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

EuroSpike filed the application to participate in the tender at the end of November. The procurement committee found at the beginning of December that the application qualified for participation in the procurement, spokespeople for the Estonian Center for Defense Investments said.

The company that has qualified in the tender must submit a tender offer by Jan. 7. That will be followed by an analysis of the offer and negotiations. If the outcome of the latter satisfies the parties, an agreement can be signed in the first half of 2019.  

"The weapons systems of several manufacturers meet the technical specifications of the procurement. Unfortunately, other companies did not express the wish to put up competition," Priit Soosaar, head of the department for procurements at the Center for Defense Investments said. He said that a detailed set of rules exists for the conduct of tenders and the tender has to be properly processed  regardless of the number of tenderers.

"We can also not underestimate the economic favorability of the transaction. We must take into account that if we buy antitank systems with a reasonable price and life cycle costs, their factor of usefulness will be significantly higher than that of very expensive systems that would necessitate significant cost-saving in some other important area," Soosaar said.

"The procurement of the new antitank systems will bring the antitank competence of the defense forces to a completely new level. According to the terms set forth by the defense forces, the new antitank system must be capable of hitting targets at a distance of at least 4,000 meters both by indirect and direct fire and be capable of destroying modern tanks and armored vehicles. In addition to 'fire and forget' capability, the systems also must have the 'fire, observe and update' capability, which enables to also hit targets in hiding," said the coordinator of the procurement," Maj. Alar Karileet.

As a result of the competitive negotiated procurement announced in October, a framework agreement is to be concluded with the supplier. The estimated cost of the contract for the supply of at least 18 weapons systems with ammunition, technical support and training, which must include an option for the purchase of additional units, is 40 mln euros.