Discusses the legal requirements for selling to the host government, including whether the government has agreed to abide by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement or is a party to a government procurement chapter in a U.S. FTA. Specifies areas where there are opportunities.
Last Published: 7/22/2019

Norway is party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA), which extends, in most respects, to the internal market of the EU, as well as to the European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) countries Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.  These EFTA members and all the member states of the EU are party to the EEA Agreement.  As part of the EEA Agreement, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein have adopted relevant EU legislation with respect to public procurement.

Through the signature of the WTO Government Procurement Act (GPA), Norway's public procurement market opened to more countries, so signatory states outside the European Union may also participate.  Norway's international commitments through both the EEA and GPA agreements are incorporated into Norwegian legislation. ll public tender notices are required to be published in the Norwegian gazette, Norsk Lysingsblad, and the public procurement database DOFFIN (see below).  Through the EEA Agreement, public entities in Norway are required to announce tenders above a certain threshold value in the EU database, Tender Electronic Daily (TED), http://ted.europa.eu/TED/main/HomePage.do.  Because of WTO GPA obligations, purchases covered by the GPA are also announced in the DOFFIN database, which automatically forwards tenders above the threshold value to the TED.  DOFFIN is the Norwegian Internet-based database for notices of public procurement and procurement in the utilities sectors (water and energy supply, transport, and telecommunications) that are subject to the EU regulations.  The purpose of the base of the procurement notices is to:

  • Ensure competition and openness about business opportunities;
  • Forward all procurement notices for the announcement in TED, when applicable
  • Ensure the control of procurement notices before publishing
  • Publish and distribute the procurement notices in a searchable format
  • Generate relevant statistics in the public sector


The operator for DOFFIN is EUS Holdings Limited (EU-Supply).  The Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Difi) manages DOFFIN on behalf of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries.

DOFFIN Database: https://doffin.no/en

Legal complaints regarding public procurement in Norway should be directed to the Norwegian courts, or to the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA).

EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA)
Tel: 011 (32) 2 286 18 11
Website: http://www.eftasurv.int/

The U.S. Commercial Service at the U.S. Mission to the European Union has a website dedicated to procurement and a market research site which contains reports on EU tendering and government procurement: http://2016.export.gov/europeanunion/index.asp
 

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.