hankintalaki

Hankintalaki is Finland's Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts (laki julkisista hankinnoista ja käyttöoikeussopimuksista, 1397/2016). It decides what Finnish contracting authorities must put out to competition, and Hilma is where those tenders are published. Any supplier from the EU or EEA, including Norway, can bid on equal terms with Finnish companies.

How does hankintalaki work?

The Act entered into force on 1 January 2017. It transposes the Public Procurement Directive (2014/24/EU) and the Concessions Directive (2014/23/EU), and adds national rules for purchases below the EU thresholds. The utilities sectors (water, energy, transport and postal services) have a separate act, 1398/2016.

Like most EU countries, Finland has a ladder of threshold values. The national thresholds in Section 25 of the Act are, excl. VAT:

• Goods and services: €60,000
• Works: €150,000
• Social and health services: €400,000
• Other specific services: €300,000
• Concession contracts: €500,000

Below these values a purchase is a pienhankinta (small procurement). The Act does not apply, but the authority must follow its own purchasing rules. Above the national thresholds the Act applies and the tender must be published on Hilma, but the authority can design the procedure fairly freely as long as it respects the general principles. Above the EU thresholds (€140,000 for central government and €216,000 for other authorities in 2026–2027) the full directive procedures apply, and the notice is forwarded to TED.

An amendment (HE 2/2026), adopted by the Finnish Parliament on 10 June 2026, entered into force on 18 June 2026, with two changes that matter to suppliers. The rules on in-house provision (sidosyksikkö) are tightened: from 1 July 2027 an authority must own at least 10 per cent of a company to buy from it without competition. Until 30 June 2027, existing companies can be used regardless of the ownership share. And from 1 October 2026, if an open procedure above the EU threshold attracts only one tender, the authority must as a rule cancel it and re-advertise. This happens at most once, and there are exceptions where a market survey has been carried out or the procurement is divided into lots. The national thresholds are unchanged.

Appeals go to the Market Court (markkinaoikeus), a specialised court. The deadline is short, normally 14 days.

An example: A Norwegian consultancy wants to bid for an analysis assignment from a Finnish municipality worth €100,000. That is above the national threshold but well below the EU threshold for municipalities. The tender is therefore published on Hilma and not in TED, and the municipality has chosen a simple single-round procedure. The consultancy has to read the tender documents closely, because the municipality has set the rules itself.

Why does hankintalaki matter for suppliers?

Finland's rules look familiar because they rest on the same directive as Sweden's LOU, Denmark's Udbudsloven and Norway's Public Procurement Act. The difference lies in the national thresholds. At €60,000, Finland publishes many mid-sized contracts that would never be advertised in Norway, where the national threshold is NOK 1.3 million (around €112,000).

Many of these tenders appear only on Hilma, often only in Finnish. If you follow only TED or Norway's Doffin, you miss them. Qualification works as elsewhere in the EEA, usually with the ESPD, and e-Certis shows which certificates from your home country match the Finnish ones. Tools like Cobrief help you keep track of relevant tenders and assess them quickly.

Frequently asked questions

Can foreign suppliers bid in Finland?

Yes. Suppliers from the EU and EEA have the same right to take part as Finnish companies, both above and below the EU thresholds.

Does the tender have to be in Finnish?

The contracting authority decides. The tender documents state which languages are accepted. Finnish is common, and some authorities also accept Swedish or English.

Where do I complain if something goes wrong?

To the Market Court, normally within 14 days of receiving the decision. You can also ask the authority to correct its own decision (hankintaoikaisu).

In short: hankintalaki is Finland's procurement act. It rests on the same EU rules as its neighbours, but has low national thresholds, and every tender it requires to be advertised is on Hilma.