A service provider teaching artificial intelligence under Eesti.ai may not receive the full fee agreed in the contract. The Government Office may pay only half the price or not pay it at all if participant feedback from the training falls below the required level or if too few participants provide feedback.
In January, the government launched the Eesti.ai initiative, which is intended to help develop Estonia's economy through artificial intelligence, and the Government Office initiated a procurement with an expected value of five million euros.
The idea of the initiative is to increase people's knowledge and skills in artificial intelligence. The goal is that in 2026–2027 at least 100,000 working‑age Estonian residents participate in at least one Eesti.ai workshop or learning bite.
The procurement is divided into four parts. These include organising and conducting in‑person trainings, online trainings, and larger events. According to the requirements, the provider must involve at least two trainers to fulfil the framework agreement, and both must meet the criteria.
The trainer must have prior experience
The trainer must, during the 36 months preceding the start of the procurement, have prepared and conducted at least five AI‑themed trainings aimed at adults — for example learning bites, workshops, lectures, seminars, or hackathons. Their duration must have been at least four academic hours (45 minutes each).
The second option is that the trainers have conducted at least two AI‑themed trainings for adults with a duration of at least 20 academic hours.
To ensure quality, the provider's team must include a project manager. They must, during the 36 months preceding the start of the procurement, have participated as project manager in at least two contracts whose subject was the organisation of events similar to the procurement subject.
Events similar to the procurement subject are considered contracts under which, for example, learning bites, workshops, lectures, seminars, hackathons, or other similar events have been organised. Each contract must have involved events with at least one hundred participants in total.
Quality is indicated by feedback
In addition, the technical description includes a requirement to collect feedback from participants to ensure the quality of the events carried out.
Katrin Isotamm, head of the Eesti.ai population track, said that when designing the procurement conditions, they proceeded from the idea that the procurement should be accessible to as wide a circle of providers as possible who have practical experience conducting AI‑themed workshops and other learning formats. "The possibilities offered by artificial intelligence in everyday work are constantly evolving," she noted.
Isotamm said that alongside understanding the possibilities offered by technology, it is important to understand the functioning and work processes of the specific field. Therefore, the requirements were set primarily for prior practical experience.
"Participants' own assessments play an important role in ensuring quality," she added. Isotamm explained that feedback directly affects whether and to what extent the work performed will be paid for. Further orders are also influenced by which topics people actually show interest in. Thus, future orders depend on the quality of the work carried out and on demand.
Feedback determines the fee
The contracting authority pays the full procurement contract price to the framework agreement partner only if at least 75 percent of training participants have provided feedback to the partner and the arithmetic average of the feedback score from participants is at least 4 points.
The contracting authority pays 50 percent of the procurement contract price to the framework agreement partner if feedback has been provided by at least 50 to 74.9 percent of participants and the arithmetic average of the feedback score is at least 3.5 points but below 4 points.
The contracting authority does not pay the procurement contract price to the framework agreement partner if fewer than 50 percent of participants have provided feedback or if the arithmetic average of the feedback score is below 3.5 points.
Services do not have to amount to five million euros
Five million euros is the maximum amount up to which orders may be placed with providers during the validity of the procurement after contracts are signed. This amount is not pre‑allocated among providers and does not constitute an obligation to order services in the full amount of five million euros. Ordering takes place according to need.
A total of 46 bids were submitted for the procurement, and contract signing begins on Tuesday. After the contracts are signed, orders can start being placed. It is not yet known how many different workshop providers will be involved during the validity of the procurement, as ordering will take place according to need.
-- Editor: Merilin Leetna, Argo Ideon