How to bid for public tenders in Latvia

Latvia at a glance


Main law	Public Procurement Law (2016, amended 2026), with separate laws for utilities and defence
Notices	info.iub.gov.lv (Procurement Monitoring Bureau, free, Latvian only) and TED above EU thresholds
Bidding system	EIS (eis.gov.lv): documents, questions and electronic submission
Full procedures from	EUR 42,000 goods and services; EUR 170,000 works (until the end of 2027)
EU thresholds (2026–27)	EUR 140,000 goods and services; EUR 5,404,000 works
Russia and Belarus	No Russian or Belarusian goods or services on any public contract, since 9 June 2026
Bid security	At most 2% of the estimated value
Payment	30 days (60 at most, if justified); Peppol e-invoices
Challenges	IUB within 10 days; filing stops signature

Where tenders appear

Notices. Every Latvian buyer must publish through the Procurement Monitoring Bureau (IUB). Its search at info.iub.gov.lv is free, needs no registration, and covers contract notices, award notices and prior information notices. It is in Latvian only; the IUB itself points users to machine translation, and above-threshold notices also appear on TED.
Documents and bids. The tender documents, questions and answers, and electronic submission are in the Electronic Procurement System (EIS). Since May 2026 the IUB controls the EIS, and the State Digital Development Agency (VDAA) hosts it and registers users.
Central purchasing. VDAA runs framework agreements and e-catalogues for common goods (office supplies, computers, furniture, software, food). State bodies must buy listed goods through them once spend passes EUR 1,000 a year, and municipalities from EUR 10,000.
Who buys. State authorities, local governments, and as a rule state- and municipality-owned companies. Utilities and defence buyers follow their own laws.

Thresholds and procedures

Contract	Rule
Goods and services from EUR 10,000 to under EUR 42,000	“Small procurement”: a notice on the IUB site and at least 10 working days for bids
Works from EUR 20,000 to under EUR 170,000	Small procurement, as above
Goods and services from EUR 42,000; works from EUR 170,000	Full procedures: open, restricted, negotiated and others
Goods and services from EUR 140,000; works from EUR 5,404,000	EU-level: published on TED
Utilities and defence, goods and services	EU-level from EUR 432,000

Minimum bidding times:

Open procedure, EU-level: 35 days, or 30 if bids can be submitted electronically.
Open procedure, national: 20 days from publication on the IUB site.
Restricted procedure: 30 days to ask to take part, and then 30 days for bids at EU level (20 days nationally).

Duration limits: framework agreements normally last up to 4 years, and contracts up to 5 years unless a longer term is justified.

Coming in 2028. An enacted amendment changes the bands from 1 January 2028:

Full procedures will start only at the EU threshold for goods and services, and at EUR 1,000,000 for works.
“Simplified procurement” will replace small procurement. It covers goods and services from EUR 20,000 and works from EUR 30,000, allows as little as 5 days for bids, and lets the buyer negotiate.
Challenges to simplified procurements will go straight to court and won’t stop the contract being signed.

Who can bid

No Latvian company needed. A buyer may not reject a company for lacking a Latvian legal form if it can lawfully do the work where it is established. A consortium doesn’t need a particular legal form to bid, though the winner may have to form one.
Treaty partners. Companies from WTO GPA countries and other EU agreement partners must be treated at least as well as EU companies.
Everyone else. After the EU Court’s Kolin ruling (2024), companies from countries without an EU procurement agreement can’t insist on equal treatment; the buyer decides whether to admit them. We found no Latvian rule or guidance on this.
Russia and Belarus. Since 9 June 2026, every procurement, whatever its value, must bar goods and services of Russian or Belarusian origin from the contract.
- From 1 January 2027: two exclusion grounds become mandatory. The first catches a Russian or Belarusian citizen on the board or as beneficial owner. The second catches trade with Russia or Belarus in the 4 months before the deadline.
- Sanctions check: before award, the buyer checks the winner against sanctions lists.
- EU-wide rule: EU sanctions also bar above-threshold contracts with Russian-owned companies.
Offshore owners. A bidder registered in a low- or no-tax jurisdiction is excluded, as is a Latvian bidder more than 25% owned by one. EEA and GPA countries don’t count as offshore.
Construction. A builder, Latvian or foreign, must be in the Construction Merchants Register before providing construction services in Latvia.
Language. Notices are in Latvian. Each tender sets its own language, and in practice that means Latvian with certified translations of foreign documents. English is increasingly accepted for some documents, but services contracts often require work and communication in Latvian.

Proving you’re eligible.

ESPD. Buyers must accept the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) as first evidence. You need one for yourself, each consortium member, each company whose capacity you rely on, and each subcontractor doing work worth EUR 10,000 or more.
Certificates. The buyer checks Latvian companies itself, through the EIS. Foreign bidders supply home-country certificates (tax, criminal record, insolvency), valid for 6 months unless stated otherwise.
Selection limits. A buyer may not demand a minimum time since registration. Turnover requirements are capped at twice the contract value unless the risk justifies more.

Bidding, step by step

Find the tender on info.iub.gov.lv or TED, and subscribe in the EIS to the procurements you follow.
Register your company in the EIS. Foreign companies can’t self-register. Send the registration form and the administrator authorisation to VDAA, on paper or signed with a qualified e-signature. It takes about 3 working days.
Set up sign-in. The EIS accepts EU electronic IDs notified under eIDAS, Latvian eIDs, and a password plus code.
Get the documents and ask questions early. Answers are due no later than 6 days before the deadline (4 days in small procurements).
Check the conditions: language and translation rules, the Russia/Belarus origin clause, selection criteria, bid security, and whether you need a construction register entry.
Prepare the ESPDs and certificates, and line up home-country certificates for the award stage.
Submit in the EIS before the deadline. One qualified e-signature can sign the whole package, and a buyer accepting electronic bids can’t also demand paper.
If you’re the likely winner, provide your certificates, plus sanctions and beneficial-owner information. You get at least 10 working days for the sanctions part.
Watch the standstill (see below), then sign and provide any performance security.

Securities and payment

Bid security is optional. It is capped at 2% of the estimated value, and its validity at 6 months from opening. It can be a bank guarantee, an insurance policy, or a cash deposit if the documents allow. A faulty security can be corrected if the buyer allows it.
Performance security is set by the buyer, with no legal cap. We haven’t verified typical levels.
Payment. Public buyers must pay within 30 days of the invoice. They can stretch that to 60 days only where objectively justified, and can’t agree otherwise. Late payment earns statutory interest without a reminder.
E-invoicing. Since 1 January 2025, invoices to public bodies must be structured e-invoices in Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 format, sent to an e-address. We haven’t verified how this applies to foreign suppliers without a Latvian e-address.

How bids are evaluated

Best value. Contracts go to the most economically advantageous tender. That can be judged on price, on cost such as life-cycle cost, or on price and quality together.
Price alone is banned for design, design-and-build, energy-using goods and road vehicles.
Published criteria. All criteria, weights and the scoring method must be in the documents. Ties are broken on criteria set in advance, which can include social or environmental points.
Low bids. If a bid looks abnormally low, the buyer must ask for an explanation, including staff wage rates by job group. It must reject the bid if labour or environmental costs aren’t covered.
Green rules. The general green-procurement article was deleted in June 2026; energy-efficiency and clean-vehicle rules remain.

Challenging a decision

Where. Complaints go to the IUB’s Complaint Review Commission, and only before the contract is signed.
Deadline. You have 10 days from an electronic award notice, or 15 days if it came by post.
- Challenging the documents: at least 7 days before the bid deadline in an open procedure.
Standstill. The buyer may sign only after 10 days plus one working day from an electronic award notice (15 days plus one if by post). There’s no standstill for single bids, negotiated procedures, or orders under a framework or dynamic purchasing system.
Suspension. Filing a complaint automatically stops signature until the Commission decides, normally within one month.
Deposit. 0.5% of the estimated value, capped at EUR 15,000 for works and EUR 840 for goods and services. There’s no deposit for challenging the documents, and it’s refunded if you win.
Court. Appeals go to the Administrative District Court and then the Supreme Court. Appealing doesn’t suspend the IUB’s decision.
Small procurements can’t go to the IUB. Appeal to the Administrative District Court within one month; this doesn’t stop signature.

What changed in 2025–2026

August 2025: the government backed a structural reform of procurement.
1 January 2026: new EU thresholds took effect: EUR 140,000 for goods and services, EUR 5,404,000 for works.
29 May 2026: the IUB took control of the EIS, and VDAA became the host and user registrar.
9 June 2026: a major amendment came into force. It barred Russian and Belarusian goods and services from every public contract, deleted the general green-procurement article, and changed bid security, award and complaint rules.
Already enacted:
- From 1 January 2027: a new list of 17 exclusion grounds, 5 of them mandatory, including the Russia/Belarus ownership and trade grounds.
- From 1 January 2028: full procedures only from the EU threshold (and EUR 1 million for works), simplified procurement below that, and quarterly publication of what buyers actually spend.

Live Latvian tenders

Questions

Do I need a Latvian company to bid on Latvian public tenders?

No. A buyer may not reject a company just because it lacks a Latvian legal form, if it can lawfully do the work where it is established, and companies from WTO GPA countries must get equal treatment. Construction is the exception in practice: a builder, Latvian or foreign, must be entered in the Construction Merchants Register before working in Latvia.

Can companies from outside the EU bid in Latvia?

Companies from countries with a procurement agreement with the EU, such as WTO GPA members, have protected access. Since the EU Court’s Kolin ruling in 2024, companies from other countries have no enforceable right to equal treatment, and the buyer decides whether to admit them. Russian and Belarusian links are effectively barred.

Where are Latvian tenders published and submitted?

Notices are on the Procurement Monitoring Bureau’s free search at info.iub.gov.lv, and on TED above EU thresholds. The tender documents sit on the buyer’s profile in the Electronic Procurement System (EIS), and bids are submitted electronically there. Foreign companies register with the State Digital Development Agency, which takes about 3 working days.

Do I have to bid in Latvian?

Usually, yes. Each procurement sets its own language, and Latvian with certified translations of foreign documents is the norm, though English is increasingly accepted for some documents. Notices on the IUB site are in Latvian only, and complaints to the IUB must be in Latvian or come with a certified translation.

How quickly does a Latvian public buyer pay?

Within 30 days of the invoice. A longer term, up to 60 days, is allowed only where objectively justified, and late payment earns statutory interest without a reminder. Invoices to public bodies must be structured e-invoices in the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 format.

How do I challenge a Latvian tender award?

Complain to the Procurement Monitoring Bureau within 10 days of the award notice (15 if it came by post). Filing automatically stops the contract being signed until the IUB decides, normally within a month. The deposit is 0.5% of the contract value, capped at EUR 15,000 for works and EUR 840 for goods and services.

Sources

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.