The problem is that road projects have grown so large that only a few companies in Finland have the conditions to participate in tenders.
So market economy works, demand and supply and competition between operators are needed. Adequate competition is desirable because it guides subscribers to choose and producers to offer more affordable and higher quality goods or services. Competition is also needed for public procurement. Public bodies spend billions of euros annually on various procurements, so it's not a matter of a very small amount or issue.
The necessity of competition has been recognized in the national procurement strategy. The strategy outlines that tenders should be interesting from the point of view of different providers and that they should be easy to participate in, so that public entities receive good offers and sufficient competition. Without taking a position on how the goal will be widely realized, the alignment will not be realized in the tenders for road projects carried out by the Norwegian Railways Agency and ely centers.
The problem is that road projects have grown so large that only a few companies in Finland have the conditions to participate in tenders. If there are only a couple of potential bidders, the market is not working in the best possible way. This, in turn, leads to the fact that projects implemented with public funds are not as cost-effective as necessary.
Someone has sometimes defended the current arrangement in such a way that it is less difficult for the ely center to tender the fairway contract as a large entity. The competition is considered sufficient because the main contractors divide the contract into smaller parts and then tender the actual implementers, i.e. smaller operators in the construction industry. These tenders carried out by the main contractor are not actually about saving public funds, but about increasing the main contractor's margin.
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Functional infrastructure is a competitiveness factor for Finland.
If there is little procurement expertise in ely centers, the layout must be understood. But from the point of view of society, saving on procurement expertise is unlikely to lead to the best financial outcome. This theme has also been addressed in the procurement strategy. The strategy states that it is critical for the implementation of strategic acquisitions that the organization has sufficient resources and competent personnel to implement the acquisitions.
The government is thinking about balancing the public finances in the framework crisis. The biggest mistake in this work would be to cut the budget for the development and maintenance of road connections in a situation where the repair debt is hitting records and the entire network is deteriorating more and more every year. Funding should be increased in the current situation, but considering the economic situation, this will probably be difficult. However, rationalizing procurement would be the first way to achieve more with the current money.
Functional infrastructure is a competitiveness factor for Finland. Let's secure this and implement the road projects of the Norwegian Railway Agency and ely centers in the future smartly.
Matti Mäkelä
Advocacy manager
Koneyrittäjät ry
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