Procurement Risk:
Moderate
Score:
62/100
Government Policy
Q57
50/100
Does the country have legislation covering defence and security procurement with clauses specific to corruption risks, and are any items exempt from these laws?
View Question
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. The Public Procurement Act covers procurement in the national defence and security sector. It…
Explore
The Ministry of Finance exercises state and administrative supervision over compliance under the Public Procurement Act. [1] The new legislation elaborates on the Ministry…
Explore
A Centre for Defence Investments was established at the beginning of 2017. [1] It accumulated all defence-related procurements into a single organisation. The National…
Explore
Q58
100/100
Is the defence procurement cycle process, from assessment of needs, through contract implementation and sign-off, all the way to asset disposal, disclosed to the public?
View Question
The Procurement Procedure under the purview of the Ministry of Defence is established by the order of the Defence Minister and is in compliance…
Explore
One of the reasons for creating the Estonian Centre for Defence Investment was to increase clarity and transparency in the defence procurement procedure. [1]…
Explore
The Procurement Procedure under the purview of the Ministry of Defence is established by the order of the Defence Minister and is in compliance…
Explore
Q59
83/100
Are defence procurement oversight mechanisms in place and are these oversight mechanisms active and transparent?
View Question
The Head of the Infrastructure Department and the Head of the Procurement Department at the Centre for Defence Investments are responsible for developing and…
Explore
The highest audit institution in Estonia, the National Audit Office, exercises oversight every year. The Office has the right to request any type of…
Explore
The National Audit Office regularly publishes summaries of reports about its activities and the budget overviews for the public. [1] Overviews of the use…
Explore
The Ministry of Defence establishes the Estonian National Defence Development Plan for ten years ahead. It is partly [1] made public on the Ministry’s…
Explore
In addition to the National Defence Development Plan for 2017 – 2026, the Ministry of Defence together with the Defence Forces developed a four-year…
Explore
The European Commission’s evaluation concluded that, overall, Estonia’s performance in the public procurement sector in 2018 was satisfactory. [1] Based on the data gathered,…
Explore
The new e-registry makes it easy to have an overview of the winning bids of different companies and the overview of all the public…
Explore
Capability Gap and Requirements Definition
Q62
38/100
What procedures and standards are companies required to have – such as compliance programmes and business conduct programmes – in order to be able to bid for work for the Ministry of Defence or armed forces?
View Question
An anti-corruption clause is listed as a requirement in the document that has to be signed by the representative of the company. It is…
Explore
The Corruption Crime Bureau under Estonia’s Central Criminal Police publishes analyses every second year. [1] These reports include corruption in public procurement. The report…
Explore
Q63
92/100
Are procurement requirements derived from a national defence and security strategy, and are procurement decisions well-audited? Are defence purchases based on clearly identified and quantified requirements?
View Question
The overall direction of expenditures in the defence sector is stipulated in the ten-year Development Plan, which is reviewed every four years. The plan…
Explore
The National Defence Committee at the Riigikogu reviews the defence budget every year. [1] The Internal Audit Unit of the Ministry of Defence regularly…
Explore
The main defence purchases, which are based on priorities, are explained in the Defence Development Plan, and more precisely in the additional document specifically…
Explore
Tender Solicitation, Assessment and Contract Award
Q64
63/100
Is defence procurement generally conducted as open competition or is there a significant element of single-sourcing (that is, without competition)?
View Question
For the majority of defence procurements, the open award procedure is used. [1] According to the interviewee’s assessment, less than 10% of procurement involves…
Explore
In the case of restricted competition, there are more requirements to follow and more confirmations to obtain. The procedure is more complicated than in…
Explore
Q65
19/100
Are tender boards subject to regulations and codes of conduct and are their decisions subject to independent audit to ensure due process and fairness?
View Question
The guidelines for ethical standards of conduct for the Procurement Committee are established by the Officials Code of Ethics, applicable to all government officials…
Explore
In 2016, the institutions under the Ministry of Defence were assessed as the governmental entities that most violated the principles of transparency and verifiability.…
Explore
The Procurement Procedure is made public. As stipulated by the Public Procurement Plan, [1] the Procurement Procedure gives an overview of the areas of…
Explore
In 2016, the institutions under the Ministry of Defence were assessed as the governmental entities that most violated the principles of transparency and verifiability.…
Explore
Q66
56/100
Does the country have legislation in place to discourage and punish collusion between bidders for defence and security contracts?
View Question
The Defence Investment Centre was created to avoid collusion between officials and bidders. [1] The Centre offers procurement management services and reports to the…
Explore
In 2017, based on the European Union’s directives, a new Public Procurement Act came into force that eased the procedures to eliminate dishonest companies…
Explore
The administrative supervision of public procurement is exercised by the Ministry of Finance. [1] The Ministry of Finance’s activities are derived from the understanding…
Explore
Training on procurement procedures is held by the Ministry of Finance for officials as well as for applicants. However, it was recently reported that…
Explore
Contract Delivery and In-Service Support
Q67
44/100
Are there mechanisms and procedures that ensure that contractors meet their obligations on reporting and delivery?
View Question
There is no overall policy that covers public procurement contracts in Estonia. Specific conditions are stipulated in each individual contract. The contracts are written…
Explore
All the documents and contracts related to the procurement are submitted to the E-Procurement Registry. [1,2] The archive consists of projects that have been…
Explore
As stipulated by the Law of Obligations Act, in case of breaches of contract, a party can withdraw from the contract [1]. The Ministry…
Explore
Action due to breaches is taken in the interests of the contractors, as stipulated by the contract. [1] There is no difference for public…
Explore
Q68
92/100
Are there mechanisms in place to allow companies to complain about perceived malpractice in procurement, and are companies protected from discrimination when they use these mechanisms?
View Question
Complaints by companies can be filed with the Appeal Committee of the Ministry of Finance. [1] They can also be submitted to the Estonian…
Explore
There is plenty of evidence of complaint mechanisms being regularly used. For example, the Ministry of Finance publishes the statistics on complaints annually. [1]…
Explore
There are cases when the same companies submit complaints more than once, which could be an indication of trust in the system. [1] If…
Explore
In accordance with the Penal Code, a company can be prohibited from engaging in enterprise from one to five years for giving or mediating…
Explore
Cases of corruption can be taken to court. The corruption or corruption-related incidents can be revealed and investigated by different institutions that are deemed…
Explore
In accordance with the Anti-Corruption Act, corruption cases can lead to fines or imprisonment. [1] Corrupt use of public resources is sanctioned by a…
Explore
Offset Contracts
Q70
NEI/100
When negotiating offset contracts, does the government specifically address corruption risk by imposing anti-corruption due diligence on contractors and third parties?
View Question
There is not enough information to score this indicator. The European Union has implemented a new directive that treats offsets as illegal. Offsets are…
Explore
There is not enough information to score this indicator. In 2011, the European Commission implemented a directive stating that since offset practices violate basic…
Explore
There is not enough information to score this indicator. From the couple of offset contracts implemented, there is evidence of reporting and making offset…
Explore
There is not enough information to score this indicator.
Explore
There is not enough information to score this indicator.
Explore
There is not enough evidence to score this indicator.
Explore
There is not enough information to score this indicator.
Explore
Agents / Brokers
Q73
25/100
How strongly does the government control the company’s use of agents and intermediaries in the procurement cycle?
View Question
Public procurement contracts are elaborated based on the Law of Obligations Act, which does not prohibit the use of intermediaries, although some obligations do…
Explore
The Strategic Goods Commission, which operates under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and consists of members from different governmental institutions, is created to strengthen…
Explore
Financing Package
Q74
0/100
Are the principal aspects of the financing package surrounding major arms deals, (such as payment timelines, interest rates, commercial loans or export credit agreements) made publicly available prior to the signing of contracts?
View Question
Major arms deals are not very common in Estonia. The latest deal was investing in hand-held firearms for the Scouts Battalion (a battalion of…
Explore
Seller Influence
Q75
NS/100
How common is it for defence acquisition decisions to be based on political influence by selling nations?
View Question
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. If during the 1990s and early 2000s Estonia’s defence capability depended heavily on foreign…
Explore
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. The government’s justifications for purchases are generally clear. [1] They link purchases to long-term…
Explore
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. As explained in previous answers, there is a prevalent consensus in Estonia when it…
Explore