Is it legal to demand solvency in the form of specific ISO certificates?

Public tender, basically, is that moment when state agencies go out to tell the world: "Ey, who wants to sell me this or do this service?" And the companies, of course, run with their proposals, to see if they touch a piece of the cake. All very regulated, with a lot of papers and rules, supposedly so that no one cheats and everyone has the same chance.

Now, the usual drama: the blessed ISO certificates. Is it legal to ask for them? Well ... it depends. Each country has its own legal novel, but in general, yes, they usually ask you to show that you are not an improvised. And there the ISO enter: those certificates who, honestly, have ended up being like the card of "I do know what I do." Everyone asks for them because, well, they theoretically guarantee quality, security, and that you are not going to set the building by accident.

The issue is that sometimes they go from the line. If they demand a super specific iso that neither comes to the case with what they are hiring, there we are already talking about unfair barriers, almost like putting a trap so that only one can compete. Just for that, the famous Directive 2014/24/EU (yes, Europe thought it before) says that the requirements have to go to the grain: if you ask for a certificate, it has to make sense with the contract, not only because yes.

And eye, the law also says that if a company shows that it complies with the standards even if it does not have that specific ISO paper, they should not leave it out. That is, the certificate helps, but it should not be the whole or nothing.

In summary, asking ISO in public tenders is quite normal and legal, but they cannot use it as a filter to get competitors for no reason. If you are going to get into a tender, look well what they are asking and be clear how to show that you can with the challenge, either with the iso fashionable or showing your experience in another way. The key is not to stay out for not having the right role, but demonstrating that you can do the job.