Finland: Škoda Group has filed a complaint with the Finnish Market Court over its exclusion from a tender to supply up to 183 trams for Helsinki, describing the decision as fabricated.
The company says its bid was rejected before Stadler was announced as the winner of the competition, making the Swiss manufacturer’s offer the only remaining one despite exceeding the procurement’s budget ceiling.
In an official press release, Škoda Group rejects the reasons given for its exclusion. Helsinki public transport operator Pääkaupunkiseudun Kaupunkiliikenne claimed the company was unreliable due to delivery delays under other contracts. The Czech manufacturer argues that such a justification contradicts Finland’s national public procurement legislation and cannot be used as grounds for disqualification.
Pääkaupunkiseudun Kaupunkiliikenne also asserted that Škoda Group’s tram models failed to meet the tender’s technical requirements. The company acknowledges that an error was made in its bid documentation but says this was corrected, and that the revision was ignored by the contracting authority.
The manufacturer concludes that the stated reasons were constructed to deliberately exclude it from the tender process and to avoid evaluating its offer alongside Stadler’s. The company describes the decision as discriminatory and inconsistent with the principles of fair and transparent competition.
The framework tender, announced in 2023, was valued at €1.6 bln. Its firm portion covers the supply of 30 unidirectional and 33 bidirectional trams, along with 30 years of maintenance. The value of Stadler’s bid has not been disclosed.
It is notable that the Transtech plant, which has been part of Škoda Group since 2015, served as Helsinki’s sole tram supplier for more than 13 years. In recent years, it delivered five-car ForCity Smart Artic X54 trams for the Finnish capital (pictured).
