Czech towns and hospitals can wait 5 months to sign a contract when a losing bidder complains

When a bidder asks the competition office to review a tender, the contract is often blocked until it decides, about 5 months on average.mmr.gov.czRegional development ministry — ten myths about review reform (another site)The ministry that writes the procurement law, on how long tenders under review are blocked and what each extra day costs public budgets.Statistic · Bidders asked for 268 reviews in 2025, a third more than a year earlier.uohs.czCompetition office — annual report 2025 (another site)The competition office's own yearly report: how many tender reviews bidders asked for, how many signing bans it ordered, and what its head says causes the disputes.In the source’s words“V mnoha případech je na vině nekvalitní příprava zadávacích řízení, kdy zejména nedostatečně zpracované projekty nebo překombinované nastavení zadávacích podmínek přímo vyzývají k tomu, aby je dodavatelé napadali.”Statistic ·

Good for Lawyers or tender administrators who want to sell to town halls and hospitals.

Category
Govtech
Entry
Hard
Verified

The opportunity

2/2 · Clear, recurring pain

Czech towns, hospitals and regions can wait months to sign a contract when a losing bidder asks the competition office to review the tender.2 sourcesuohs.czCompetition office — annual report 2025 (another site)The competition office's own yearly report: how many tender reviews bidders asked for, how many signing bans it ordered, and what its head says causes the disputes.In the source’s words“V mnoha případech je na vině nekvalitní příprava zadávacích řízení, kdy zejména nedostatečně zpracované projekty nebo překombinované nastavení…”Statistic · mmr.gov.czRegional development ministry — ten myths about review reform (another site)The ministry that writes the procurement law, on how long tenders under review are blocked and what each extra day costs public budgets.Statistic ·

  • Bidders asked for 268 reviews in 2025, up from 195 in 2024.uohs.czCompetition office — annual report 2025 (another site)The competition office's own yearly report: how many tender reviews bidders asked for, how many signing bans it ordered, and what its head says causes the disputes.In the source’s words“V mnoha případech je na vině nekvalitní příprava zadávacích řízení, kdy zejména nedostatečně zpracované projekty nebo překombinované nastavení zadávacích podmínek přímo vyzývají k tomu, aby je dodavatelé napadali.”Statistic ·
  • A contract under review was blocked for 5 months on average.mmr.gov.czRegional development ministry — ten myths about review reform (another site)The ministry that writes the procurement law, on how long tenders under review are blocked and what each extra day costs public budgets.Statistic ·
  • The office ordered 141 interim measures in 2025, such as bans on signing.2 sourcesuohs.czCompetition office — annual report 2025 (another site)The competition office's own yearly report: how many tender reviews bidders asked for, how many signing bans it ordered, and what its head says causes the disputes.In the source’s words“V mnoha případech je na vině nekvalitní příprava zadávacích řízení, kdy zejména nedostatečně zpracované projekty nebo překombinované nastavení…”Statistic · Zdravotnický deníkzdravotnickydenik.czZdravotnický deník — signing ban on a hospital tender (another site)A May 2026 case: the competition office barred a regional hospital company from signing a 24M CZK furniture contract and sent a bidder's objections back to it.News ·

Suggested solution

Build a service that checks a town's or hospital's tender conditions against the competition office's past rulings before the tender goes out, and defends the buyer if a bidder complains, as similar services already do in Germany and the United States.

  1. The town or hospital. Today: Writes the tender conditions and runs the tender. With the suggested solution: Has the conditions checked before publishing.
  2. Who does this is not known. Today: Whether anyone checks the conditions first is not known. With the suggested solution: A checker compares them with past rulings.
  3. A losing bidder. Today: Asks the competition office for a review. With the suggested solution: Can still ask for a review.
  4. Competition office. Today: Can bar signing while it decides. With the suggested solution: Rules on fewer weak conditions.
  5. The town or hospital. Today: Waits for the decision, then any appeal. With the suggested solution: Has its defence ready from the start.

Not known: whether anyone checks the conditions first.

Why now

0/3 · No deadline

No new deadline forces buyers to act, but challenges rose by a third in 2025, and each one can freeze a contract for months.2 sourcesuohs.czCompetition office — annual report 2025 (another site)The competition office's own yearly report: how many tender reviews bidders asked for, how many signing bans it ordered, and what its head says causes the disputes.In the source’s words“V mnoha případech je na vině nekvalitní příprava zadávacích řízení, kdy zejména nedostatečně zpracované projekty nebo překombinované nastavení…”Statistic · mmr.gov.czRegional development ministry — ten myths about review reform (another site)The ministry that writes the procurement law, on how long tenders under review are blocked and what each extra day costs public budgets.Statistic ·

Willing to pay

2/2 · Clear signs

Yes, towns already pay law firms and tender administrators to write tender documents and to defend tenders at the office.Market checkcompetconsult.czCzech check — who checks and defends tender conditions (another site)Czech-language search, the state business register, the contract register and towns' published invoice books: established Czech firms already write tender conditions for public buyers and defend them, by hand.Market check ·

  • Towns pay law firms monthly for work on one tender's documents.Market checkcompetconsult.czCzech check — who checks and defends tender conditions (another site)Czech-language search, the state business register, the contract register and towns' published invoice books: established Czech firms already write tender conditions for public buyers and defend them, by hand.Market check ·
  • Towns sign one-off contracts to be represented in a single review.Market checkcompetconsult.czCzech check — who checks and defends tender conditions (another site)Czech-language search, the state business register, the contract register and towns' published invoice books: established Czech firms already write tender conditions for public buyers and defend them, by hand.Market check ·
  • Small firms publish fixed prices per tender and per objection.Market checkcompetconsult.czCzech check — who checks and defends tender conditions (another site)Czech-language search, the state business register, the contract register and towns' published invoice books: established Czech firms already write tender conditions for public buyers and defend them, by hand.Market check ·

Per case

Per project

Validated abroad

3/3 · Proven in 2+ markets

In Germany and the United States, established firms prepare and check public buyers' tender documents, by hand and in software.2 sourcesausschreibungen.staatsanzeiger.deStaatsanzeiger für Baden-Württemberg (another site)A German publisher that prepares and checks tender documents for public buyers and runs their tenders, with hundreds of public buying offices as customers.Company abroad · statescoop.comOpenGov (another site)American procurement software that builds tender documents from templates carrying each agency's own rules, used by about 1,900 agencies and cities.Company abroad ·

Where it works: DE, US — home market CZDECZUS
  1. Staatsanzeiger für Baden-Württemberg (another site)Based in Germany
  2. OpenGov (another site)Based in United States

Market gap

0/2 · Crowded

Established Czech tender administrators and law firms already write tender conditions for public buyers and defend them, by hand.Market checkcompetconsult.czCzech check — who checks and defends tender conditions (another site)Czech-language search, the state business register, the contract register and towns' published invoice books: established Czech firms already write tender conditions for public buyers and defend them, by hand.Market check ·

New, selling this: QCM Administrace (since 2010), Petronium (since 2012), Urban legal (since 2023). Established, selling this: RTS (since 1998), HAVEL & PARTNERS (since 2001), Compet Consult (since 2002). New, selling something nearby: TENDERIX. Established, selling something nearby: Equica (since 2001), QCM (E-ZAK) (since 2001), Tender systems (Tender arena) (since 2012).

Execution difficulty

1/3 · Hard

Makes it easier

  • Towns and hospitals already pay outside firms for tender documents and for defence at the competition office.
  • No licence is needed.
  • The office publishes its decisions.

Makes it harder

  • The buyers are public bodies that buy through tenders.
  • Established Czech firms already serve many of them.

Suggested first moves

  1. Build a list of the tender conditions the competition office most often strikes down, from its own published decisions.
  2. Ask the procurement heads of a few hospitals and mid-sized towns which of their tenders were challenged lately, and how long each contract waited.
  3. Offer a fixed-price second look at a tender's conditions before it is published.