Turundajate Liit hosted a seminar “Kuidas korraldada paremaid turundushankeid?” (“How to Organize Better Marketing Tenders”) on 11th of September. Experts, practitioners and legal professionals—including TEGOS associate partner Erki Fels—shared guidance on how to improve transparency, efficiency and quality in marketing-related procurements.
New Procurement Guidelines were presented, offering a clear framework for public marketing tenders and recommendations for fairer, more effective processes.
Specialists discussed how to draft precise specifications, avoid duplication in tender documents, and design evaluation criteria that reward quality and innovation.
Practical examples showed how careful planning reduces the risk of disputes and helps both contracting authorities and agencies achieve better results.
Erki Fels highlighted concrete steps to make marketing tenders smarter and more balanced:
Respect the workload for agencies
Preparing a bid typically takes an agency around 200 hours. Work smart, not just hard:
– Avoid asking for the same information twice (in qualification and compliance sections).
– Limit the number of key experts requested.
– Ask for CVs only from the winning bidder.
– Use a single partner in a framework agreement to avoid repeated mini-competitions.Balance price and quality
In marketing tenders, the weighting should be roughly 20% price and 80% quality.Fair treatment of design work
Test assignments in design tenders are acceptable, but agencies should not be asked for free work.
The International Council of Design states:
“Designers should under no conditions participate in speculative practice or ‘spec’ work or ‘free pitching’. Spec work is providing unpaid work in the hopes to obtain a paid contract… it is considered unethical in design.”
→ Fels recommends awarding monetary prizes to at least the three best test assignments.Red flags of a poor design tender
Excessive work required before a winner is chosen.
Imbalance between contract value and the effort demanded.
Unreasonably short deadlines – the Public Procurement Act (RHS) sets only minimum time limits; the actual deadline must reflect the complexity of the contract.
A large test assignment that accounts for only 20–30% of the total evaluation score.
Consider alternative procedures
An idea competition can give the buyer more flexibility, e.g. evaluating portfolios and using a two-stage selection, so not all bidders must produce a large test assignment.Set minimum quality thresholds
For example, if a sample task scores less than 10 points, the contracting authority may reject the bid even if the price is low. This prevents a cheap but low-quality proposal from winning.Update outdated practices
– Charging a media service commission fee is an obsolete model; media agencies now also provide audience analysis, competitor insights and campaign strategy.
– Asking for a campaign price is often unnecessary; there is nothing wrong if the contracting authority states its budget—allowed under RHS § 85(7).
Applying these principles helps ensure legally compliant, fair and effective procurement. Authorities gain higher-quality bids and agencies avoid unsustainable demands—ultimately improving the outcome of public marketing campaigns.
Turundajate Liit provides a photo gallery and full recording of the seminar on their website.
