We hereby invite public sector entities across the Nordics and Baltics to participate in a first of it kind joint cross border public procurement and collaboration project. The purpose is to establish operative cloud contracts and facilitate closer collaboration across the Nordic and Baltic countries. The project is supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
About the project
The Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management (DFØ) through the Norwegian Public Sector Cloud Marketplace (#MPS) in co-operation with the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) has established the Nordic-Baltic Cloud Connect project (NBC2).
Why the project is important
Public sector organisations across the region are increasingly moving to cloud‑based solutions. Yet they all confront a common set of challenges: ambiguous contractual terms and responsibilities (GDPR, personal data protection), security vulnerabilities, lack of clarity over who owns cybersecurity, rising and unpredictable costs, concerns about sovereignty and flexibility, and difficulties in controlling and forecasting expenditure.
Leveraging the collective power of the region
The Nordic & Baltic region is a huge economic & geographical area, has a common cultural heritage, and well aligned interests that we want to explore and capitalise on to overcome these challenges. By establishing a single, cross‑border platform for public procurement, we will deliver access to contracts for standardised, “out‑of‑the‑box” cloud services that are the same no matter where they are consumed. Leveraging the collective purchasing power of the region, the aim is to negotiate centralised framework agreements with global cloud vendors to provide secure, cost‑effective, and compliant solutions for all participating entities.
The project sets out to find common work areas, work flows and areas where we can
co-operate to strengthen public sector's usage and adoption of cloud services across the Nordic and Baltic countries.
We have seen the benefits of volume-aggregation and negotiating centralised framework agreements with cloud vendors such as AWS, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Oracle, Junglemap, Secure Practice, Draftit, OneTrust, Forrester, Radar, Gartner and Iconfirm. Our target is that an extended collaboration will ensure similar results across the Nordic and Baltic countries - benefitting the public sector and the citizens.
As an example: we are currently working together with Adda Inköpscentral in Sweden for an ongoing joint cross-border public procurement, which serves as a pilot for this extended Nordic-Baltic collaboration. The project includes 1.600 public entities with an estimated value of close to 1.000 million NOK. You can read more about the project here: Vulnerability Management Services.
Now, we are looking to do the same across a larger geographical space, aggregating volume, competencies and value for both the public sector, our citizens and the vendors.
Relevant participants and role
We are seeking participants representing public sector entities across the Nordic and Baltic countries. The project is a combination of procurement and IT, and we are therefore primarily looking for participants representing these roles. This could for instance be central purchasing bodies, digitalisation agencies/-ministries/-offices, or similar kinds of roles. It is preferable if the role is on a governmental level or at a centralised regional or municipality level.
Countries in scope: Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Åland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Expectations to the participants
Participants will actively contribute to the joint procurement process, including negotiations with cloud vendors, share insights into the hurdles and risks associated with cloud adoption, and propose mitigating measures that can be embedded in contracts and procurement strategies. We anticipate full engagement in the three planned summit meetings, as well as ongoing involvement in the development of work‑flows and best‑practice guidelines. Your input will directly shape the final scope of the procurement, the framework contract, call-off models, and the governance model.
Cost of participation
The project will reimburse travel expenses and conference & hotel expenses in connection with the project. We will not cover costs related to salary for the project participants or any other costs.
Timeline
The project is planned to run until the second hafl of 2027. We are planning to host three -3- summits throughout the project period as well as establish separate workflows based on the summits. The first two summits is planned for Q3 and Q4 of 2026, and the last during Q1/Q2 2027.
Tentative locations for the summits:
First summit: Stockholm, Sweden
Second summit: Riga, Latvia
Third summit: Oslo, Norway
Application
To discuss participation in the Nordic-Baltic Cloud Connect project, we ask that you contact [email protected] or call at +47 920 45 300. Final deadline for joining the operative part of the project will be when announcing a procurement process.
About MPS
MPS (Markedsplassen for Skytjenester) is a public‑sector marketplace that simplifies the discovery, comparison, and procurement of cloud services. For more information about MPS, its mission, and the services it offers, visit the MPS website or read the dedicated “About MPS” page.