Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Markets and Companies, Security

At the proposal of the tender committee, Col. Rauno Sirk, director of the Center for Defense Investment, has declared the offer by the US arms manufacturer Lewis Machine & Tool Company the most successful tender in the procurement, spokespeople for the Center for Defense Investment said on Tuesday.

In the appraisal of the offers, the outcome of a shooting test conducted in March made up 10% of the overall score, the guaranteed number of shots throughout the weapon's life cycle 20%, length of the useful life of the weapon 30%, and the price 40%.

"The committee appraised in the first place the reliability and dependability of the weapons as well as the economic feasibility, that is, the total cost of the project," Sirk said. "It is our aim to buy an automatic firearm which is precise, handy and dependable in different weather and environment conditions. The cost of the transaction is not of lesser importance either. In this we evaluated the life cycle cost, not just the purchase price of the weapons and additional equipment, and we took into consideration the costs that have to be incurred over the next 20 years," Sirk said. 

Under the planned contract, Estonia will buy some 16,000 firearms with additional equipment for 22 mln euros over the years 2019–2021. In addition the contract must enable additional purchases of weapons until 2026.

The tender of the Center for Defense Investment to buy new 5.56-millimeter and 7.62-millimeter automatic firearms for the 1st and 2nd Infantry Brigades and eventually for the entire operations structure of the defense forces was announced in June 2017.

Nine of the 14 applications by manufacturers of firearms to pre-qualify for the procurement were granted and five rejected. By the January deadline four manufacturer made their offers: Heckler & Koch, Sig Sauer, Lewis Machine & Tool Company and Patriot Ordnance Factory.

Lewis Machine & Tool Company is a company established in 1980 which manufactures and supplies firearms primarily to the US military and other armed structures. Weapons manufactures by the company are used by the SAS special forces unit of the British army and the army of New Zealand. 

The announcement of the most successful tenderer will be followed by a 14-day period during which participants in the tender can contest the tender outcome. The framework and procurement contracts are expected to be signed in the coming few months.