Borenius successfully advised the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) on a public procurement matter

We advised Kela during the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority’s (FCCA) investigation into the procurement of taxi services for those in need of taxi services for health reasons.

Taxi services were opened to competition when the Finnish Act on Transport Services came into force at the beginning of July 2018. As a result of this change, it became easier to acquire a taxi permit, and companies can now more freely determine their fares. New contracts tendered out by Kela for the provision of taxi services that are reimbursed from health insurance also came into force at the same time.

The FCCA’s investigation concerned, firstly, the legality of the terms and conditions that apply to the procurement of these taxi services and, secondly, certain alleged anticompetitive concerns ensuing from the said procurement. During its investigation, the FCCA sought to determine whether Kela had breached the Finnish Public Procurement Act and sent thousands of taxi entrepreneurs a survey by email in order to assess how the market functioned. Borenius advised Kela on both strains of the FCCA’s investigation, and after negotiations, the FCCA ended its investigation into Kela in March 2019.