Seamless long-term cooperation

For the past fifteen years, Hansel has supported the National Land Survey of Finland in tendering for equipment and services for aerial photography and laser scanning. Six different tendering procedures for basic spatial data services that are repeated every few years are realised together. There are joint projects almost every year, and sometimes even several simultaneously active joint tendering procedures.

Head of cartography Juha Kareinen and chief specialist Lauri Markelin explain that they have become so familiar with Hansel’s senior consultant Annika Hämäläinen ja senior legal counsel Jukka-Pekka Salmela that they feel like colleagues working in a different unit. The National Land Survey of Finland has its own procurement team that has received new members over the years, but Hansel’s assistance in tendering projects is still absolutely necessary.

“We have set a clear policy that our employees are responsible for the procurement scope and specifications, and the people from Hansel offer their tendering and contract expertise to the projects. Naturally Annika and Jukka-Pekka have become so familiar with the subject matter over the years that things are going even smoother,” Juha Kareinen explains.

Lauri gives an example: the Hansel employees are also able to quickly answer questions from tenderers.

Juha and Lauri work in a unit that produces aerial photographs and laser scanning data. The procurement needed to produce them is of great strategic importance and used by several government agencies through a cooperative body called KALLIO, which increases the efficiency of procurement. Aerial photographs and laser scanning data are used for many purposes, such as the monitoring of agricultural subsidies, forest and tree inventories, and the surveying of floods. The open data is also available to everyone.

Each tendering process is better than the last

The tendering processes have covered aerial cameras and laser scanners, as well as services related to their use such as the flying, maintenance and servicing of rental or private aircraft. The market for both the products and services is highly limited, even at the European level, which means that specific tendering expertise is needed to obtain bids. Finland does have some special characteristics which make it more attractive to service providers: photography and scanning take place in the spring in Europe, but in Finland the best time of the year is summer. This allows for efficient use of valuable equipment.

The National Land Survey of Finland and Hansel have already realised around twenty tendering projects together, and the experiences have been good: several bids were received every time, savings were achieved and there were no major challenges during the contract period either.

“You are always somewhat anxious about matters such as a sufficiently detailed description of your needs and the scoring system for quality. However, in our joint projects there has always been a strong feeling of achieving a nice and well-working tendering process,” Lauri says.

The employees of the National Land Survey of Finland think it is a major advantage that Hansel’s specialists carry out a wide range of tendering processes. They say that Annika and Jukka-Pekka have been able to offer a great deal of new ideas regarding the tendering process when their own work has felt like hitting a wall.

“One great thing about the long-term cooperation is that it is easy to improve the materials from one tendering process to the next as we understand each other well. Naturally there is always room for improvement, no matter how much it feels like you have the best documentation ever,” says Juha, laughing, and continues:

“Even though tendering is not my favourite thing, I’m always looking forward to working together again after a break.”

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