Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2025-11-19
Buyer: Skyss
Country: NO
Region: NO0A2
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated with prior call for competition
CPV classification: 34000000 | 34100000 | 34114400: Vans | 34121000: Buses | 34121100: Public-service buses
Estimated value: 4174314000 NOK
Submission deadline: 2026-01-07
Award criteria: price, quality

Technical requirements: Is the tenderer himself or a person, who is a member of the tenderer's administration, management or supervisory body or has the competence to represent or control or make decisions in such bodies, in the event a enforceable verdict has been convicted of corruption by a verdict handed down not more than five years ago, or a rejection period determined directly in the judgement that still applies? Corruption as defined in Article 3 of the Convention on Combating Corruption, Involving European Communities or European Union Member States (EUT C 195 of 25.6.1997, s. 1), and in Article 2, point 1, in the Council ́s framework decision 2003/568/RIA of 22 July 2003 on combating corruption in the private sector (EUT L 192 of 31.7.2003, p. 54). This rejection reason also includes corruption as defined in national law for the contracting authority or supplier.
Is the tenderer himself or a person, who is a member of the tenderer's administration, management or supervisory body or has the competence to represent or control or make decisions in such bodies, at the time a legally convicted of fraud has been convicted of fraud by a verdict handed down not more than five years ago, or a rejection period determined directly in the judgement that still applies? Fraud included in Article 1 of the Convention on protection of the Financial Interests of the European Communities (EFT C 316 of 27.11.1995, p. 48).
Is the tenderer himself or a person, who is a member of the tenderer's administration, management or supervisory body or has the competence to represent or control or make decisions in such bodies, in the event a legal verdict has been convicted of money laundering or financing terrorism by a verdict handed down no more than five years ago, or a rejection period set out directly in the judgement that still applies? Money laundering or financing terrorism As defined in Article 1 of the European Parliament and Council Directive 2005/60/EF of 26 October 2005 on preventive measures against the use of the financial system for money laundering and financing terrorism (EUT L 309 of 25.11.2005, p. 15).
Is the tenderer himself or a person, who is a member of the tenderer's administration, management or supervisory body or has the competence to represent or control or make decisions in such bodies, at the time a legally convicted verdict of participation in a criminal organisation by a verdict handed down no more than five years ago, or a rejection period set out directly in the judgement that still applies? Participation in a criminal organisation as defined in Article 2 of the Council ́s framework decision 2008/841/RIA of 24 October 2008 on control of organised crime (EUT L 300 of 11.11.2008, p. 42)
Is the tenderer himself or a person, who is a member of the tenderer's administration, management or supervisory body, or has the competence to represent or control or make decisions in such bodies, in the event a legal verdict has been convicted of acts of terrorism or criminal acts connected to terrorist activities by a verdict handed down no more than five years ago, or a rejection period set out directly in the judgement that still applies? Acts of terrorism or criminal acts relating to terrorist activity as defined in Article 1 and 3 of the Council ́s framework decision 2002/475/RIA of 13 June 2002 on combating terrorism (EFT L 164, af 22.6.2002, p. 3). This rejection reason also includes incitement to, participation or attempts to commit such actions as included in Article 4 in the mentioned framework decision.

Eligibility requirements: The tenderer must have sufficient experience and competence relevant to this assignment. The tenderer shall document such experience by completing Annex B for the relevant reference project(s) carried out during the last three years. It is the tenderer’s responsibility to demonstrate relevance through the description provided.

The contracting authority reserves the right to contact the stated references and to emphasize the assessment given by the contact person in connection with the evaluation of the tenderer’s qualifications.
The tenderer shall have satisfying financial capacity to carry out the assignment.

Refer to Annex A for further information about what the contracting authority will consider when assessing this qualification requirement.

Annual accounts
The tenderer shall submit board-approved annual accounts including notes, together with the board’s and auditor’s reports for the last three financial years. If the most recently completed annual accounts are not auditor-approved, preliminary annual accounts shall be submitted.

Liquidity plan
The tenderer shall provide a description/plan of how the tenderer will maintain or, if applicable, improve the company’s liquidity in the coming years. The plan may, for example, include information on measures taken to secure liquidity, the desired liquidity ratio in the company, etc.

Credit assessment
The contracting authority may carry out a credit assessment of the company to verify that the qualification requirement is fulfilled.

Credit assessment for foreign tenderers
Foreign tenderers shall submit a credit assessment based on the most recent available financial figures. The credit assessment/rating must not be older than six months and shall be based on the most recent available financial figures. The credit assessment/rating must be performed by a publicly approved credit rating institution, confirming that the tenderer has the required rating.
The tenderer shall be a legally established company. A certificate of registration not older than six months, calculated from the expiry of the application deadline, shall be submitted.

For foreign tenderers: Confirmation that the tenderer is registered in a trade register or company register in accordance with the legislation of the country in which the tenderer is established.
The tenderer shall have duly settled matters with the tax authorities.

Norwegian tenderers 
Norwegian suppliers shall submit a tax certificate for value added tax and a tax certificate for income tax (RF‑1316). The certificates must not be older than six months, calculated from the expiry of the application deadline.

Foreign tenderers 
Foreign suppliers must submit equivalent certificates from their respective countries documenting that the company has duly settled its tax and duty obligations. If the authorities in the relevant country do not issue such certificates, the supplier must provide a declaration confirming that all taxes/duties have been paid. The declaration must be signed by the company’s financial officer. The documentation shall be prepared in Norwegian or English.
The contracting authority requires a demand guarantee.
Refer to Chapter 2 of the Contract for details regarding the execution of the service.
The contracting authority will award the contract to the tenderer who submits the offer with the lowest offered evaluation amount. The tenderer shall, in its tender, submit a fully completed Price Form with all sheets duly filled in.
According to Forsyningsforskriften § 7-9, second paragraph, public contracting authorities must weight climate and environmental considerations with a minimum of thirty percent. Pursuant to the fourth paragraph, this obligation may be waived if it is “clear” that minimum requirements for climate and environment provide a “better climate and environmental effect” than an award criterion weighted at thirty percent would have given.

In addition to § 7-9, second paragraph of the Forsyningsforskriften, the Regulation on Emission Requirements for Vehicles in Public Procurement for Road Transport (“Zero Emission Regulation”/Nullutslippsforskriften) applies. The regulation requires public contracting authorities to impose specific environmental requirements when procuring vehicles covered by the regulation. According to the contracting authority’s assessment, all relevant bus types included in this Contract are covered by § 3 letter e.

The contracting authority has carried out a thorough assessment of the operator’s actual room for offering zero-emission buses. Nordhordland has weak road infrastructure with significant limitations related to permitted axle load. Approximately half of the route production takes place on Bk8 or BkT8 roads, cf. Regulation on the Use of Vehicles/ forskrift om bruk av kjøretøy § 5-4. These routes are mainly linked to school transport, where there are legal requirements under the Education Act/Opplæringsloven for safe school transport for pupils.

In dialogue with road owners, the contracting authority has sought to have Bk8 and BkT8 roads reclassified to Bk10 to expand the scope for zero-emission vehicles. The applications have largely been rejected on the grounds of low load-bearing capacity of roads and bridges, and several municipalities have pointed to a lack of financial resources for improvements. Alternative routes have been considered, but these are few and in several cases would result in school routes exceeding the legal distance limits in Chapter 7 of the Education Act/Opplæringsloven.

Furthermore, the contracting authority has considered whether it is an alternative to use minibuses to legally operate on Bk8 and BkT8 roads. Such a solution would require more buses due to lost seating capacity. More buses result in a higher overall climate footprint, and the utilisation rate of these buses would be low, as they are not suitable for use on other lines in the Contract.

To ensure the best possible climate and environmental effect, the contracting authority has set minimum requirements that 1.900.000 route kilometres per year must be operated with fully electric vehicles. This corresponds to the part of the route production that takes place on Bk10 roads. For the part of the route production that cannot be carried out with fully electric vehicles due to low road classification, the contracting authority, in accordance with the Zero Emission Regulation § 4 letter c and § 4 final paragraph, has considered the use of biogas.

The main argument against the use of biogas in Nordhordland is that the buses that could potentially use biogas are also stationed at facilities other than the main bus depots, to avoid unnecessary dead mileage. This would mean that at several different locations it would be necessary to establish facilities for safe and efficient operation of biogas vehicles, such as pressure tanks, reception stations for tanker truck transport, ventilation, gas detectors and emergency systems. Establishing such facilities at places other than the main bus depots entails large investments in technical infrastructure and safety, and would require high resource use and significant interventions in both buildings and land. This is not in line with the considerations of efficient use of society’s resources, cf. Public Procurement Act (PPA) § 1, nor with the purpose in PPA § 5.

The same applies if equivalent facilities were to be established at the main bus depots, especially when this must be combined with provision for charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. The sum of these measures results in a significant climate and environmental footprint, which is directly contrary to the purpose of reducing emissions from public transport. When weighing the total costs, risks and environmental burden of establishing biogas refuelling and biogas operation against the proportion of the bus fleet this could have been relevant for, the contracting authority’s assessment is that biogas does not appear appropriate in Nordhordland.

In addition to the challenges related to the stationing of biogas buses, these buses generally have a higher curb weight than equivalent diesel buses, typically 1–2 tonnes more, due to pressure tanks and compression systems. This increased weight means that the axle load of the buses often exceeds the legal limit of 8 tonnes applicable to Bk8 and BkT8 roads. Even though biogas buses with sufficiently low curb weight may potentially exist, the contracting authority’s assessment is that competition in this part of the bus market is weak. The contracting authority considers that the competition principle under the Public Procurement Act (PPA) § 4 argues against imposing requirements that in reality can only be met by a small number of suppliers. This would weaken competition and thus be contrary to the fundamental principle of competition.

To nevertheless guarantee the highest possible climate and environmental effect in this procurement, the contracting authority has chosen to impose stricter environmental requirements in the Contract. Please find the list of samples in the Prosedyreskildring.
The contracting authority will inform all tenderers in writing and simultaneously of the tenderer with whom the contracting authority intends to enter into a contract, as soon as the supplier selection has been made.

If the contracting authority finds that the award decision is not in accordance with the criteria for supplier selection, the decision may be annulled until the contract has been signed.

A standstill period of minimum ten (10) calendar days will be applied. The contract will be entered into immediately after the expiry of the standstill period.

A binding agreement is only concluded when the Contract has been signed by both parties.
Skyss invites tenderers to participate in the competition "Bussanbod 2027 Nordhordland". The winning operator will have the responsibility to manage the contract, consisting of regular scheduled bus services, individually adapted school transport, and on-demand transport.

The contract is a gross contract, where the contracting authority is responsible for marketing and bearing the revenue risk. The operator is responsible for carrying out the delivery in the contract against the agreed remuneration from the contracting authority.

Estimated annual contract value: NOK 250-275.000.000 (ordinary contract period).
Estimated annual contract value for option years: NOK 216.000.000
Estimate cost for Individually facilitated school transport in addition to annual remuneration: NOK 40-42.000.000
Estimated cost for upgrading the network infrastructure at the Contracting Authority’s premises: NOK 3.064.000
Estimated contract period of 13 years (including bonus and cash investments): NOK 4.174.314.000