Since most of our contracts in practice are offered to domestic suppliers, or foreign based businesses with domestic branches, we seldom translate all the relevant information regarding the procurement into English. In most cases only the contract notice is in English. We stipulate that all requests to participate, offers, contracts, correspondence and other documentation shall be in Norwegian.

Prequalifying suppliers or call for tenders

In a few cases we announce an "open tender invitation" allowing anyone to place a tender. This is mostly used for procurement of furniture and the like, ie. where we are able to describe the product exactly and we can accept an offer without any further negotiation.

In most other circumstances (especially involving procurement of consultancy services) we use a two-stage method. First there is a prequalifying of suppliers, followed by tenders from the invited suppliers and a negotiation with potential contract partners. In this case the suppliers must first give the Agency the required documentation about their ability to fulfil the contract according to our demands.

In the next phase the Agency will provide the qualified suppliers with the tender documents necessary for sending the tender to us. We normally set a maximum number of suppliers that will be invited to place the tender. This is usually 5. This means that a supplier is not automatically guaranteed the opportunity to tender even if the supplier is qualified to do so.

Some additional information about software programming and consultancy services

When we announce IT-related contracts we usually intend to develop the computer systems at our preferred hardware/software infrastructure. If we know or think that standard systems/applications can be used, we try to point this out in the announcement.

Climate and Pollution Agency stipulates that the development or implementation of computer systems has to be carried out at our own infrastructure (pc/servers/development environment) in our premises in Oslo, Norway. In addition this shall normally be done by consultants working full-time (8am-4pm) 5 days a week for the duration of the project (this can be from 6 months up to several years). Implementation is usually followed by a guarantee period and a maintenance-phase that can last for several years (where the supplier has to commit himself to meet up at our business address at short notice to fix errors and/or develop the system/application further).

The business language in Norway is Norwegian. Although most Norwegians understand/speak English, technical terms etc are difficult to communicate in a non-native language for Norwegians. As a result we usually demand that consultants speak Norwegian fluently and have sufficient ability to read and write Norwegian. All technical infrastructure and organisational documentation is written in Norwegian.

We strongly urge foreign suppliers to study these guidelines carefully and evaluate if they are able to comply with our requirements.

We hope this information will be helpful to any potential foreign supplier.