Latest Assignments

Attorney-at-law Sandor Elias represented a client in a significant dispute in the Supreme Court in administrative matter 3-20-924. In its judgment of 4 November 2020, the Supreme Court found that contrary to the understanding that has taken hold in the current judicial practice, not every tender below its cost price is prohibited. The Supreme Court found that cross-subsidisation with non-contractual revenue is not prohibited, unless separately forbidden by the law applicable in the field or the terms and conditions of the public procurement. However, a tender below its cost price is unacceptable, for example, if it distorts competition, foremost if the tenderer were to thereby abuse its dominant position by freezing out its competitors from the market. In conclusion, the decision of the Supreme Court is significant in shaping the future of the public procurement landscape. First, it brings the logic of public procurements and of private market closer together as a tender below its cost price is also not always prohibited in the usual relationship between entrepreneurs. Secondly, it inevitably places a somewhat higher administrative burden on contracting authorities.

TRINITI, together with a leading CEE business consultancy Civitta, communication agency Meta Advisory Group and Malla Paajanen Consulting successfully completed a Service Contract for the European Commission (DG-MOVE) for a study on the business case of the Rail Baltica project and setting up a Rail Baltic Business Network in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Altogether 22 business network events were organised in the course of 2017 and 2018 for informational, experience-sharing and discussion purposes which attracted over 1100 attendees from both the public and the private sector. Read moreThe study on the business case of the Rail Baltica project summarises the expectations of the business sector towards the new transport corridor and is based on the analyses of the existing research on Rail Baltica and results of the interviews conducted in the 5 participating countries in the course of the Rail Baltica Business Network events in 2017 and 2018

TRINITI carried out the risk analysis of the planning and construction phase of the Estonian part of Rail Baltica project in cooperation with Ernst & Young Baltic. The analyses  mapped the risks embedded in the large-scale cross-border infrastructure project and provided input for establishing a comprehensive risk management system for Rail Baltic Estonia OÜ. Among others the risks related to the financing, project Management and procurements of the Rail Baltica project were assessed in four categories – money, time, quality, and reputation. Advocates Tõnis Tamme and Sandor Elias participated in the preparation of the risk analysis on behalf of TRINITI

TRINITI assisted Reaalprojekt in the Rail Baltic railway engineering and design work for the Estonian section of the new high-speed European gauge passenger and cargo railway to be built from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border. Read moreThe opinion of the Appeals Committee in this case is noteworthy as it states that although the appellant is not obligated to read work-related correspondence on days-off, if they do so regardless, the fact that the day in question was a day off does not change the moment at which the relevant decision was learned of. The procurement contract was awarded to our client Reaalprojekt

TRINITI carried out a multi-disciplinary study on the future Rail Baltic joint venture, commissioned by the Estonian Technical Surveillance Authority on behalf of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Inter-Governmental Rail Baltic Task-Force. The purpose of the TRINITI Rail Baltic Joint Venture Study, completed in 2013, was to analyse the variables related to the legal status, management structure, shareholder agreements and financing issues (incl. tax) for the largest joint venture between the three Baltic states in their history

TRINITI represented a leading Estonian security services provider USS Eesti Security AS in security procurement disputes with Estonian Railways and the Port of Tallinn. As the relevant procurements were simplified procurements in relation to which previous contestation cases are rather limited in number, the proceedings created precedents. Read moreOur innovative work on the case resulted in the awarding of both procurement contracts to USS Security Eesti AS

Advising on the public procurement for street lighting systems in the Estonian cities of Kuressaare, Valga, Võru, Haapsalu, Jõhvi, Keila and Paide to make them more energy efficient. As a result of our persistent work we managed to invalidate all of the competitor’s reproaches and convince the Appeals Committee as well as the contracting entity that K-Projekt has all the specialists, references and other means required to implement the reconstruction work. Read moreA procurement contract between the Environmental Investment Centre foundation, representatives of the towns and K-Projekt was consequently concluded

TRINITI advised Esecom International in a dispute with the Information Technology Centre of the Estonian Ministry of Finance in relation to contract documents pertaining to telephone purchases. The case terminated in a rather rare compromise in public procurement disputes, according to which, the contracting entity agreed to amend the contract documents to conform to the client’s vision

TRINITI advised Harku Rural Municipality in the procurement proceedings for the restoration of Vääna school as well as in a subsequent dispute. The contracting entity was forced to make a number of decisions during the course of the proceedings and finally exclude from the proceedings a tenderer that lacked the references required in the procurement and that had submitted false information. Read moreThe Appeals Committee refused to hear the excluded tenderer’s appeal as the appellant did not appeal against the decision to exclude the relevant tenderer, which directly concerned the appellant, but rather appealed against the decision concerning the successful tenderer. Decisions made during the procurement proceedings by Harku Rural Municipality Government remained in force

TRINITI successfully represented Medtronic, a manufacturer of medical products, in a dispute relating to a public procurement procedure organized for the purchase of pacemakers