Cyprus awards Viva.com €1.5bn-a-year state payments contract

Viva.com takes over Cyprus state electronic payments infrastructure Cyprus has awarded Viva.com a contract to provide electronic transaction processing services for the state, bringing a four-year procurement process marked by multiple legal challenges and appeals to a close. The contract, awarded by the Treasury of the Republic of Cyprus, covers electronic payments made by citizens and businesses to the state, with the total value of transactions managed through the system expected to exceed €1.5 billion annually. Under the agreement, Viva.com will establish a multi-channel electronic transaction processing infrastructure for the Cypriot state, allowing citizens to make payments using both cards and account-to-account (A2A) methods. According to an announcement published on Monday, the company will serve as the processing engine behind Cyprus’s Payment Gateway (PGW) through the gov.cy platform, centralising electronic payments and allowing citizens to settle obligations to government departments and services through a single platform. Viva.com will manage all online transactions through its Smart Checkout payment solution, while also being responsible for the procurement, installation and maintenance of physical point-of-sale terminals across public services in Cyprus using its Tap on Any Device technology. The system will cover payments including direct taxes, vehicle licence renewals and social insurance contributions, as well as other electronic payments to the state. The contract follows a lengthy tender procedure that began on January 7, 2022, and was repeatedly delayed by legal challenges brought by bidders. The Tenders Review Authority said in a decision published following the latest appeal that the procurement had taken an unusually long time to complete, with the procedure having faced a succession of appeals that were both upheld and rejected. The latest challenge was lodged by JCC Payment Systems Ltd on April 8, 2026, after the Tenders Board decided to award the contract to VivaBank Single-Member Banking Company S.A. The appeal was dismissed on July 15, 2026, clearing the way for the award to proceed. The winning bid was €3.92 million for the first part of the contract and €172,942 for the second, compared with JCC’s bids of €4.45 million and €522,821 respectively. JCC sought to annul the award on ten separate grounds after the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder. The Tenders Review Authority rejected all ten arguments, finding that none had been sufficiently substantiated and that the grounds for annulment were unfounded and unsupported. The procurement had previously been awarded to VivaBank after the Tenders Board reviewed new evidence and information at a meeting on March 20, 2026. The authority said VivaBank had succeeded Viva Payments Services S.A., whose bid had previously been considered to offer the best value for money. The lengthy process had at one stage raised the possibility that the tender would be cancelled because of the amount of time that had passed since its launch. Authorities examined whether the delay itself justified cancelling the procedure, given that market conditions and financial data had changed substantially during the intervening period. The contract has a total duration of 67 months, or roughly five and a half years. This includes one month for technical preparations to integrate with the Ariadne Payment Gateway, followed by between four and six months to complete the connection to the system. The core electronic transaction processing services will then be provided for 36 months from the start of implementation, with the original tender also providing options for two successive 12-month extensions. The existing electronic payment service has been operated by JCC Payment Systems since 2010, enabling citizens and businesses to make online payments for a wide range of government services. The system has been used for direct taxes and other outstanding obligations to the state, vehicle licence renewals, social insurance contributions, traffic fines and other fixed penalties, as well as various government fees. JCC’s platform has also been widely used to pay municipal charges, including sewerage fees, water supply bills and immovable property charges. The Tenders Review Authority’s decision also referred to three annulment decisions issued during the procurement process, after which the contracting authorities sought a legal opinion from the Law Office before continuing. Despite the prolonged tender, the use of electronic payments for public services has continued to grow in Cyprus, particularly among younger citizens, as digital services become increasingly central to interactions with government. Viva.com said the new infrastructure would combine the scale of its pan-European banking operation with local expertise, supporting public institutions and businesses across Europe. “We’re proud to bring our pan-European critical banking infrastructure to support an essential function of Cyprus’s public sector,” said Chief Business Officer at Viva.com Harry Xenophontos. “This means a more convenient way for citizens to pay, while reducing the state’s cost of electronic transactions,” he added. “We are fully committed to bringing that same combination of innovation and efficiency to payments, banking and financing in Cyprus and across our footprint of 31 European countries,” Xenophontos stated. The contract also comes shortly after Viva.com was selected in July by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD), in partnership with European Dynamics, to build and operate the central payment platform for the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The CBAM payment platform is due to cover all 27 EU member states from 2027 and forms part of one of the bloc’s flagship climate initiatives. The Cyprus contract further strengthens Viva.com’s role in processing large-scale public-sector transactions, while giving the Cypriot state a centralised system for electronic payments across its public services.