Anthropometric datahub supporting standards development

The European Commission (DG GROW) has issued an open procurement (EC GROW 2026 OP 0009) for the design, development, validation, deployment and handover of an open-source anthropometric datahub including technical implementation, an economic sustainability model and a governance model, with a preferred EUPL licence for delivered code. The estimated total contract value is €650,000 with a maximum duration of 36 months and payments linked to milestone deliverables across two phases. Submission is electronic via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal with a tender deadline of 12 October 2026 (Brussels time) and award by best price-quality ratio (quality 70%, price 30%). Bidders must demonstrate strong IT, data governance, security and open-source experience and provide full compliance with procurement annexes, security and data protection requirements.

Opportunity type

Call for tenders EC-GROW/2026/OP/0009

What it funds:a contractor to design, build, validate and hand over an open-source anthropometric data hub (repository, marketplace/data space and descriptive-statistics module), plus an economic model, governance model and data-processing methodology. The project includes stakeholder consultations, IT development, deployment at a hosting organisation and technical support during transfer and operation.

Estimated budget:Estimated total value €650,000. Phase 1 ceiling €455,000; Phase 2 ceiling €195,000. Maximum contract duration 36 months.

1. 1Who can apply: any economic operator (single tenderer or joint tender). Subcontracting permitted. Bidders must register in the Participant Register (PIC) and submit electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal using EU Login.
2. 2Key selection points: legal, financial and technical capacity checks; quality and price award (quality 70%, price 30%); mandatory Declaration on Honour and other procurement documents.

Contracting authority:European Commission, DG GROW (Directorate GROW H.2, Machinery, Equipment & AI). Procurement procedure: open procedure; award by best price-quality ratio. Tender documents include invitation to tender, tender specifications, draft contract, financial offer form and guidance on open-source solutions.

How to submit:Tenders must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal (EU Login required). See procurement documents on the portal for templates, annexes, Q&A and security requirements. F&T Portal ¹

Footnotes

1. 1Full procurement page and documents: Tender details.

Opportunity type and purpose

Call for tenders launched by the European Commission (DG GROW) to commission the design, development, validation, deployment and handover of an open-source anthropometric data hub. The hub must include a technical implementation (repository, marketplace/data space and descriptive-statistics functionality), an economic model for long-term sustainability, a governance model for stakeholder trust and community participation, and a data-processing methodology to produce EU-representative descriptive statistics for anthropometric parameters used in European product standards. The procurement is an open procedure implemented as a direct service contract (maximum duration 36 months) with payments linked to milestone deliverables. The Commission retains ownership of the results and seeks an open-source codebase (preferred licence EUPL unless otherwise justified), appropriate security and data protection, and transfer to a long-term host (internal or external).

Key administrative facts

Procedure identifier EC-GROW/2026/OP/0009. Estimated total value €650,000 (phase 1 up to €455,000; phase 2 up to €195,000). Submission method: electronic via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal / eSubmission (EU Login required). Deadline(s) shown in procurement metadata: 2026-10-12 (final deadline) with public opening 2026-10-13. Maximum contract duration 36 months. Award method: best price-quality ratio with quality weighted 70% and price 30%.

Eligible Applicant Types:Public and private organisations with delivery capacity and track record in IT development, data spaces, statistics and stakeholder engagement. Eligible applicant types explicitly envisaged: SMEs, large enterprises (IT/software development companies), universities, research institutes, standardisation organisations, non-profit organisations and NGOs, consultancies and consortia combining technical, statistical and domain expertise. Joint tenders (groups) are allowed; subcontracting is permitted subject to rules. Individual natural persons are not the intended main contractor form but could participate as team members.

Funding Type:This is a procurement service contract (direct service contract) — a paid tender. The Commission will sign a services contract; this is not a grant or prize. Payment is by invoices against milestone deliverables; no equity or loans are involved.

Consortium Requirement:Consortiums are permitted but not mandatory. Tenders may be submitted by a sole tenderer or a group of economic operators (joint tender). If a group submits, a group leader must be appointed and sign the Agreement/Power of Attorney (Annex 3). All group members are jointly and severally liable. The contracting authority requires clarity on roles and possibly committed subcontractors (identified subcontractors > 15% of contract value or relied-on entities for selection criteria).

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):Open to natural and legal persons within the scope of the EU Treaties, international organisations, entities established in third countries subject to trade/public procurement agreements (GPA) or Horizon association rules. Practically targeted at entities established in the EU/EEA; data hosting and processing of personal data must remain inside the EU/EEA unless explicit Commission authorisation and legal safeguards are in place.

Target Sector:Primary thematic sectors: standards/standardisation, ICT (data platforms, data spaces), statistics, product design and safety, manufacturing (incl. machinery), health/biometric measurement, textiles/apparel, ergonomics and human factors, AI/avatars and simulation (Human Body Models). Cross-sectoral relevance: automotive, PPE, medical devices, consumer products and industrial equipment.

Mentioned Countries:Explicit authority: European Commission (DG GROW) and the EU (27 Member States). Hosting and data processing must be inside EU/EEA (or as otherwise authorised). Commission buildings referenced are based in Belgium/Luxembourg; security screening procedures reference Belgian national checks for access to Commission premises.

Project Stage:Expected maturity: development and demonstration. The contract requires concept/inception, design, IT development (open-source code), validation/demonstration (including integration of initial measurement datasets/pilots), deployment at an identified host and knowledge transfer. The project spans research-to-demonstration with operational handover and 18-month support/implementation phase.

Funding Amount:Estimated total award value €650,000. Budget split: up to €455,000 for phase 1 (months 0–18) and up to €195,000 for phase 2 (months 19–36). Payments sequenced as: 20% after Month 1 deliverable, interim(s) and 50% at deployment (Month 18), balance 30% after final (Month 36) subject to second-phase approval.

Application Type:Open call for tenders via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (eSubmission). Tenders must be submitted electronically using an EU Login account and Participant Register PIC. Deadline and submission timestamp are binding; late tenders will be rejected. Questions via the portal Q&A are possible within time windows specified.

Nature of Support:Monetary services contract: the successful contractor receives payments (service fees) against milestone deliverables. Additionally the contractor must deliver non-monetary outputs: open-source code, documentation, data processing methods, governance and economic model designs, workshops and handover sessions.

Application Stages:Single-stage electronic tender submission followed by evaluation. The contract itself has two implementation phases (0–18 months and 19–36 months). The second phase is conditional on approval of deliverables and identification of a viable economic model and host. Tender evaluation steps: administrative checks, exclusion/selection verification, quality and price award scoring, ranking and award decision.

Success Rates:No explicit historical success rate is published. As an open procedure with a single award and a technical/quality competitive evaluation, success rates depend on the number and quality of tenders. Applicants should assume competitive selection and prepare full compliance with exclusion/selection requirements and a strong quality proposal to reach minimum thresholds (minimum 50% per criterion, 60 points overall).

Co-funding Requirement:No explicit co-funding obligation stated. The contract is a full-service paid procurement; the contractor must cover all costs to deliver the contract within the quoted price. The economic model to be developed must propose options for sustaining the hub beyond Commission funding.

Technical and operational requirements (highlights)

Core technical scope:design and implement an open-source data hub combining (a) a repository for datasets (compatible with agreed measurement protocols), (b) a marketplace/data space enabling contractual exchanges when owners retain control, and (c) a statistical engine to derive and version representative descriptive statistics across up to 416 anthropometric parameters. The hub must support multi-format data (body scans, one-dimensional measures, strength measures), APIs/connectors, interoperability with European data spaces, user registration (e.g. EU Login alignment), roles and access tiers, metadata standards, automated processing pipelines, provenance/versioning and clear traceability. Security, privacy (GDPR/Regulation (EU) 2018/1725), anonymisation or synthetic-data production options, and full documentation are mandatory. The solution should be open-source, ideally EUPL-licensed, and must be packaged and documented to enable handover and long-term hosting.

1. 1Repository: data ingestion, metadata model, validation against measurement protocols, storage and version management.
2. 2Marketplace/data space: discovery, contractual exchange facilitation, connectors/APIs, potential integration with common European data space approaches and the Data Spaces Support Centre.
3. 3Descriptive statistics engine: automated processing pipelines, representativeness weighting (ESTAT integration), stratification (age, gender, Member State, body type), versioning and provenance.
4. 4Economic model: assessment criteria, income streams (subscriptions/pay-per-use/credits/other), incentivisation for data donors, scenarios for fairness and inclusiveness, and a plan for financial sustainability.
5. 5Governance model: stakeholder consultation, hosting options analysis, management board vs advisory bodies, code of conduct, data access rules and governance processes.
6. 6Technical deliverables: open-source code and repos, deployment guides, architecture and security documentation, IT Security Plan and risk assessment, and packaged artifacts for transfer.
7. 7Support & handover: deployment at selected host, documentation, training and knowledge transfer sessions, and post-deployment technical support (months 18–36).

Eligibility, selection and tender content (required documents)

All tenders must include the Declaration on Honour (Annex 2), selection evidence (financial and technical) where requested, Tender Specifications compliance, technical tender (methodology, workplan, team CVs), and a detailed financial tender using Annex 6 Financial Tender Form. Joint tenders must provide Agreement/Power of Attorney (Annex 3). Identified subcontractors (>15% or relied-on for selection) must provide commitment letters (Annex 5.1). Entities relied upon (not subcontractors) provide commitment letters (Annex 5.2). The Participant Identification Code (PIC) is mandatory. Evidence for selection/exclusion may be requested during evaluation or from the presumed winner before award.

1. 1Annex 1 – Full list of documents and upload locations in eSubmission (technical tender, financial tender, declarations, Annexes 2–6).
2. 2Annex 2 – Declaration on Honour (exclusion and selection).
3. 3Annex 3 – Agreement/Power of Attorney for joint tenders (group leader confirmation).
4. 4Annex 4 – Identified subcontractors list and subcontracting percentage.
5. 5Annex 5.1/5.2 – Commitment letters by identified subcontractors or entities relied upon.
6. 6Annex 6 – Financial tender form (detailed staff daily rates, man-days, other costs, phase breakdown).

Evaluation and award criteria

Award is by best price-quality ratio. Quality weighting 70% (scored across clarity, understanding of assignment, project management and QC, team balance and task allocation, and methodological quality across the hub, economic and governance models, data processing and deployment). Price weighting 30%. Minimum thresholds apply: at least 50% per quality sub-criterion and 60 points total (out of 100) to be considered.

Quality criteria (high level):1) Clarity, relevance and coherence (5 points). 2) Understanding of assignment (10). 3) Project management, quality control, risk management and reporting (10). 4) Balance of profiles and task breakdown across the team and partners (15). 5) Quality of proposed methodologies across concept, technical implementation, economic model, governance model, data processing and deployment (60).

Practical notes and requirements for applicants

Security, data protection, open-source and IPR are critical. The procurement includes:security appendices (background checks, possible Commission access card rules and Belgian screening for personnel accessing Commission premises), obligation to follow Commission guidance on open-source solutions and recommended EUPL licensing unless convincing justification is given to use another licence. The contractor must deliver IP declarations (list of pre-existing rights) and be prepared to provide evidence of licence compliance and provenance (SBOM, dependency list, licence compatibility checks). The contractor must plan for an IP clearance and EURECA registration if software will be hosted on code.europa.eu and for a vulnerability assessment prior to public release.

1. 1Security: comply with Appendix 1 Security Requirements (screening, IT security manager, incident notification within 48h, IT security plan and risk assessment prior to go-live).
2. 2Open source: preferred EUPL licence; follow Commission Guidance on Developing Open Source Solutions; provide Notice and Licence files, source-code headers and SBOM; avoid incompatible licences (AGPL, SSPL, Elastic license, some non-open licences) unless justified and authorised.
3. 3Data protection: process personal data in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725; data localisation and hosting rules require EU/EEA processing unless expressly authorised; anonymisation/ synthetic data approaches must be designed and documented.
4. 4Hosting & handover: Commission retains ownership of results; contractor must prepare deployment packages, documentation, credentials transfer and knowledge sessions; hosting entity will be determined in consultation with Commission and must meet governance/security criteria.

Detailed procurement documents, tender specifications, draft contract, Annexes (including security requirements, draft contract annexes on IPR/VAT, financial offer template and guidance on open-source solutions) and the Q&A log are published on the Funding & Tenders Portal and must be consulted closely by tenderers for full compliance and to prepare the tender ¹.

1. 1Milestones and deliverables schedule tied to payments: M1 inception (20% available), M4 first interim, M9 second interim, M12 third interim (open-source ready), M12–18 deployment conditional on sustainable economic model (50% payment on successful deployment), M36 final report and balance (30% provisional).
2. 2Budget ceiling and phase split: Phase 1 maximum €455,000; Phase 2 maximum €195,000 (total €650,000).
3. 3Technical scope minimums: support for up to 416 parameters, initial measurement campaign sizing (up to 6,000 Europeans for modelling/planning), body-scan formats and large data volumes planning, APIs and possible data-space connectors compatible with European common data space approaches.

What the tender is about — summary explanation

This procurement seeks an experienced contractor to deliver an open-source anthropometric data hub that will make harmonised, up-to-date and representative anthropometric information available to standardisers, industry (including SMEs), researchers and regulators across the EU. The hub must combine a repository (for uploaded datasets compatible with standard measurement protocols), a marketplace/data space (allowing data holders to offer access on contractual terms while retaining control), and a statistical engine to produce EU-representative descriptive statistics across the 416 anthropometric parameters identified by Commission studies. Beyond the software, the contractor must design an economic model to incentivise data contributions and ensure long-term sustainability, and a governance model for trustworthy stewardship. The Commission requires an open-source delivery (preferred EUPL), strict compliance with data protection and security requirements, full IPR transparency and handover-ready deployment to a long-term host. The contract is delivered in two phases over up to 36 months with milestone-linked payments (total budget ceiling €650,000). Interested bidders must submit a complete electronic tender via the Funding & Tenders Portal by the stated deadline and follow the tender specifications, annexes and Q&A guidance published on the portal ¹.

Footnotes

1. 1Procurement documents and submission are published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Access the call page via the Tender Details link on the Portal (EC-GROW/2026/OP/0009).

This is a European Commission DG GROW services tender for an open source anthropometric datahub and related economic and governance models. The current portal listing shows an estimated value of €650000, an open procedure, and a maximum contract duration of 36 months.[2]

Opportunity overview

The assignment is to create a datahub that enables public and private entities to continuously gather and access anthropometric data needed for harmonised standards that better reflect the diversity of the EU population. The published tender materials position the work as IT services, with the main CPV code 72000000 and award on best price quality ratio.[2]

Tender reference:EC GROW 2026 OP 0009

Estimated contract value:€650000.

Who can apply

As an open procedure, the opportunity is generally open to any economic operator that can meet the selection and exclusion criteria in the procurement documents and submit a compliant electronic tender. The contract is not marked as SME suitable in the portal data, so bidders should assume that the buyer expects strong delivery capacity, especially in software development, data governance, security and open source implementation.

Consortia may be appropriate where capability needs to be combined across open source engineering, data management, standards work, legal and governance design, and security assurance. The tender documents listed in the portal include the invitation letter, tender specifications, declaration on honour, financial offer form, draft contract, security requirements, statements on IPR, VAT terms and guidance on developing open source solutions.

Submission and timing

1. 1Deadline for receipt of tenders: 12 October 2026 at 16:00 Europe/Brussels.
2. 2Public opening: 13 October 2026 at 10:00 Europe/Brussels.
3. 3The contracting authority is not bound to reply to questions submitted after 2 October 2026 at 23:59 Europe/Brussels.
4. 4Submission is electronic and requires EU Login access.
5. 5A PIC is typically required for participation in EU procurement procedures.

The supplied metadata also contains an earlier deadline timestamp of 1 January 2026, but the portal listing in the collected context shows the October 2026 deadline and should be treated as the operative timetable.

Technical and delivery expectations

Public Q and A published on the portal indicates that an overview of 416 anthropometric parameters will be available at contract signature, that an initial measurement campaign would measure up to 6000 Europeans, and that the datahub should be ready to deploy by month 18 even if long term hosting is not yet confirmed. The same Q and A also says the contractor may choose the authentication service for registered users, while aligning with best practices in European data spaces.

The Q and A further indicates that the contractor may propose different marketplace and connector options, preferably following common European data space approaches where appropriate, and that the Commission has not fixed a mandatory technical stack because the future host is not yet known. This suggests meaningful architectural freedom, but also a need to propose a realistic, portable and future proof design.

Open source, intellectual property and governance

The portal documents include guidance on developing open source solutions, and the published Q and A says the preferred licence for delivered source code is EUPL under the Commission Software Reuse Decision, although alternatives may be proposed with convincing justification. The same answers indicate that existing open source components under SSPL, Elastic Licence and AGPL 3.0 are excluded from the eventual open source distribution where relevant, including by linking.

Applicants should therefore pay close attention to licensing compatibility, rights in pre existing code, portability of the platform, and the ability to hand over a solution that can continue to be hosted and developed by a future organisation. The tender also requires economic and governance models, so the bid should explain not only the technical build but also how the datahub can be sustained, operated and governed after delivery.

What applicants should prepare

• A clear technical architecture for an open source datahub with repository, marketplace or data space and analytics functions.
• A governance and operating model covering roles, access control, maintenance and sustainability.
• An open source licensing strategy consistent with the Commission's preferences and reuse rules.
• A security approach aligned with the draft contract security requirements.
• A credible workplan for design, build, deployment readiness and handover within the 36 month ceiling.

Bottom line

This tender is best suited to bidders with strong public sector digital delivery capability, open source software expertise, and experience designing data platforms with governance and interoperability requirements. It is a relatively small but strategically important EU IT services contract focused on standards infrastructure rather than a simple software build, so proposals should emphasise technical realism, open source compliance, and long term maintainability.[2]