Škoda Transtech has submitted a formal complaint to the Finnish Market Court after a procurement decision was made by Helsinki Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd. (Pääkaupunkiseudun Kaupunkiliikenne Oy) to exclude the company from a Helsinki Metropolitan Area tram tender.
The company has stated that it feels the decision was both discriminatory and in breach of fair, transparent competition principles.
Pääkaupunkiseudun Kaupunkiliikenne Oy issued a procurement decision that excluded Škoda Transtech from the Helsinki Metropolitan Area tram tender on 06 October 2025, accepting one offer as a result, Stadler Polska. This selection was, according to Škoda Transtech, made without any evaluation or comparison of any other offers.
In its decision; Pääkaupunkiseudun Kaupunkiliikenne Oy stated that Škoda Transtech was excluded due to unreliability (due to delays with previous contracts), undue influencing of the tender process and non-compliance with technical requirements.
In a statement; Škoda Transtech has refuted these grounds for exclusion, claiming that delays to previous contracts do not fulfil the criteria required by local law to act as grounds for exclusion from the tender and had been ‘duly remedied in the past’. The company also stated that this unreliability was not raised during any phase of the negotiations – rendering it non-compliant with Finnish public procurement law.
Škoda Transtech has also claimed that any statements made by representatives to the media during the tender process were stating publicly known facts – dismissing the accusation of undue influencing.
Finally, Škoda Transtech has stated that it confirmed its offer was ‘fully compliant’ with all mandatory technical requirements during the tender process and also clarified – at the request of Pääkaupunkiseudun Kaupunkiliikenne Oy – that if any discrepancies should occur, they were obvious minor mistakes arising from tender documentation, with such clarification, the company claims, not taken into account.
With all of the above taken into account; the company believes that ‘superficial exclusion terms’ have been manufactured in order to exclude it from the process and, allegedly, avoid a ‘proper evaluation’ and full comparison of all tender offers.
Škoda Transtech claims that a full evaluation would have shown its offer to be more favourable, and that the price offered by Stadler Polska may, in fact, be higher than the allocated budget of the tender, which would, allegedly, be ‘more apparent if a due evaluation and comparison of the offers had taken place based on all relevant evaluation criteria (such as the Life Cycle Costs for the operation of the trams)’.
Petr Novotný, CEO of Škoda Group, said:We strongly believe that every tender should be truly competitive – allowing the customer to compare key factors such as price, life-cycle costs and the overall value of the offer and ability to deliver on time.
The decision to exclude one offer at the very end of a two years’ tender procedure, without having a chance to be evaluated, does not fulfil basic principles of equality and fairness and completely distorts competition.
Our Finnish company, Škoda Transtech, has a long and proud history of developing and manufacturing trams in Finland, and we remain committed to contributing to sustainable public transport in the Nordic region.
The matter is now being assessed by the Finnish Market Court.
The tender in question was first launched in 2022 and concerned the supply of a new generation of low-floor trams for urban operation in Finland. The contract was valued at 270 million EUR.
