How to bid for public tenders in Iceland.

Iceland at a glance

Where tenders appear

• utbodsvefur.is. Every procurement above the national or EEA thresholds must be advertised on utbodsvefur.is. Run by Fjársýslan, it lists Iceland’s public tenders in one place and links to each buyer’s e-tendering system.
• TED first. Notices above EEA thresholds go to TED and can’t be published in Iceland first, unless no publication confirmation arrives within 2 days.
• Who buys.
  • Fjársýsla ríkisins is the state’s central purchasing body. It runs tenders for state bodies in budget parts A1 and A2, and other public bodies can join its framework agreements.
  • Tender-licence holders buy in their own fields: Framkvæmdasýslan – Ríkiseignir (buildings and works), Vegagerðin (transport), Landspítali (healthcare) and, since August 2026, Sjúkratryggingar Íslands (health services).
  • Municipalities can run their own procurement, use outside service providers, or ask Fjársýslan for help.
• Where you submit. Fjársýslan uses TendSign (Mercell). Of 364 Icelandic contract notices on TED in 2026 (to 5 October), 202 pointed to tendsign.com and 50 to in-tendhost.co.uk; others used buyers’ own portals, such as Reykjavík, Isavia and RARIK. Always check the notice.
• Busiest buyers on TED in 2026: Fjársýsla ríkisins (52 notices), Vegagerðin (43), NLSH ohf. (32) and Landsvirkjun (32).

Thresholds and procedures

Amounts are in Icelandic krónur (ISK), excluding VAT, in force since 19 May 2026. Unusually, for goods and services the national and EEA thresholds are the same figure.

• Below the national threshold, no formal notice is required, but buyers must compare as many suppliers as possible, as a rule electronically.
• Lots. Lots are valued together. Lots under ISK 11,804,000 (goods and services) or ISK 147,552,000 (works) can be awarded without a tender, up to 20% of the total value.
• Procedures include open, restricted, competitive procedure with negotiation, competitive dialogue and innovation partnership, plus frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems.
• Open procedure time limits, in calendar days from the day after the notice:
  • National: at least 15 days, or 10 with e-submission. Urgency floor: 7.
  • EEA: at least 35 days, or 30 with e-submission. Urgency floor: 15.
• Restricted procedures. Requests to take part get at least 15 days nationally and 30 at EEA level. Bids then get at least 10 days nationally and 30 at EEA level (25 with e-submission). At least 5 candidates are invited.
• Questions. Answers must be given at least 6 days before the bid deadline, or the deadline is extended.

Who can bid

• No nationality bar. Buyers can’t discriminate on grounds of nationality.
• EEA and EFTA firms rely on the EEA Agreement. Buyers must accept registration on official lists, or certification, in other EEA and EFTA states as evidence of suitability.
• Treaty partners. Iceland is a party to the WTO GPA (GPA 2012 since 2014).
• Everyone else. We couldn’t confirm whether suppliers from outside both the EEA and the GPA have enforceable rights, or whether the EU’s International Procurement Instrument applies in Iceland.
• No home advantage. We found no price preference for domestic bidders in the Act. A buyer may require work to be performed at a specific location if that’s justified.
• Exclusion grounds. Final convictions for offences such as corruption, fraud or money laundering, and final findings of unpaid taxes or pension contributions, judged under your home country’s law.
• Financial standing. A minimum-turnover requirement can’t exceed 2 times the estimated contract value, except in justified cases.
• Proving eligibility.
  • ESPD. The European Single Procurement Document, a self-declaration, can replace certificates at bid stage and can be reused.
  • Certificates. Icelandic firms are typically asked for a tax-debt clearance, a pension-fund payment certificate and a company-registry extract. Foreign firms supply home-country equivalents.
• Language. Each tender states which languages bids can be in. In 2026, 299 of 364 Icelandic notices on TED (82%) accepted English. US Commerce reports that documents aren’t always in English and deadlines can be short for translation.
• Chain liability. Main contractors are liable for the wages, terms and insurance of subcontractors’ and agencies’ staff, and since 2024 may ask for payslips and timesheets.

Bidding, step by step

1. Find tenders on utbodsvefur.is, or on TED for contracts above EEA thresholds.
2. Identify the buyer’s e-tendering system from the notice.
3. Register on TendSign if the tender uses it. The form accepts any country and asks for your company ID number, name and address. It works in English, and currencies include EUR, USD, GBP and ISK.
4. Download the documents. Buyers must give unrestricted electronic access, without charge, from the date of the notice.
5. Check the language clause and the deadline.
6. Ask questions in the system before the question deadline. Answers are shared with all bidders.
7. Prepare the ESPD and your evidence. Get home-country tax and social-security certificates ready, because the winner must prove them.
8. Submit electronically before the deadline. You can change or withdraw a bid before opening. Late bids are rejected.
9. Watch the award notice and standstill: 5 days above national thresholds, 10 days above EEA thresholds. Losing bidders can ask for reasons; island.is guidance says within 14 days.
10. Sign. Written acceptance within the bid validity period creates a binding contract.
11. Invoice electronically in the EN 16931 format, as implemented in Iceland by TS 236:2017.

Securities and payment

• No statutory percentage. We found no bid-security or performance-security percentage in the Act. Tender documents must state payment terms and insurance.
• Set per tender. Of 364 Icelandic contract notices on TED in 2026, 34 required a guarantee, 57 said none was needed, and 273 didn’t say.
• Works. Icelandic works contracts commonly use the ÍST 30 standard conditions. We couldn’t confirm the performance-security level they set; check the tender documents.
• Payment. We couldn’t confirm statutory payment deadlines or late-payment interest rules for public buyers. Check the contract.
• E-invoicing. Public buyers must accept e-invoices under EN 16931 (Icelandic specification TS 236:2017).

How bids are evaluated

• Best value. The buyer picks the most economically advantageous tender, on one of three bases: lowest price, lowest cost (for example life-cycle cost), or best price-quality ratio.
• Quality criteria can cover technical merit, social, environmental and innovative features, staff qualifications, after-sales service and delivery time. A buyer can also fix the price and compete on quality only.
• Published weightings. Weightings must be in the documents, or criteria ranked where weighting isn’t possible. The winner meets every minimum requirement and scores highest.
• Over budget. A bid priced above the buyer’s preset budget is unacceptable, unless the buyer reserved the right to accept it.
• Rejecting all bids. Since 2019, buyers may reject all tenders on objective grounds.
• No preferences. We found no national or SME price preference; evaluation follows the published criteria only.

Challenging a decision

• Where. The Kærunefnd útboðsmála (Public Procurement Complaints Commission) is an independent 3-member body. Its rulings can’t be appealed to other administrative bodies.
• Deadlines. 20 days from when you knew, or should have known, of the decision. Claims that a contract is ineffective: 30 days, and never more than 6 months after the award.
• Fee. ISK 210,000 per complaint, payable from abroad by IBAN; complaints can be filed by email. The fee can be indexed to inflation from 2026, but we found no change.
• Scope. Since 2024, the Commission only reviews the issues raised in the complaint, so state every ground.
• Automatic suspension. A complaint against an award filed within the standstill stops the contract being signed until the Commission rules.
• Suspension on request. Otherwise, you must show a significant probability of a breach.
• Timing. A ruling is due within 1 month of the complainant’s final comments.
• Remedies. The Commission can annul decisions, order a re-tender, declare an above-EEA contract ineffective, give an opinion on liability for damages (but not the amount), and impose daily fines of up to ISK 500,000. Otherwise, a signed contract stands even after an unlawful award.
• Court. An action to annul a Commission ruling must be filed within 6 months of learning of it.

What changed in 2025–2026

• 2024 (still relevant):
  • June: an amending act removed Ríkiskaup from the law, aligned the national goods and services threshold with the EEA one, and raised the complaint fee from ISK 150,000 to ISK 210,000.
  • 1 August: Fjársýsla ríkisins became the central purchasing body, taking over Ríkiskaup’s tasks and staff.
• 4 January 2025: new thresholds, including ISK 20,866,000 (state goods and services) and ISK 58,543,000 (national works).
• 1 January 2026: the complaint fee became open to indexation. We found no change.
• 26 March 2026: Fjársýslan published its 2026 plan of central framework-agreement tenders.
• 19 May 2026: new thresholds took effect. The national works threshold rose to ISK 75,800,000.
• 21 August 2026: Regulation 906/2026 widened Landspítali’s tender licence and added Sjúkratryggingar Íslands.
• The Act itself: we found no amendment in 2025–2026. The official English translation dates from 2017 and doesn’t include the 2019 or 2024 changes; the Icelandic text prevails.

Live Icelandic tenders

See also how companies from outside the EU can bid for EU tenders and how to bid for EU public tenders on TED.

Questions

Sources

• Act on Public Procurement No. 120/2016 (official English translation)
• 2024 amending act on public procurement (Official Gazette)
• Regulation 495/2026 on thresholds (Official Gazette)
• Regulation 360/2022 on thresholds and the advertising platform
• Regulation 895/2024 on the central purchasing body
• island.is: taking part in a tender
• Financial Management Authority: utbodsvefur.is
• The Public Procurement Complaints Commission (government.is)

This guide explains the rules in plain English; it isn’t legal advice. Procurement rules change, and each tender document sets its own conditions — it always prevails.