Public procurement - what can Advokatfirmaet Halvorsen & Co AS do for you?

The public sector purchases goods, services and construction work worth around SEK 520 billion annually and the market is constantly growing.

The consequences of making a mistake in a procurement process can be significant for both the contracting authority and the tenderer, even in cases where the error itself is minor.

It can be difficult, especially for small and medium-sized companies that have to deliver to the public sector, to know where the boundaries lie for what is permitted and within the procurement law framework. Insight into the regulations is therefore crucial in order to do things right, both for contracting authorities and for suppliers. 

The law firm Halvorsen & Co AS has set up a special team and will in future focus on the legal area of public procurement. The team consists of two very experienced lawyers who have extensive experience from the public sector and work with public procurement processes there. During the winter of 2020, we will be organising various professional gatherings on the subject of public procurement.

Advokatfirmaet Halvorsen & Co AS can, among other things, assist private companies that are to submit tenders to the public sector to:

• Be a team player when reviewing competition documents
• Assess whether there is room to propose changes and make reservations
• Input to the design of tenders and completion of requirement specifications without risking rejection
• Counselling with assessment in case of rejection and subsequent appeal process

We also recommend that contracting authorities that do not have public procurement as their primary task seek assistance early in the procurement process. Among other things, we can assist with:

• Preparation of competition documents
• Advice on the design of price matrix and requirement specification
• General procurement law issues and contract work

Our expertise in the area:

Senior Attorney Ellen Tangen Eilerås

Eilerås is part of the office's business law team and has extensive regulatory expertise in public procurement. She previously worked for five years in the Norwegian Security and Service Organisation (DSS), and has insight into a wide range of different industries, as well as extensive experience in preparing competition documents and conducting procurement processes.

Associate Karoline Martinsen Toverud

Toverud has just joined us after seven years working with procurement in the Norwegian Defence. During this time, she has built up excellent expertise in public procurement regulations. She has previously worked first in the LOS programme and later in the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation with various types of procurement, including the purchase of goods, services and IT solutions. She has extensive experience in carrying out all phases of a procurement process.

Eilerås and Toverud are able to assist both public and private organisations, and bring with them experience from procurement processes in various industries.