Caribbean Electricity Integrator Facility

Restricted EU services tender by the European Commission (DG INTPA) to procure an engineering‑anchored transaction advisory team to advance Caribbean electricity integration investments to investment and tender readiness, initially focusing on a St Kitts and Nevis‑anchored Northern Corridor with possible extension to Antigua and Barbuda and other northern Leeward nodes. The estimated contract value is €2,000,000 for a global price services contract with a maximum duration of 24 months and a provisional start date of 26 April 2027. The procedure is restricted (electronic submission) with a shortlist of 4–8 candidates and award by best price‑quality ratio; applicants must meet selection thresholds including minimum average annual turnover of €1,500,000 and at least two relevant engineering‑anchored transaction advisory contracts each valued at or above €500,000. Deadline for requests to participate is 3 November 2026 at 16:00 America/Barbados and the provisional invitation to tender is 23 November 2026, subject to prior adoption of the financing decision.

Opportunity snapshot

What the contract funds

Engineering‑anchored transaction advisory services to validate Caribbean electricity interconnection options and to prepare a St Kitts and Nevis anchored Northern Corridor (and potential extensions) to at least tender or contracting readiness. Work covers technical, economic, financial, legal, commercial, environmental and social assessments, business and financing structures, procurement design and replication/scale‑up mechanisms.

Who can apply and key eligibility

Footnotes

1. 1Full call documents and submission details are on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Tender details.

Opportunity identification and administrative data

Summary of the assignment and objectives

The Caribbean Electricity Integrator Facility will deliver integrated technical, engineering and transaction-advisory support to advance priority electricity-integration investments in the Caribbean from strategic analysis and project identification through to investment and tender readiness. The specific objective is to validate regional interconnection options and prepare an integrator-led Northern Corridor package anchored on St Kitts and Nevis that can achieve, where feasible, tender or contracting readiness, while designing a replicable mechanism to scale and replicate electricity-integration corridors elsewhere in the Caribbean. Initial focus includes the St Kitts and Nevis interconnection and associated generation, grid and enabling infrastructure. The assignment will also assess potential extensions towards Antigua and Barbuda and other Northern Leeward nodes, subject to validation.

The contractor is expected to assess and develop solutions across technical, economic, financial, legal, commercial, environmental, social, institutional and procurement dimensions and to propose viable business, financing, risk-allocation and procurement structures for priority investments. A key output is a scale-up and replication mechanism and pipeline for future Caribbean electricity-integration investments. The contractor must provide an engineering-anchored transaction advisory team combining strong power-system, grid and submarine-interconnection capability with expertise in market and demand analysis, economics, financial structuring, legal and commercial design, procurement, environmental and social safeguards and stakeholder engagement.

Eligibility, participation and procedural requirements

Detailed selection, capacity and award criteria

Selection follows the PRAG rules. Candidates will be evaluated on economic/financial capacity, professional capacity and technical capacity. If more than eight eligible candidates meet the minimum criteria, additional comparative criteria (number of qualifying contracts and cumulated value) will be applied to rank candidates.

Evaluation and award

Financial and contract details

Geographic scope and direct beneficiaries

Technical, professional and team requirements

The contracting authority requires an engineering-anchored transaction advisory team with proven capability in: power-system analysis and planning; grid planning and design; submarine interconnection studies and project delivery; market and demand analysis; economics and cost-benefit analysis; financial structuring and modelling; legal and commercial design (including cross-border commercial arrangements); procurement strategy and tender documents; environmental and social safeguards (ESIA/ESMP experience); stakeholder engagement and institutional strengthening; and risk allocation and mitigation for infrastructure projects. The team must evidence project references that meet the technical capacity thresholds (minimum two contracts each >= €500,000) with deliverables demonstrating relevant engineering-transaction advisory outputs.

Application structure and templates (how requests to participate must be prepared)

Requests to participate must use the standard request to participate form available from the procurement annexes on the Commission's external action wiki/PRAG annexes. A Declaration on Honour on exclusion and selection criteria must be completed using the provided template. Supporting documents required include financial statements (last three closed financial years), statements of professional and technical capacity, CVs and role descriptions for key personnel, signed commitments from capacity-providing entities if applicable, subcontracting plans, and documentary evidence for relevant reference contracts (contracts, certificates of completion, deliverable approvals, proof of payment). Additional documents must be attached in the correct eSubmission tabs as instructed in the procurement documents.

Key deadlines and timeline

Contract management, award conditions and other important procurement rules

The award is subject to a financing decision. The contracting authority may cancel the award procedure or abandon procurement if the financing decision is not adopted or modifies procurement elements materially. Candidates included in EU restrictive measures lists at time of award cannot be awarded the contract. If fewer than 4 eligible candidates meet selection criteria the contracting authority may proceed with fewer invitations to tender. Shortlisted candidates must maintain the same team/composition as in the request to participate unless prior authorisation is requested and granted. There are strict rules on submission technical requirements (file size, naming conventions, encryption of uploaded attachments) and the eSubmission system encrypts attachments on upload. The contracting authority will notify candidates by email regarding outcomes of evaluations; candidates are responsible for providing a valid contact address.

Categorisation and extracted structured information

How evaluators will judge technical references and team composition

Technical references must demonstrate completion of engineering-anchored transaction advisory services in relevant electricity integration areas. Each referenced contract must have a minimum declared value of €500,000 and at least two such contracts completed within the last four years before the submission deadline. Evidence must identify the portion of works performed by the candidate if implemented within a consortium. Evaluators will assess relevance (submarine cable design, transmission and grid integration, multi-country integration, renewable integration), scale (value), and the quality of deliverables (reports, feasibility studies, transaction documents). Team composition must show availability and involvement of at least 10 relevant specialists on average during the reference period, with CVs and proof of contracts or employment. Conflicts of interest must be declared and absence of professional conflicting interests is required.

Risks, conditions and practical notes for applicants

Clarifications can be requested through the Funding & Tenders Portal Questions & Answers tool up to 21 days before the submission deadline. Contracting authority will publish clarifications at least 8 days before the deadline. It is the candidate's responsibility to monitor the portal for updates. The system encrypts uploaded documents and does not permit viewing submitted attachments after encryption, so verify submission completeness and formats before final upload.

General summary

The Caribbean Electricity Integrator Facility is an EU-funded procurement to contract an expert engineering-led transaction advisory team to validate and develop a St Kitts and Nevis-anchored Northern Corridor electricity interconnection package and to create a replicable integrator mechanism for wider Caribbean electricity integration. The work combines in-depth technical engineering studies (including submarine interconnection and grid planning), market and demand analysis, legal and commercial design, financial structuring, procurement packaging and environmental and social safeguards, with the objective of progressing projects to tender or contracting readiness and establishing a pipeline and scale-up mechanism for future corridors. The contract is procured via a restricted two-stage procedure, budgeted at €2,000,000 and running for up to 24 months, with submissions managed electronically through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Candidates must meet specified financial, professional and technical capacity thresholds and will be shortlisted (4 to 8) for invitation to tender. Successful tenderers will be selected on the basis of best price-quality ratio and must be ready to execute complex, multi-disciplinary transaction advisory tasks across a multi-country Caribbean scope, subject to the prior adoption of an EU financing decision.

Footnotes

1. 1Tender notice and documents available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: ec.europa.eu and TED notice 679525-2026.

Opportunity overview

This is a restricted EU services tender led by the European Commission, Directorate-General for International Partnerships, for the Caribbean Electricity Integrator Facility. It seeks an engineering anchored transaction advisory team to move priority Caribbean electricity integration investments from analysis and project identification to investment and tender readiness, with an initial focus on a St Kitts and Nevis anchored Northern Corridor and possible extension toward Antigua and Barbuda and other northern Leeward nodes. The work is intended to be replicable for future Caribbean electricity integration corridors.

Funding and contract profile

What the contract is about

The assignment is designed to validate regional electricity interconnection options in the Caribbean and prepare a priority package that can reach at least tender or contracting readiness where feasible. The first geographic focus is St Kitts and Nevis, including the interconnection between St Kitts and Nevis and the generation, grid and enabling infrastructure required to support an integrated electricity system. The analysis may also assess an extension of the Northern Corridor toward Antigua and Barbuda and other northern Leeward receiving or readiness nodes if this is technically, economically and commercially justified.

The contractor must assess technical, economic, financial, legal, commercial, environmental, social, institutional and procurement dimensions, and must develop viable business, financing, risk allocation and procurement structures. The contract also includes work to design a scale up and replication mechanism for a wider pipeline of Caribbean electricity integration investments.

Who can apply

The call is open to eligible natural and legal persons and to consortia. Participation is also open to international organisations. A consortium may be formally established or created specifically for this procedure, but all members are jointly and severally liable to the contracting authority.

Applicants should be able to provide an engineering anchored transaction advisory team with strong capabilities in power system planning, grid and submarine interconnection, market and demand analysis, economics, financial structuring, legal and commercial design, procurement, environmental and social safeguards, and stakeholder engagement.

Selection and eligibility requirements

Shortlisting and comparative ranking

If more than 8 eligible candidates satisfy the selection criteria, the contracting authority will rank them using comparative criteria. The main comparative criterion is the highest number of contracts meeting the technical capacity requirement, followed by the highest cumulative value of qualifying completed services if there is a tie for the 8th position.

Submission and timeline

Key conditions applicants should note

Subcontracting is allowed, but shortlisted candidates may not form alliances or subcontract to each other for the contract unless the contracting authority authorises it. Only one request to participate may be submitted by any natural or legal person, whether alone or as part of a consortium. All written communications must be in English, and all financial data must be expressed in EUR.

The award of the contract is subject to the prior adoption of a financing decision. If that condition is not met, the contracting authority may abandon or cancel the procedure without compensation.

Practical takeaways for bidders

This opportunity is best suited to international consulting firms, engineering advisory firms, transaction advisers, and consortiums combining power systems expertise with financial, legal, procurement, and safeguards capability. Strong past experience in electricity interconnection, regional power sector planning, and bankable project preparation will be critical, especially for cross border or submarine cable work.

The procurement is not a grant. It is a competitive EU services contract where applicants must first clear a participation stage before being invited to submit a full tender.

Opportunity summary table