On 6 October 2025, the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Urban Transport Ltd. (Pääkaupunkiseudun Kaupunkiliikenne Oy) issued a procurement decision to exclude Škoda Transtech from the Helsinki Metropolitan Area tram tender. As a result, Helsinki Metropolitan Area Transport accepted only one offer. Subsequently, Stadler Polska was selected as supplier in the tender procedure, without any evaluation or comparison of other offers.
In the procurement decision, Helsinki Metropolitan Area Transport stated three main grounds for exclusion:
- Alleged unreliability of Škoda Transtech due to delays in connection with previous contracts – the occurred delays do not fulfil the criteria required by local law to act as grounds for exclusion from the tender and were duly remedied in the past by Škoda Transtech. This alleged unreliability was not raiser during any of the negotiation phases – this is non-compliant with Finnish public procurement law.
- Alleged undue influencing of the tender process – by way of example, Helsinki Metropolitan Area Transport considered statements made by Škoda Transtech’s representatives to the media during the tender process, mentioning publicly known facts, as undue influencing.
- Alleged non-compliance with technical requirements – during the tender process Škoda Transtech confirmed that its offer is “Fully Compliant” to all mandatory technical requirements of the tender and clarified – at the request of Helsinki Metropolitan Area Transport – that if there are discrepancies, they are either obvious minor mistake arising from the tender documentation. Such clarification was not taken into the account.
Taking into account the above, it is apparent that superficial exclusion terms have been manufactured as a way to exclude Skoda Transtech from the process and potentially to avoid a proper evaluation and comparison of all tender offers. This would most likely have shown that Škoda Transtech’s offer was more favorable. The procurement decision is conditional to an approval by the city councils of Helsinki and Vantaa to increase of the budget allocated to this tender. This fact suggests that the price offered by Stadler Polska is higher than the allocated budget of the tender and is therefore higher than the price offered by Škoda Transtech. This would become even 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).
“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,” said Petr Novotný, CEO of Škoda Group. “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 in the hands of the Finnish Market Court. Škoda Transtech is confident that there were no legal reasons at all to exclude it from the tender and that its offer was fully compliant with the tender requirements and within the allocated budget. The offered product is based on verified Finnish technology utilizing the industrial cluster of Finnish companies. Škoda Group is committed long-term to the sustainable public transport solutions throughout the Nordic region. Škoda Transtech manufactures trams and trains primarily for the Nordic region. The company also supplies carbodies for another Škoda Group project in Germany.
