EASME to launch tender for services
The European Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) is to launch a tender for services under the SME Instrument. This will be done through an innovative public tendering process called a ‘Competitive Dialogue’.
With this tender, the European Commission is looking to multiply the impact of the funding received by businesses under the SME Instrument. With this objective in mind, the contract will be offered to set up the SME Instrument business community and SME Instrument academy as presented in the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016-2017. The business community will be set up to help SMEs in accessing finance and new markets, partnering networking and improving their branding. The academy will focus on learning opportunities for SMEs.
The Competitive Dialogue is an innovative tendering process that invites candidates to a dialogue with the contracting authority. Each candidate with desired expertise will be asked to present innovative ideas and develop one or more suitable alternatives that will be chosen for implementation. One proposal will win the contract, but a financial compensation is envisaged for other candidates.
Once the tender has been published on TED, bidders will be encouraged to form consortia and to send a request to participate in the dialogue. An open Linked-in group will be launched to help companies find partners.
Requests will be evaluated and those candidates that meet the selection criteria will be asked to prepare and send a preliminary proposal to EASME. The preliminary proposal will be evaluated based on the award criteria. The selected candidates will be invited to a first dialogue.
Following an extensive exchange of ideas, the candidates will submit a refined proposal and be invited to a second dialogue. A third dialogue may be organised if needed, but if not, the candidates will be asked to submit their best and final offer. The Selection Committee will evaluate the offers and choose the best candidate.
The tender will be launched at the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016.
