, four different catering service providers were the opposing parties in the disputes.
Of the seven cases, six were decided in favor of Haridusamet either in Public Procurement Review Committee (VaKo) or later in Tallinn Administrative Court or Tallinn Circuit Court.
One case ended with a decision by the Tallinn Circuit Court declaring two decisions by Haridusamet to be unlawful. However, in that case, the public contracts were already lawfully signed.
Haridusamet was able to conclude 22 contracts out of 24 envisaged by the tender and catering in municipal schools was at all times ensured.
Our client team
Our client team was led by senior associate Mario Sõrm, supported by partner Kaido Künnapas and senior associate Kadri Härginen.
