Provision of DOI Back Office and DOI-related Services

Item Description:

The Publications Office of the European Union referred to below as the contracting authority, is planning to award the contract(s) resulting from the above procurement procedure. The procurement documents consist of the contract notice, the invitation letter, the draft contract(s) and tender specifications with their respective annexes. All documents are available in the attached ZIP File.

Presentation of the Publications Office

The Publications Office of the European Union, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Publications Office’ (2, rue Mercier, 2985 Luxembourg, LUXEMBOURG) is the official provider of publishing services to all institutions, bodies and agencies established by or under the EU treaties. As such, it constitutes a central point of access to EU law, publications, open data, research results, procurement notices and other official information. The Publications Office, whose current organisation and operation are laid down by Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom (Official Journal of the European Union, L168, 30.06.2009, pp. 41-47, as amended), is managed by a Management Committee, on which each institution is represented by its Secretary-General. The Publications Office is administratively attached to the European Commission (‘the contracting authority’).

Its mission is to support the policies of the EU institutions and ensure that this broad range of information is made available to the public as accessible and reusable data to facilitate transparency, economic activity, and the diffusion of knowledge. Therefore, the Publications Office plays a significant role in several political priorities of the European Union related to democracy, economy, and digital transformation.

In more detail, the Publications Office:

• supports the policies and communication activities of the EU institutions, agencies and bodies with its services and offers them expertise and synergies in a number of domains;
• ensures, with its modelling and referencing activities, that the diverse information assets coming from EU institutions, agencies and bodies take the form of findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) information and data;
• makes sure that this vast array of official EU information and data – an essential element in today’s data-driven economy is made available to the public to support transparency, economic activity, the development of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, and the access to knowledge in general;
• makes sure that this content is preserved and made accessible for future generations;
• engages with citizens on a regular and increasing basis to help achieve its objectives.

The Publications Office has a duty to offer the highest quality of service to its customers – the originating departments of the institutions and other bodies of the European Union, and to its public – the people of the European Union and those throughout the world who are interested in European affairs.

Under the provisions of the Treaty on the European Union, the publication of certain titles, such as the Official Journal of the European Union or the General Report on the Activities of the European Union, is a legal obligation.

Nature of the contract

The contract is a Multiple Framework Service Contract in ‘sleeping’ cascade (‘the FWC’) with the following title: ‘Provision of DOI back office and DOI related services’.

As exact implementing conditions, quantities and delivery times cannot be indicated in advance, the contracting authority intends to conclude an FWC which shall establish the basic terms for a series of specific contracts or order forms, the latter being a simplified form of specific contracts (hereafter collectively referred to as ‘orders’) to be issued over its duration. The FWC does not give rise to any direct obligation on the part of the contracting authority; it is only its implementation through orders that is binding on the part of the contracting authority. See also Article I.4.3 of the FWC.

The FWC will be concluded in English. All formal communication related to the FWC and its implementation will be done in the language of the FWC.

The FWC shall be concluded in the form of separate but identical FWCs with two (2) economic operators at most (provided that there are enough economic operators that are not excluded) that satisfy the selection criteria and the award criteria.

After evaluation, the successful tenderers will be ranked in descending order with a view to establishing a list of contractors and a sequence in which they will be offered work when orders are placed. The second contractor in the cascade will only be asked to provide the services foreseen in the FWC if the FWC with the first contractor has been terminated.

Subject and background of the FWC

The purpose of the call for tenders is the selection of up to two (2) economic operators for the provision of services related to the DOI back office and other DOI-related services.

Download all available documents in: [ZIP]