Private commercial advisory
Commercial counsel on major public contracts.
Martellus works with international contractors on complex public (B2G) contracts in the Nordic region and selected European markets.
Perspective
More than 20 years in strategic public procurement
We provide commercial advice, shaped by each client’s objectives and the demands of the procurement. We work directly with the leadership teams of international Tier 1 and Tier 2 contractors looking to establish a lasting presence in European markets. We provide business intelligence and commercial advisory for EPC, PPP and design and build projects, from early origination through tender, negotiation and contract signature.
A well-established network across the European construction sector, spanning public authorities, main contractors, engineering consultancies, specialist subcontractors and suppliers, helps us test what the market can deliver, bring together complementary partners and surface concerns early.
Principles
How we work with clients
Confidentiality.
We do not publish client names, mandates or outcomes, and one client’s position is never discussed with another.
Senior attention.
Each engagement is led by a senior advisor who stays with it from first conversation to signature.
Independence.
We accept a mandate only where we have no conflicting interest in the same procurement.
A defined role.
Our role is advisory. Responsibility for the bid, the contract and its delivery remains with the client.
Expertise
Our expertise
Commercial counsel · From origination to award
- Business intelligence and project originationEarly insight into investment programmes, competitors and supply chains, so leadership pursues the right opportunities.
- Market entry and bid investmentA test of the business case before the contractor commits bid resources.
- Pre-procurement and market dialoguePractical proposals to public project owners while the procurement can still be shaped.
- Consortium selection and commercial structuringAssessment of partners and agreement on workshare, interfaces and commercial risk before a common bid.
- Bid strategy and directionSenior leadership of the full bid or an agreed workstream, from team set-up to submission.
- Tender review and commercial challengeA rigorous test of pricing, exposures and compliance before the submission goes in.
- Competitive dialogue and negotiationPreparation for dialogue and negotiation, carried through to contract signature.
- Commercial advisory after awardContinued commercial support through mobilisation and construction.
Sectors
Infrastructure.
And what supports it.
Our advisors and network bring deep, first-hand experience from the following types of projects. The work we do is the same across them; what differs is the technical and commercial knowledge we bring.
For railway, metro and tramway tenders, we help put together the civil works, systems and specialist teams needed for the bid. We test how the proposal handles construction beside or within an operating network, then review whether the methodology, programme and supporting evidence address the authority’s requirements.
For bridges and complex motorway projects, we help contractors assess joint venture and subcontracting options, define workshare and identify risks where packages meet. We challenge the traffic management and construction sequence in the bid and test whether the programme, cost assumptions and proposed risk allocation are consistent.
For port and airport tenders, we help contractors plan a bid around site access, construction logistics and the requirements of an operating facility. We work with bid teams to clarify specialist packages, test assumptions about how operations will continue during construction and prepare responses to the authority’s questions.
For wind farms and other energy infrastructure tenders, we help contractors assess partners and suppliers and define the interfaces between civil works, electrical systems and specialist equipment. We review what each party is pricing, how the bid treats programme dependencies and where commercial responsibility needs to be agreed before submission.
We help contractors, infrastructure operators and technology providers make commercial decisions about digital transformation in energy and infrastructure. We help define requirements, compare technology and delivery options and assess suppliers. For a procurement or tender, we can structure the technology workstream and review integration with existing systems, implementation responsibilities and expected benefits.
How we support a public tender
01Early opportunity
Much of the decisive work happens before a tender is published. We follow public investment programmes from an early stage, assess the client’s priorities and the likely field of competitors, and test whether the opportunity justifies a bid. This gives the contractor time to prepare its position while the project is still taking shape.
02Before launch
Through permitted market dialogue, we help contractors discuss with the contracting authority how the project is divided into packages, how it is designed, the procurement route and the qualification requirements. Well-founded, practical input at this stage can reduce risk for both sides and create the conditions for a strong proposal. It is also when the right partners are identified and positioned, and workshare and commercial risk agreed before a common bid.
03Live procurement
We can lead the full bid or take responsibility for an agreed workstream, setting up the team, timetable and approval process. Before submission, we test pricing, contractual exposures and compliance, and review the response as an evaluator would read it.
04Negotiation and signature
Where the procedure permits, we prepare the contractor for competitive dialogue, formal clarifications and negotiation. We help leadership set its priorities and limits, and work with its legal advisors to carry the agreed terms into the contract.
05After award
Before mobilisation, we help clarify outstanding interfaces, responsibilities and risks, and carry key tender commitments forward. If retained, we support the commercial dialogue with the client, consortium partners and key subcontractors during construction.
Approach
How we work
Each mandate is led by a senior advisor who stays involved from the first assessment through to contract signature.
Scope agreed at the outset
We agree the scope, responsibilities and decision points with the contractor before work begins. A mandate can cover a single decision, one workstream or the full pursuit.
Senior involvement throughout
The advisors who take on a mandate remain directly involved in the work, from start to finish.
Part of the client’s team
We work alongside the contractor’s bid, estimating, technical and legal teams, within its own approval process.
Clear responsibility
The contractor keeps ownership of its bid, its contract and delivery. Our role is to advise, challenge and support leadership decisions.
Experience
A record, briefly stated
We advise international contractors on public tenders, including PPP projects, across transport, energy infrastructure and technology. At the centre of our work is bringing the right partners together. We identify the companies a project requires and assemble them, whether as a joint venture, a special purpose vehicle or a main contractor with its subcontractors, into a team matched to the contracting authority’s needs, preferences and requirements. That combination is what makes a winning proposal.
Experience at a glance
- More than 15 countriesOur advisors have submitted bids and supported tender processes across a majority of European markets.
- ENR Top 20Over the past decade, we have advised several contractors that have appeared in ENR’s Top 20 international contractors.
- Five public-sector organisationsOur experience includes advisory roles on the client side in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Lithuania, covering major transport projects and strategically sensitive infrastructure.
- €4+ billion in submitted tendersThe combined value of tenders that three of our advisors have worked on.
- ~25% success rateSuccess rate in the tenders our team has worked on.
Team & network
Senior advisors and a long-standing European network
We bring together senior commercial advisors, bid directors, project directors, engineers and business development specialists to help contractors pursue complex public contracts. We work alongside the contractor’s leadership, using market intelligence to assess whether to bid, assembling the right consortium and turning the bid strategy into a submission the team can stand behind. A senior commercial advisor leads each engagement and stays involved in the decisions that shape the offer and its commercial terms.
We draw on an established European network of contractors, engineering consultancies, specialist suppliers and contacts with public project owners. That network helps us test local capacity and identify partners early.
Our team has extensive experience managing the legal and procedural requirements of complex public tenders under EU public procurement rules and national procurement systems. We apply that experience when assessing procurement routes, preparing qualification evidence, responding to formal clarifications and reviewing how proposed contract terms allocate risk. We work with the contractor’s legal advisors when the matter requires formal legal advice.
On our name
Martellus takes its name from Henricus Martellus, a cartographer working in Florence ~1490. His world map was among the first to show the sea route around the southern tip of Africa, drawn from the latest reports before most had seen them.
Markets
Where we work
We advise on public contracts in the Nordic region and in selected European markets.
The Nordic region
Our base. We know how contracting authorities in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland plan, package and procure major infrastructure, and we follow their investment programmes closely. This lets us advise early, before a procurement takes its final form.
Selected European markets
Beyond the Nordic region, we accept mandates where our experience is directly relevant, for example for contractors entering a new market or bidding with partners they have not worked with before. Our team includes advisors with a military background, and several have been vetted and hold high-level security clearance for strategically sensitive projects in selected markets.