VR-Group Plc (hereinafter also "VR" or "contracting entity") is starting with this procurement notice a tendering process to procure, implement and support modern cloud-based Procure to Pay solution (later also “Procurement solution” or “Solution”) for the entire VR-Group as defined below.

VR is looking for a solution or solutions as well as supplier who will implement the solution and provide continuous support after implementation. The scope of the procurement will cover all these aspects: technology/licenses, implementation project, and application management service. Implementation project will include on-site days in Helsinki and Stockholm at the VR offices.

The objective is to replace with the Procurement solution multiple procurement solutions currently in use in Finland and Sweden. Also, the aim is that the functionalities would be as out-of-the-box as possible to fit VR needs, minimizing the need for extensive customization.

The aim is that the Procurement solution would contain capabilities for, but not limited to, the following areas:

- category management

- supplier onboarding and approval

- supplier Master data management

- supplier lifecycle management

- supplier evaluation and assessments

- supplier portal

- sourcing analysis

- tendering

- contract management

- configurable approval workflows

- catalogue purchasing, including supplier webshop punchouts

- Free text purchasing

- hourly-based service purchasing

- receiving of e-invoices from suppliers

- 3-way auto-matching of purchase invoices

- integration capabilities from/to 3rd party systems

- capability to provide data to data platform and/or 3rd party analytics tools

Furthermore, the Solution needs to be able to produce data for sustainability reporting. The expectation is that sustainability data, among other externally available supplier-related data, is retrievable from external sources to the Procurement solution. Inventory management and requisitioning of inventory items is done in external systems (VR’s business ERPs: Infor LN, Microsoft Business Central, AutoFutur), from which the purchase requests are to be fed via integration(s) to the new Procurement solution.

The new Procurement solution shall communicate seamlessly with VR’s business ERPs to exchange timely information about requirements, suppliers, contracts, catalog items, purchase order confirmations, delivery notifications, receipts, and received invoices.

VR has ambition to expand No-PO-No-Pay policy to cover the whole VR Group. Furthermore, VR is targeting to significantly improve P2P performance, for example in terms of process automation, savings, contract compliance, and invoice auto-matching. Other Accounts Payable processes than purchase invoice handling, i.e. Payments, reconciliation, postings, and Travel and Expense claims handling are done in separate system(s) outside Procurement solution. Non-PO invoice handling can be done in existing purchase invoice handling solution, Basware P2P, or in the new Procurement solution, and this topic will be reviewed closely during the procurement procedure and the negotiation phase. Procurement solution to be procured must be integrated with future Finance solution. Finance solution is being tendered simultaneously in a separate process during the year 2025.

The selected supplier needs to be able to work in a multi-vendor environment. The aim is that the new Procurement solution would be implemented simultaneously with the new future finance solution in a joint implementation project. Both solutions are procured in separate procurement procedures, and they can be of different technologies and provided by different suppliers. The selected supplier is responsible for the scope of this procurement in the project. The transformation that a new finance solution and procurement solution implementation requires is significant and includes process development, change management and integration of processes and solutions.

VR Group consists of around 15 legal entities in Finland, Sweden and Latvia and has over 9100 employees. The solution needs to cover operations in Finland, Sweden and Latvia, and it must be easily extendable to other countries and potential future business areas, if necessary. The total estimated number of users for the Procurement solution is 1300 employees.

At the commencement of the procurement procedure there are:

• In Finland 12 relevant legal entities. In addition, there is also a maintenance company VR FleetCare Ltd.

• In Sweden VR Sverige AB and VR Snabbtåg Sverige AB, and

• In Latvia VR Services Latvia SIA

This procurement is made for all legal entities under VR Group, i.e. VR-Group Plc and all its group companies. In case new VR Group entities would be established, the procured solution must be possible to take into use in also such entities.

The aim is that the final tendering process would end in Q1/2026, when the implementation would start. We are planning a phased go live and the goal is to have the first legal entities with fully implemented system in place in H1/2027 with rollouts following. The new Procurement solution is to be implemented hand-in-hand with the future Finance solution; with legal entities implementing both solutions simultaneously according to the same schedule. The schedule of the procurement may however change during the procurement procedure. VR is looking for partner who has capacity to implement the Procurement solution in the given target schedule and has expertise in similar implementation programs. The schedule of the procurement may however change during the procurement procedure.

Documentation requirements will be specified during the negotiation phase and the final requirements regarding the whole procurement will be described in the final invitation to tender.