Delivering IT and Firearms Equipment to the NFFP in the frame of the EU4Security Moldova Project

CEPOL (European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training) is running an open electronic procurement (procedure reference CEPOL/2026/OP/0012) to supply ICT, forensic and specialised firearms safety/testing equipment to establish a National Firearms Focal Point in the Republic of Moldova, divided into two lots with an estimated total value of €400,000 (Lot 1 €354,000; Lot 2 €46,000). The contract type is supplies, award criterion is lowest price per lot, maximum contract duration is three months and tenders must be submitted via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal using EU Login and a Participant Identification Code. Key dates: contract notice published 30/10/2026, deadline for receipt of tenders 11 January 2027 at 11:00 Europe/Budapest and public opening 11 January 2027 at 14:00 Europe/Budapest; questions will not be answered after 23 December 2026 at 23:59 Europe/Budapest. Tenderers must comply with detailed technical, warranty, delivery (DDP to specified Moldova sites) and exclusion/selection requirements and use the prescribed Annex forms (including Annex 6 financial and Annex 7 technical proposal) without alteration.

Opportunity type and authority

Call for tenders CEPOL/2026/OP/0012

Procurement to supply ICT and specialised firearms safety and testing equipment to set up a National Firearms Focal Point (NFFP) in the Republic of Moldova. Lead contracting authority: European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL).

Tenders submitted electronically only via the Funding & Tenders Portal (EU Login required). See full procurement documents and specification forms on the portal for technical lists, tender templates, and submission instructions Tender details 1.

Footnotes

1. 1All procurement documents (Invitation, Tender Specifications, Annexes, Draft Contract, Financial and Technical proposal templates) and submission portal are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal at the link provided above.

Reference and contracting authority

Procedure reference CEPOL/2026/OP/0012. TED reference 754856-2026. Lead contracting authority: European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL), Budapest, Hungary.

What is being procured

Direct supplies contracts in two separate lots to equip the National Firearms Focal Point (NFFP) of the Republic of Moldova under the EU4Security Moldova Project. Lot 1: NFFP Equipment - ICT equipment. Lot 2: Specialised Firearms Safety and Testing Equipment.

Detailed scope and key items (summary)

Place, schedule and contract type

Deadlines and key dates

Documents available to tenderers (selected)

How to submit

Tenders must be submitted exclusively electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission system. A EU Login account and a Participant Identification Code (PIC) are required. Upload requirements and naming conventions are described in the eSubmission Quick Guide and the procurement documents. Only the latest tender submitted before the deadline will be considered if multiple submissions are made by the same tenderer for the same lot.

Eligibility, selection and exclusion — summary

Evaluation and award

Each lot is evaluated independently. Award criterion for both lots is lowest price (100%). Tenders will be ranked by ascending evaluated total price. Tenderers must submit a Financial Proposal using Annex 6; any changes to Annex 6 may cause rejection. Part numbers for hardware offered in Annex 7 must be provided in the tender at submission, otherwise the tender will be rejected. Detection of abnormally low tenders and verification procedures apply.

Contract, payment and VAT

Resulting contracts are direct supply contracts based on the draft contract provided as an annex. Contracts are payable in euro. CEPOL is exempt from VAT under Articles 3 and 4 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union; prices must be quoted excluding VAT. Payment of the balance follows acceptance and conformity procedures; standard contracting authority payment terms apply (payment within 30 days of a conforming invoice unless suspension is justified).

Security and compliance obligations

All service providers and contractor personnel working on Commission systems must comply with the Security Baseline for External Connections (Appendix 3) and the Security Requirements for Contractors (Appendix 2). Requirements include identity validation, completion of security briefings, acceptable use policy signatures, technical controls for remote access and endpoint security, incident reporting within 48 hours, and cooperation with audits and penetration scans. Remote service delivery from contractor premises or home offices is allowed only within the EU and under the baseline conditions. Commission IT equipment provided must be returned on contract completion.

Lots and estimated quantities

Procurement process: key administrative requirements

Who can apply — eligible applicant types and geography

Tender practicalities and support

Submission is electronic only via the Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission. Tenderers must register in Participant Register and have a PIC and EU Login account. eSubmission limits: attachments under 50 MB per file, up to 200 files per submission. Questions to contracting authority are submitted through the Portal Q&A. Contracting authority will not answer questions submitted after 23/12/2026 23:59 Europe/Budapest. System requirements and technical help are available in eSubmission Quick Guide and Helpdesk.

Templates and forms

Selection of winner and contract award

Each lot is awarded to the lowest priced compliant tender that meets exclusion and selection criteria and the minimum requirements of the Tender Specifications. The contracting authority will verify exclusion and selection evidence with the presumed winner before award and may request additional documents or perform audits. Contracting authority reserves the right to cancel the procedure prior to contract signature without compensation to tenderers.

Risks, compliance & audits

Tenderers must maintain and make available documentation for checks and audits up to five years after payment of the balance. The Commission, OLAF, Court of Auditors, EPPO and the Commission’s appointed auditors may carry out on-the-spot checks and audits. Any false declarations may lead to sanctions, exclusion or financial penalties. Contractors must cooperate with fraud prevention and detection activities and implement remedial measures if required.

Contact and reference

Procurement page and full tender dossier are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal opportunity page. The contracting authority contact emails indicated in the Invitation are eu4sec_md@cepol.europa.eu and tenders@cepol.europa.eu. Tenderers must use the Portal Q&A for questions before the Q&A cut-off.

Submission and evaluation details, full technical specifications, mandatory minimum performance and warranty requirements, security baseline and contract draft are all available in the published tender dossier; tenderers must consult the full documents and use the provided annex templates precisely. Additional information, clarifications and Q&A will be published on the Funding & Tenders Portal. 1

Footnotes

1. 1Full tender dossier and all documents available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal opportunity page: ec.europa.eu

Opportunity identity and purpose

This is a public procurement opportunity, not a grant scheme. The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training, CEPOL, is procuring equipment to establish and equip a National Firearms Focal Point in the Republic of Moldova under the EU4Security Moldova Project. The procurement is intended to strengthen Moldova’s capacity to collect, process, analyse, protect and share information relating to firearms crime.

The procurement covers information and communication technology equipment, forensic and secure digital investigation equipment, and specialised firearms safety and testing equipment. The contract is for the supply and delivery of goods rather than research, training or operational services.

The authoritative opportunity record is available on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal EU Funding and Tenders Portal opportunity. 1

Procurement profile

The procedure is an open procedure conducted electronically. The lead contracting authority is the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training. The procedure reference is CEPOL/2026/OP/0012 and the TED reference is 211/2026 754856-2026.

The total estimated procurement value is €400,000. The procurement is divided into two lots, with an estimated value of €354,000 for Lot 1 and €46,000 for Lot 2.

The contract nature is supplies. The maximum contract duration is three months. The award method is lowest price, with price indicated as the decisive award criterion. The tender validity period is six months.

Key dates and submission details

The contract notice was published on 30 October 2026. The deadline for receipt of tenders is 11 January 2027 at 11:00 Europe/Budapest time. The public opening is scheduled for 11 January 2027 at 14:00 Europe/Budapest time.

The contracting authority is not bound to answer questions submitted after 23 December 2026 at 23:59 Europe/Budapest time. Tenderers should submit clarification requests well before this date because technical, delivery and compliance questions may materially affect the preparation of an offer.

Tenders must be submitted exclusively through the electronic submission facility of the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. An EU Login account is required. A Participant Identification Code is mandatory for a tenderer submitting alone or as a member of a consortium. Organisations should verify whether they already have a valid PIC before beginning the submission process.

The electronic platform encrypts uploaded documents. Draft submissions can be edited, viewed and deleted until the deadline, but tenderers should not rely on last minute uploads. Individual attachments must comply with the platform’s file size and file type requirements.

Lot structure

Lot

Lot 1 has an estimated value of €354,000 and a maximum duration of three months. It covers workstations, laptops, monitors, multifunction printers, interactive display equipment, software, shredders, server infrastructure, forensic radio frequency shielded enclosures, forensic imaging equipment, projection equipment, cameras, secure tablets and related accessories.

The financial proposal identifies, among other items, four high performance workstations, sixteen standard workstations, nine convertible business laptops, multifunction devices, an enterprise server, five forensic radio frequency shielded test enclosures, three forensic imagers, secure tablets and associated equipment. Tenderers must price delivery to the sites specified in the technical specifications.

Lot 2: Specialised Firearms Safety and Testing Equipment

Lot 2 has an estimated value of €46,000 and a maximum duration of three months. It covers nine firearm safety clearing stations and one heavy duty gunsmith with replaceable scroll, rated up to 13,000 foot pounds force.

The technical solution must address the safety, handling, testing and operational requirements specified in the tender documents. Because the lot concerns firearms-related equipment, tenderers should assess all applicable export, import, transport, licensing, end user, product safety and national regulatory requirements before submitting an offer.

Financial conditions

Prices must be quoted in euros excluding VAT. CEPOL is exempt from taxes and duties on payments due under the contract under the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union. Tenderers should therefore complete the prescribed financial proposal form on an excluding VAT basis.

The financial proposal form warns that adding comments or changing the form may lead to rejection. Tenderers should use the official form without altering its structure, labels or required fields, while providing all requested unit prices, quantities and totals.

The pricing basis is delivery duty paid to the sites identified in the technical specifications. Offers should therefore reflect the complete cost of compliant delivery, including transport, insurance, customs handling where relevant, installation or configuration where required by the specifications, and any other costs necessary to fulfil the contract.

Eligibility and participation

The declaration on honour provides for participation by legal persons and, where permitted by the procurement documents, natural persons. The tenderer must have the legal and regulatory capacity to perform the contract and must satisfy the applicable economic, financial, technical and professional selection criteria set out in the tender specifications.

Applicants must not be in an exclusion situation, including insolvency, serious professional misconduct, fraud, corruption, criminal organisation involvement, money laundering, terrorist financing, trafficking in human beings, significant deficiencies in the performance of previous EU-funded contracts, irregularities, certain tax or social security defaults, circumvention of legal obligations, or obstruction of audits and investigations.

The declaration also requires confirmation that the tenderer, its consortium members, subcontractors and entities whose capacities are relied upon are not subject to applicable EU restrictive measures and do not have established debts to the European Union. Tenderers must also declare that the offer was prepared independently and that no conflict of interest negatively affecting contract performance exists.

A joint tender is permitted where the procurement documents’ conditions are met. Consortium members must appoint a group leader and submit an agreement or power of attorney. Consortium members are jointly and severally liable towards the contracting authority, and payments are made through the group leader’s bank account as provided in the contract.

Subcontracting is possible subject to the procurement documents. Identified subcontractors must be listed with their legal details, roles and proportion of subcontracted work. An identified subcontractor must provide a signed commitment letter. An entity whose capacity is relied upon must provide a commitment confirming the capacity made available and its acceptance of the relevant contractual audit and control provisions.

The procurement data indicates that the lots are not designated as suitable for SMEs. This does not by itself establish that SMEs are prohibited from tendering, but it signals that the scale, technical complexity, financial capacity and delivery requirements may favour established suppliers, specialist distributors, manufacturers or consortiums.

Technical and delivery requirements

The technical proposal must be consistent with the tender specifications and must use the prescribed technical proposal form. Tenderers are expected to describe the exact equipment offered and demonstrate compliance against the minimum specifications. Manufacturer, model, part number, warranty, service level and configuration information should be clearly identified wherever requested.

Lot 1 includes unusually detailed requirements for processor performance, memory, storage, graphics, network connectivity, security controls, operating systems, software licences, accessories, warranty coverage and manufacturer service. Several items require official manufacturer support in Moldova, on-site service, next business day response or replacement, and keep-your-drive coverage.

The specifications require original and fully integrated components for certain workstation configurations. They also require that components and software be installed and tested at the factory, that operating system activation keys be written in the BIOS where specified, and that part numbers for components be provided. Use of non-original components may result in disqualification.

The server requirements include rack mounting, redundant power supplies, enterprise processors, high capacity memory, hot-swappable storage, RAID functionality, high-speed network interfaces, remote management, virtualisation compatibility, security hardware and a minimum five year next business day hardware replacement service.

The forensic equipment requirements include radio frequency shielding, evidence handling and chain of custody features, secure interfaces, compatibility with specified forensic software categories, internal recording capability and protection against unauthorised access. Tenderers should provide clear manufacturer documentation and compatibility evidence rather than relying on generic product descriptions.

Lot 2 requires equipment specifically suited to firearms safety and gunsmithing operations. Suppliers should document load capacity, safety features, operating instructions, installation requirements, training or commissioning obligations if applicable, and compliance with all relevant product and workplace safety standards.

Selection and award considerations

The award method is lowest price. However, the lowest price is relevant only among tenders that pass the exclusion, selection, administrative and technical compliance checks. A materially non-compliant offer may be rejected even if its price is lower than competing offers.

Technical compliance should be demonstrated item by item. A tenderer should avoid unsupported claims such as equivalent or better unless the proposal explains the equivalence with objective evidence. Datasheets, manufacturer declarations, warranty confirmations, service coverage evidence and compatibility documentation should be cross referenced to the relevant line of the technical proposal.

The six month tender validity period means that the tenderer must generally maintain the offer for that period under the terms of the procurement documents. Prices should therefore account for supply chain volatility, manufacturer lead times, foreign exchange exposure and the short three month delivery period.

Documents required for a complete tender

The published procurement package includes the invitation letter, tender specifications, financial proposal form, declaration on honour, draft contract, technical proposal form, consortium agreement or power of attorney, subcontractor information form, subcontractor commitment letter, capacity reliance commitment letter, legal entity and financial identification form, and additional appendices addressing security and technical requirements.

A complete submission should normally include the following items:

Applicant due diligence

Prospective tenderers should confirm whether they can deliver all required items within the three month contract period, including equipment with specialised configurations and manufacturer specific support. They should obtain written confirmation from manufacturers or authorised distributors regarding availability, delivery lead times, warranty validity and service coverage in Moldova.

Tenderers should verify that every proposed model is available in the required language and keyboard configuration, operates on the required electrical standard, includes the required accessories and licences, and meets the specified security, performance and compatibility requirements. Substitution of models after submission may be restricted or may require prior approval.

For Lot 2, tenderers should obtain specialist advice on customs, export control, transport of firearms-related equipment, end user documentation and any Moldovan or supplier-country authorisations. These matters should be resolved before submission because a low price cannot compensate for an inability to lawfully deliver the equipment.

Tenderers should review the draft contract for payment terms, delivery acceptance, inspection, warranty, liability, audit rights, remedies, penalties, confidentiality, data and security obligations, and termination provisions. The published summaries do not provide all contractual details, so the draft contract and tender specifications should control the final bid strategy.

Recommended bid preparation sequence

Overall assessment

This is a focused, technically demanding supply tender with an estimated value of €400,000 and a short three month implementation period. The strongest candidates are likely to be manufacturers, authorised distributors, specialist forensic technology suppliers, firearms safety equipment suppliers, systems integrators or consortiums able to combine ICT, forensic and firearms equipment capabilities.

The lowest price award method creates significant price competition, but compliance risk is equally important. The detailed specifications, mandatory forms, manufacturer service requirements, delivery basis, security controls and potential regulatory requirements mean that a credible bid will require documented technical conformity, reliable supply channels and a carefully controlled submission.

The opportunity should be treated as two distinct commercial bids rather than as a conventional funding application. Organisations that cannot independently satisfy a lot’s requirements may consider a properly structured consortium or subcontracting arrangement, while ensuring that all participating entities satisfy the declaration, selection, restrictive measures and conflict of interest requirements.

Footnotes

1. 1The opportunity page and procurement documents are the controlling sources for the final deadline, lot specifications, selection criteria, contractual conditions and submission requirements. The report reflects the published portal data and supplied document extracts available for analysis and should not replace a review of any later corrigenda, updated documents or official answers to tenderers.