Call for tender – IT support services

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the company selection has been moved to 12/09/2025

This call for tender was launched on 30 July 2025. Applications had to be submitted by 29 August 2025

FEPS – GENERAL INFORMATION

The Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) is the think tank of the progressive political family at the EU level. Our mission is to develop innovative research, policy advice, training, and debates to inspire and inform socialist and social democratic politics and policies across Europe.

We operate as a hub for thinking to facilitate the emergence of progressive answers to the challenges that Europe faces today.

FEPS works in close partnership with its members and partners, forging connections and boosting coherence among stakeholders from the world of politics, academia, and civil society at local, regional, national, European and global levels.

Today, FEPS benefits from a solid network of 76 member organisations. Among these, 40 are full members, 31 have observer status, and 5 are ex-officio members. In addition to this network of organisations that are active in the promotion of progressive values, FEPS also has an extensive network of partners, including renowned universities, scholars, policymakers, and activists.

Our ambition is to undertake intellectual reflection for the benefit of the progressive movement and to promote the founding principles of the EU – freedom, equality, solidarity, democracy, respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, human dignity, and the rule of law.

PURPOSE OF THE PRESENT TENDER

The purpose of this tender is to select a company and/or a (delegated) individual to provide IT support for the Foundation for European Progressive Studies.

Any relevant service pertaining to these services, such as insurance, software licenses and any other service or material required for the completion of the information technology advisory role, is to be included in the budget and dealt with directly by the selected candidate.

The selected candidate will be contracted on an ad-hoc basis depending on the needs of the organisation (i.e. updating technological infrastructure, assistance with digital transformation, technological advisory role, etc.).

If selected through the present call for tender, FEPS offers the possibility of signing a five-year contract for IT support services with no exclusivity and no minimum billing amount between October 2025 and September 2030.

Main needs and planning

A non-exhaustive list of indicative needs and preferences would be the following:

• Assistance in the maintenance of technological equipment
• Identifying and advising on potential opportunities to improve and update software and systems
• Liaising with other vendors and contractors to implement technological services at FEPS (e.g. audiovisual equipment of the office, VOIP services, etc.).
• Ensure data security, network access, and backup systems (e.g., VPN connections, maintenance and upgrades of the organisation’s physical server, etc.).
• Preserve assets, information security and control structures under the guidance of FEPS’ main contact person.

N.B: The selected candidate must ensure flexibility and availability in workload management. The organisation might require services outside of regular office hours.

PARTICIPATION IN THE TENDERING PROCEDURE

Tender Process

FEPS reserves the right to conduct the tender process and select the successful tender.

FEPS is not bound contractually or in any way to a bidder to this request for tender until FEPS and the successful winner have entered a written contract.

The key dates of this call for tender are the following:

1. Deadline for the submission of applications: receive the offer in writing via email by 29/08/2025
2. Emails/phone calls to discuss the offers: 01/08/2025 – 15/08/2025
3. Company selection: 05/09/2025 12/09/2025 at the latest
4. Start of contract: 01/10/2025

The offer must include the hourly rate cost VAT. Any other costs or additional fees that may be charged in exceptional situations should be detailed and include applicable conditions (e.g. premium fee for urgency).

Tender documentation

The following documents must be submitted in the application:

1. Comprehensive budget overview broken down into different categories to allow a comprehensive understanding of the service costs.
2. Brochure of services provided by the IT company if available.

Tender qualitative evaluation criteria

In non-preferential order, the evaluation criteria used to assess the quality of the applications are the following:

Criteria 1: A cost proposal – value for money offered by the applicant.

Criteria 2: Quality of the assurance mechanisms proposed by the tenderer to ensure the production of a high-quality service.

Criteria 3: Speed of work, ensuring efficiency is not compromised.

Applicants must be able to work in the English language. French and other EU languages are an asset.

CONTACTS

If the above request is of interest to your company, we invite you to liaise with morgana.cochaux@feps-europe.eu (FEPS Communication and Events Officer) to request further information and submit your application.

All written offers must be submitted to morgana.cochaux@feps-europe.eu (FEPS Communication and Events Officer) and put in copy to johan.robberecht@feps-europe.eu (FEPS Director of Operations) and accountancy@feps-europe.eu.

Offers must be provided in writing via email to be considered

TERMS OF PAYMENT

Prices must be fixed amounts in Euro.

The amount of VAT must be disclosed on the price offer and invoice. Services and items charged should be broken down as much as possible in the invoices in order to have a comprehensive overview of the project costs.

Costs incurred in preparing and submitting tenders are borne by the tenderers and cannot be reimbursed.

QUALITY ISSUES

In delivering the service, the tenderer shall ensure the highest quality standards, of which FEPS shall be the sole judge.

CONFIDENTIALITY AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The tenderer undertakes that they will not, at any time, either before or after the termination of this service, use, disclose or communicate to any person confidential information relating to the affairs of FEPS.

This restriction shall continue to apply after the termination of the service without limit in point of time.

To ensure the independence of the terms of their contract, the winning tenderer will sign a declaration certifying that they have no conflict of interests in relation to the tasks to be undertaken and undertake to inform FEPS’ Director of Operations should this status change.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

FEPS reserve the right to reject any and all proposals, in whole or in part, to advertise for new proposals, to abandon the need for services, and to cancel or amend this call for tender at any time prior to the execution of the written contract.

FEPS reserves the right to waive any formalities in the call for tender process. FEPS may respond to questions or provide information from tenderers and is under no obligation to provide such responses or information to all other tenderers.

By submitting a proposal, the tenderer agrees to:

• FEPS may copy the proposal for the purpose of facilitating the evaluation of the proposal and agrees that such copying will not violate the rights of any third party.
• It will not bring any claim or have any cause of action against FEPS based on any misunderstanding concerning the information provided or concerning FEPS’ failure, neglect or otherwise, to provide the bidder with pertinent information as Intended by this call for tender.

The accomplishment of a tendering procedure imposes no obligation on the FEPS to award the contract.

Should the invitation to tender cover several items or lots, FEPS reserves the right to award a contract for only some of them.

FEPS shall not be liable for any compensation with respect to tenders whose tenders have not been accepted. Nor shall it be so liable if it decides not to award the contract.

CONTRACTING AUTHORITY

Foundation of European Progressive Studies (FEPS)
Avenue des Arts 46
1000 Brussels
EUPF 4 BE0896.230.213
www.feps-europe.eu

RECAPITULATION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (Updated regularly)

Team

• Our team consists of 25 people.
• Each team member may work remotely up to 2 days per week.
• All staff are provided with FEPS-issued laptops and smartphones.

IT Environment

• Operating system: macOS Ventura 13.7.1
• Office software: Microsoft 365
• VOIP / Communication tools: Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp
• Cloud storage: Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive
• Internet providers:
  • Office: Proximus
  • Mobile: Orange
• Hosting: Emails and files are stored in a hybrid environment.
• Backups: Managed via hard drives.
• Servers:
  • Website hosting is handled by an external provider.
  • On-site server room for data storage.

Maintenance

• IT support is currently managed through a dedicated contact at an external agency.
• Issues are reported to this contact, who coordinates troubleshooting and resolution.

Response and resolution time

• We currently receive very fast replies during working hours.
• Non-urgent issues: handled via email.
• Urgent issues: handled by phone.
• Event-related problems: resolved as quickly as possible.
• Other issues: resolution time depends on complexity and priority.

Printer

• One printer in use.
• Covered by a maintenance contract with the supplier.

Priorities

Speed, availability and efficiency are key performance criteria.

Any extra information?

It would be helpful to include in your offer:

• Industry certifications you hold (e.g., Microsoft, CISSP, CCNA, ITIL…)
• Business hours for support
• Number of people in your team
• Official partnerships with vendors (Dell, HP, Apple…)
• Transparent cost breakdown, including potential extra costs
• Familarity with GDPR compliance regulations
• Familarity with NGOs