Advance joining in framework agreements

Due to a new national legal practice on procurement scope, Hansel had to change its practices on joining framework agreements in 2019. In their judgements on procurement, the Market Court and the Supreme Administrative Court have stated that the scope of procurement must be specified in great detail when arranging procurement agreements and framework agreement tendering.

The legal practice states that the contracting authorities that will be using the framework agreement as well as the value and volume of the contracting authorities’ future acquisitions, up to the level of products and delivery points, must be reported during the tendering of a framework agreement. Hansel is of the opinion that the national legal practice requires reporting of the procurement scope at a significantly higher level than the Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts, the Public Procurement Directive or the legal practice of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which is based on the Public Procurement Directive.

More systematic procurement

For the purpose of reporting the scope of procurement, Hansel introduced a new joining practice. Customers who will be using a framework agreement must, before publishing the framework agreement procurement notice, join the framework agreement and announce the value or volume of their future acquisitions so that the data can be included in the framework agreement tender documents. Framework agreements are only made available to customers who have joined them in advance.

The advance joining is challenging for the customers, especially in terms of the anticipation of their future acquisitions. Hansel strives to assist its customers in the assessment of the value and volume of their acquisitions by, for instance, providing information on the customer’s previous acquisitions whenever such information is available. Benefits include more systematic procurement, greater interest of potential suppliers in framework agreement tendering and potentially a lower price level as a result.