Provision of Facility Management Helpdesk Services

Item Description:

The Secretariat (GSC) assists the European Council and the Council of the European Union in carrying out their work in an effective and efficient manner. The Secretariat helps organise and ensure the coherence of the Council’s work and the implementation of its 18-month programme. It assists the European Council and its President and also supports the Council presidency in negotiations within the Council and with the other EU institutions. The Secretariat employs approximately 3.500 persons and operates in Brussels, Belgium.

The Buildings Unit is responsible for the management, maintenance and refurbishment of the Council buildings, including operation of the technical facilities. These tasks include initiation and monitoring of ongoing refurbishment and renovation work, general maintenance and cleaning, garden maintenance, operation and maintenance of the technical facilities, checking of mains water, fuel and electricity supplies, and waste management and removal. Buildings Unit staff are for the most part engineers, architects and other specialists in the field, divided into three sectors:

• Projects
• Technical Management
• Buildings Policy and Environmental Management

The Technical Management Sector manages and coordinates several contracts with external providers of technical supplies and services (hereafter called “external providers”). Maintaining the buildings and making the adaptations needed due to the constant changes in the allocation of space, as well as changing needs in terms of health and safety, involves simultaneous dayto-day monitoring of a large number of refurbishment, installation, maintenance and renovation projects. Operation of the buildings also includes taking various measures aimed at efficient use of the energy, water and other resources needed for Council activities. This is done in collaboration with the Secretariat’s environmental management team.

The Buildings Helpdesk receives service requests for assistance and information regarding problems of technical nature, as well as needs related to meetings or official meals, occurring in Secretariat buildings. It immediately informs the technical teams and/or external providers responsible so that they can resolve the service requests which have been reported. It also handles accreditation and access for staff from external providers working for the Buildings Unit in the Secretariat buildings, and monitors the time they spend on site.

Buildings Helpdesk service is currently provided to the Secretariat by an external provider

Objective and purpose of the contract

The Contractor to this framework contract is intended to provide technical helpdesk services in the context of facility management (hereafter called the “Buildings Helpdesk service” or “BH service”) at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union (hereafter called the “Secretariat”) in Brussels. The total workload is not fixed in advance, however – according to average data during years 2012-2017, and taking into account the addition of the most recent Europa Building – an annual number of 15.000 service requests is estimated. It must be noted that the BH service is not only limited to purely technical helpdesk tasks, but may also include additional tasks.

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