EEA/CCE/TC/26/011 - Topic Centre on Environmental Economics

EEA/CCE/TC/26/011 is an open EU procurement for a framework service contract (Topic Centre on Environmental Economics) to provide environmental economics, data, modelling, valuation and policy support to the European Environment Agency. Eligibility is restricted to consortia of at least three EEA-designated Topic Centre Organisations established in at least three different EEA member countries, with strict subcontracting limits and legal, financial and technical selection requirements. The contract runs to 31 December 2030 with an indicative total budget of €1,000,000 (2027–2030) and a tender submission deadline of 23 September 2026 via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

What it funds

Framework service contract to provide economic analysis, data services, methodological support and stakeholder engagement to strengthen environmental and climate policy analysis (ecosystems and biodiversity, mitigation and energy, adaptation and resilience, circular economy, pollution and health, sustainable finance). Deliverables include datasets, indicators, technical papers, inputs to EEA assessments and stakeholder workshops.

Who can apply

Participation is restricted to Topic Centre Organisations designated by the EEA Management Board. Tenders must be consortia of at least three designated Topic Centre Organisations established in at least three different EEA member countries; one partner must act as coordinator. Subcontracting to non-designated entities is limited and core tasks must remain with designated Topic Centre partners.

Estimated budget and contract form:Indicative total budget for the Topic Centre (2027–2030) €1,000,000. The award is a single framework service contract (multiple specific contracts expected), with maximum duration until 31 December 2030 ¹.

1. 1Nature: Open procedure call for tenders issued by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
2. 2Submission: Electronic via eSubmission (EU Login/PIC required).
3. 3Award: Best price-quality ratio; quality (70%) and price (30%) split; daily rates for contract manager, senior and junior experts to be quoted.

Tenders must follow the Technical Specifications and Annexes published on the Funding & Tenders Portal; all submissions are via the portal's eSubmission system and must include the administrative data form, technical offer (max 30 A4 pages), CVs, financial template and required declarations.

Footnotes

1. 1Full procurement documents, templates and online submission are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: F&T Portal — Tender details.

Opportunity summary

Call type:Open call for tenders leading to a single framework service contract (FWC) titled Topic Centre on Environmental Economics. Contracting authority: European Environment Agency (EEA), Kongens Nytorv 6, DK-1050 Copenhagen, Denmark. Purpose: Provide sustained expert economic analysis, data services, knowledge services and network/capacity services to the EEA and Eionet to support the transition to a climate-neutral and environmentally sound society (domains include biodiversity and ecosystems, climate mitigation and adaptation, circular economy, pollution and human health, sustainable finance and competitiveness, plus methods and outreach).

Key dates:Call launch / publication: 20 August 2026. Deadline for requests for clarifications: 15 September 2026 (23:59 CEST). Tender submission deadline: 23 September 2026, 14:00 Europe/Copenhagen (CEST). Public opening: 24 September 2026 10:00 Europe/Copenhagen. Estimated evaluation notification: 30 October 2026 (estimated). Framework contract signature: ~10 November 2026 (estimated). Closing date of FWC period: contract maximum duration until 31 December 2030. See procurement documents for full timetable.

Estimated procedure value and contract model:Indicative total budget (for 2027–2030) allocated to this Topic Centre: €1,000,000. Contract model: framework service contract to a single contractor, without re-opening of competition; minimum of four specific contracts are foreseen to be issued under the FWC. Maximum FWC duration to 31/12/2030; initial contractual arrangements envisage an initial 24-month period and automatic renewals in line with the FWC text.

Who can apply and how

Eligibility is restricted. Only Topic Centre Organisations designated by the EEA Management Board under the implementing rules for the designation of Topic Centres may participate. Tenderers must be consortia composed of at least three designated Topic Centre Organisations established in at least three different EEA member countries. A single consortium (one coordinator) will submit the tender in eSubmission. Registration in the Participant Register and possession of a PIC is required for any organisation participating in the tender. Subcontracting rules and limits apply (see Mandatory and Subcontracting sections).

Submission modality:Electronic submission only via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission application (EU Login required). Tenderers must follow the eSubmission checklist and templates provided in the procurement documents (Annex 7 Checklist for eSubmission).

What is procured (scope and tasks)

The Topic Centre will provide integrated economic and finance services across seven thematic and cross-cutting areas: biodiversity and freshwater/marine ecosystems; climate change mitigation, energy, transport and land use; climate change adaptation, resilience and risk management; circular economy and clean industry; pollution and human health; sustainable finance and competitiveness; and methodological/tool development for economic analysis, valuation, modelling and projections. Services fall under four service types: Reporting services, Data services, Knowledge services, and Network & collaboration services. Deliverables include data products, technical reports, indicator inputs, methodological notes, policy briefs, presentations, workshops, and documentation required for EEA use and publication.

Examples of concrete tasks:Examples: (a) build and maintain datasets linking ecosystem extent/condition to economic exposure and restoration costs; (b) produce economic inputs for EUCRA2 (climate risk assessment) and biodiversity/nature risk scenarios; (c) model decarbonisation pathways and investment needs, competitiveness and leakage analysis; (d) cost-benefit analysis of adaptation measures and avoided damage quantification; (e) track capital flows (public and private), taxonomy-aligned CapEx/OpEx, green bond analysis; (f) develop harmonised CBA and valuation guidance, support integration with SEEA-EA and ecosystem accounting; (g) provide capacity building, workshops and technical communities of practice across Eionet countries.

Mandatory, technical and organisational requirements

Consortium structure:one coordinator (must nominate a non-substitutable contract manager). Coordinator must provide internal management, quality assurance and liaison with EEA; Topic Centre must align with EEA corporate standards, EEA IT and data management policies and use the EEA Common Workspace (CWS) for data/code/deliverables. Working language: English for management documents and deliverables. Publication: deliverables accepted by EEA should be published in open access repositories under a public copyright license unless otherwise agreed.

1. 1Minimum consortium composition: at least three designated Topic Centre Organisations from three different EEA member countries.
2. 2Human resources (minimum CV requirements to be submitted): Contract manager: minimum 2 CVs with at least 5 years relevant experience and English C1; Senior experts: minimum 10 CVs each with ≥7 years experience and English B2; Junior experts: minimum 15 CVs each with ≥3 years experience and English B2.
3. 3Technical coverage: the consortium must demonstrate expertise across core skill areas: economic and finance data management; IT/data management; data visualisation; AI/ML and earth observation; spatial and economic modelling (CGE, IAM, macro-financial, IO, ABM as relevant); ecosystem services and natural capital modelling; novel/emerging analytical approaches; economic/finance assessment in support of EU environment and climate policy; technical report writing and stakeholder engagement.
4. 4Quality assurance: contractors must implement EEA-aligned QA procedures (Annex 5 corporate standards) and language checking.
5. 5EEA IT & data rules: work must normally be done in the EEA Common Workspace (CWS), code and deliverables versioned in EEA GitHub and datasets registered in EEA SDI; agentic or high-risk AI use is permitted only under EEA governance and prior notification/approval.

Evaluation and award

Award criterion:most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) using combined score of Technical Merit (70 points) and Price (30 points). Minimum technical pass is 49 out of 70 points and minimum per-criterion minima apply as in the tender specifications.

1. 1Technical merit components (total 70 pts): understanding of policy and proposed methodology (16 pts); Data Services approach and example task (22 pts); Knowledge & Networks approach and example task (22 pts); governance and consortium management, QA and risk management (10 pts). Minimum thresholds apply (see tender).
2. 2Price (30 pts): submitted using the Financial Offer template (Annex 1). Daily rate categories (8-hour day) required: P1 contract manager (EWF 10%), P2 senior expert (EWF 40%), P3 junior expert (EWF 50%). Scoring formula: for each category Ps_n = (Pmin_n / P0_n) * 30 * EWF. Final price score is sum of the three category scores.

Selection and exclusion checks

Exclusion checks:declarations on honour required for all entities involved (consortium members and subcontractors). Selection checks: legal/regulatory capacity (identification form), economic/financial capacity (simplified financial statement: minimum annual turnover €200,000 for each of the past two closed financial years, assessed on consolidated consortium capacity) and technical/professional capacity as described above (CVs, Annex 4 overview of expertise and 3 contracts per thematic domain with minimum €70,000 per domain over last 3 years).

Consortium, subcontracting and limits

Tender format required:joint tender (consortium) with one coordinator. No partner may be a member of more than one consortium in this procurement. Subcontracting is permitted but core tasks must not be subcontracted; subcontracting outside the designated Topic Centre Organisations is capped at 10% of the contract ceiling for the whole contract duration. Only one level of subcontracting is allowed. Any subcontracting not foreseen in the tender requires prior written authorisation from the EEA.

Geographic / beneficiary scope and legal/regulatory context

Beneficiary scope:EEA member and cooperating countries (EEA network). Participation limited to organisations on the EEA-designated list of Topic Centre Organisations. Contractual, data protection and AI use obligations reference EU law: Financial Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509, Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 (data protection for EU bodies) and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) as applicable, and the AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) as it becomes applicable. Contractors must comply with EEA corporate standards, IT and data management policies and EEA EMAS environmental considerations.

Mentioned countries and region:EEA Member countries and cooperating countries: EEA has 32 member countries (27 EU Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Türkiye). The procurement is pan-EEA / Anywhere in the European Economic Area. The tender documents explicitly list Copenhagen (Denmark) as EEA headquarters and refer to EU legal frameworks. No restrictions for specific non-EEA countries are indicated beyond Topic Centre Organisation designation.

Project stage, expected maturity and deliverables

Project stage:delivery, development and sustained support of routine data services, modelling and assessment activities at operational and policy support maturity. Tasks include research/analysis, development of datasets and models, knowledge synthesis, methodological work and dissemination. Expected deliverables: technical reports, data products, indicators, method notes, PowerPoint outreach material, LLM prompt documentation when AI used, metadata, QA methodologies, and documented code/workflows.

Financial arrangements and templates

Estimated total procedure value:€1,000,000 (indicative budget across 2027–2030). Prices must be quoted in EUR excluding VAT. Financial Offer template (Annex 1) requires daily rates (8-hour day) for three categories: P1 Contract manager, P2 Senior expert, P3 Junior expert. All prices must be all-inclusive (salaries, social charges, insurance, equipment, management costs, travel for kick off and final meetings etc.) except travel costs for ad-hoc meetings that may be reimbursed under EEA reimbursement rules (Annex 3). Tenderers must complete the Financial Offer template fully; non-compliance will lead to exclusion. Price revision: prices fixed in first year and may be revised annually thereafter according to the HICP index specified in the FWC (Article I.5.2 and II.20).

Travel and reimbursement rules (Annex 3):Travel reimbursement rules: travel by air (economy where available), boat or rail (first class) or car (equivalent rail fare). Daily allowance is a flat rate covering accommodation, meals and local transport; country-specific daily allowances are listed in Annex 3 and are paid in EUR. Only 50% of daily allowance for nights not spent at place of mission; rates decrease by 25% for missions exceeding 4 weeks. Taxi fares are not chargeable. Receipts and supporting documents required.

Application and evaluation process (stages and success rates)

Application type:single-stage open procedure (tender). Submission via eSubmission only. Evaluation stages: (1) administrative and exclusion checks, (2) selection checks (legal, economic/financial, technical/professional), (3) award evaluation (technical merit and price scoring). Number of stages: effectively 3. Success rates: not published; success rate will depend on the number and quality of compliant tenders. Only tenders passing exclusion and selection checks and meeting minimum technical thresholds will be scored for price; final award to highest combined MEAT score.

Co-funding and financial obligations

Co-funding:No explicit co-funding requirement for the contractor is specified. Contractors must deliver services within the FWC price ceilings and budgets; subcontracting to third parties outside designated Topic Centre Organisations is capped at 10% of the contract ceiling. All costs of tender preparation and submission are borne by tenderers. Payment arrangements for specific contracts, pre-financing, interim payments and guarantees are described in the draft FWC (Annex 2) and in the specific contract templates (Annex III).

Application templates and required documents (what to upload)

Required documents and where to upload in eSubmission are provided in Annex 7 (Checklist for eSubmission). Core required elements include administrative data form, identification form, declaration on honour (exclusion), simplified financial statement (all partners), evidence of economic/financial capacity (if relying on subcontractors), technical offer (max 30 A4 pages), financial offer (Annex 1 price template), CVs and Annex 4 overview of expertise (experts overview spreadsheet), list of relevant contracts (contracts overview table), and any requested legal forms. Hand-signed documents must be scanned and attached where required. Tenderers must follow eSubmission naming and file size rules (attachments <50 MB each).

1. 1Annex 1 Financial Offer template: daily rates table for P1, P2, P3. All fields compulsory.
2. 2Annex 2 Draft Framework Service Contract: full draft FWC clauses including special and general conditions and annexes.
3. 3Annex 3 Reimbursement rules: travel and daily allowances, country daily rates and notes.
4. 4Annex 4 Overview of expertise: Excel templates and instructions for CV and expert profiles plus contracts overview to list at least 3 projects per thematic domain as required.
5. 5Annex 5 Corporate standards: EEA publishing, branding, writing, Zotero and visualization guidance.
6. 6Annex 6 EEA IT & Data Management policies: Common Workspace (CWS) guidance, data governance, AI/agentic workflows governance and requirements.
7. 7Annex 7 Checklist for eSubmission: mapping of required documents by role (coordinator, partner, subcontractor).

Intellectual property, data and AI

EEA acquires ownership of results produced specifically for the contracting authority; pre-existing rights are licensed to the EEA on a royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable basis unless otherwise agreed. Contractors must provide a list of pre-existing rights and documentary evidence of licences or rights when requested. All deliverables must be reproducible using assets stored in the EEA Common Workspace and documented in EEA GitHub. Use of AI (including LLMs and agentic AI) is permitted under strict conditions set out in the Technical Specifications and the Draft FWC: tenderers must declare whether they used LLMs in tender preparation and must disclose intended use of AI for contract implementation with details on purpose, stages, added value, risks and mitigation, and human oversight. Introduction of new AI tools during implementation requires prior written EEA approval. If generative AI was used in deliverables, the contractor must acknowledge such use and confirm human oversight in the deliverable. Compliance with the AI Act and data protection rules (GDPR/EUDPR and Regulation 2018/1725) is mandatory.

Evaluation weighting and scoring summary

Administrative, legal and contact details

Procedure identifier:EEA/2026/OP/0037 (d6f712f0-ec4f-4eaa-b1a6-69fdbef8aeda). TED reference: 160/2026 577539-2026. CPV main code: 73000000 Research and development services and related consultancy services. Submission address (eSubmission): webgate.ec.europa.eu. Contracting authority contact for clarifications and Q&A: cei.topic.centre@eea.europa.eu. All procurement documents and annexes are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal tender details page and must be consulted F&T Portal tender details.

Success factors and tips for applicants

Competitive tenders will:demonstrate clear consortium management and governance, show documented multi-disciplinary technical capacity across all required domains, provide extensive and verifiable project experience (use Annex 4 contracts overview), supply a well-structured QA system aligned with EEA corporate standards, demonstrate reproducible data and code workflows in line with CWS/GitHub guidance, provide transparent AI governance and DPA compliance where AI is used, and deliver realistic, competitive daily rates with the financial offer correctly completed. Do not omit any compulsory fields in Annex 1 or Annex 4 as non-compliance leads to exclusion.

Categorisation and structured extraction (answers)

The following section provides a structured extraction of the opportunity metadata and categorisation answers based on the procurement documents.

1. 1Eligible Applicant Types: Topic Centre Organisations designated by the EEA Management Board. Tender submission requires a consortium composed of at least three designated Topic Centre Organisations from at least three different EEA member countries. Subcontractors are allowed under limits (non-core tasks; cap 10% for entities outside the designated Topic Centre list). Entities typically: research institutes, universities, Topic Centre organisations, public bodies and consortia of such organisations. Individual natural persons are not the contracting entities for this tender; participation is by organisations. NGOs, nonprofits and private sector entities may only participate if they are in the EEA-designated Topic Centre Organisations list.
2. 2Funding Type: Procurement by means of a framework service contract (tender) paid as fees for services. Not a grant, loan or equity.
3. 3Consortium Requirement: Consortium required: at least three designated Topic Centre Organisations; one coordinator to submit. Single organisation bids are not allowed unless they correspond to a consortium that meets the minimum required designated Topic Centre Organisations.
4. 4Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): EEA Member and cooperating countries / EEA network; procedure states ‘Anywhere in the European Economic Area’. Restricted to organisations on the EEA designated Topic Centre Organisations list (these are based in EEA member and cooperating countries).
5. 5Target Sector: Thematic sectors: environment, climate, biodiversity, ecosystems, energy, transport, land use, adaptation & resilience, circular economy, pollution & human health, sustainable finance and competitiveness; cross-cutting DeepTech relevant areas: data services, AI/ML, earth observation and digital tools.
6. 6Mentioned Countries: Denmark (EEA HQ, Copenhagen) explicitly mentioned as contracting authority location. The opportunity is for the EEA network across EEA member and cooperating countries (EEA: 27 EU Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Türkiye). The tender is pan-EEA / EEA region.
7. 7Project Stage: Expected maturity: operational delivery, development, integration and demonstration of data and analytical services. The Topic Centre will deliver applied research, modelling, assessments and operational data products (post-research/implementation stage).
8. 8Funding Amount: Indicative total procedure value €1,000,000 (for period 2027–2030). This is the estimated total available to be used across specific contracts under the FWC; specific contract-by-contract budgets will depend on EEA programming and available funds.
9. 9Application Type: Open call for tenders (electronic submission). Single-stage competitive tender via eSubmission. Not rolling; closing deadline 23/09/2026 14:00 CEST.
10. 10Nature of Support: Monetary payments for services under a procurement contract (money for services). The contractor will be paid for services delivered under specific contracts. Non-monetary support in-kind (data access, EEA platforms like CWS) will be provided as part of implementation.
11. 11Application Stages: Applicants pass: 1) administrative & exclusion checks, 2) selection checks (legal/regulatory, economic/financial, technical/professional capacity), 3) award evaluation (technical merit and price). Effectively three stages.
12. 12Success Rates: Not published in documents. Success depends on number of compliant tenderers and scoring; because this is a restricted set of designated Topic Centre Organisations and a single FWC will be awarded, the effective competition is among those eligible consortia. No explicit historical success rate provided.
13. 13Co-funding Requirement: No explicit co-funding required. Tenderers must price services as all-inclusive daily rates. Subcontracting to non-designated Topic Centre Organisations is limited (10%).

Templates and application structure guidance

Applicants must use the templates and forms provided in the procurement documents. Key templates and structured content required in the eSubmission tender are outlined below.

1. 1Administrative data form: mandatory; identifies consortium members, roles (coordinator, partner, subcontractor) and distribution of work/value. Upload in eSubmission Attachments > Legal and regulatory capacity tab.
2. 2Identification form: one per legal entity (private law body, public law body, natural person as applicable) with bank reference; upload in Attachments > Legal and regulatory capacity.
3. 3Declaration on honour (Exclusion): signed declaration for each entity involved (scanned if hand-signed); Attachments > Declaration on honour.
4. 4Simplified financial statement: template to be completed and signed for each entity (required for coordinator and all partners); Attachments > Economic and financial capacity tab.
5. 5Technical offer: limited to 30 A4 pages; must address award criteria, include CVs (as separate attachments) and Annex 4 Overview of expertise spreadsheet; upload main technical narrative in Tender Data > Technical tender and attach supporting CVs and Annex 4 under Attachments > Technical and professional capacity.
6. 6Financial offer: complete and sign Annex 1 price quotation template (daily rates for P1, P2, P3). All fields compulsory. Upload under Tender Data > Financial tender.
7. 7Annex 4 – Experts overview: the Excel sheet must be completed following the instructions. Provide expert CVs (no duplicates), clearly mapping CVs to the Annex 4 rows. Contracts overview table (top 5 relevant contracts) must be provided.
8. 8Draft framework contract: read Annex 2; do not propose amendments to the contract terms. Any limitation or denial of contract terms will lead to exclusion.
9. 9EEA IT and Data Management compliance: confirm ability to operate in the EEA CWS and to comply with EEA IT policies (Annex 6).

Follow the Annex 7 checklist carefully:missing compulsory fields or missing mandatory templates (e.g., financial offer fields) will lead to exclusion. For detailed eSubmission system requirements, consult eSubmission Quick Guide and the Procurement Checklist in Annex 7.

How the EEA will manage AI and data governance in the contract

The EEA requires transparency about any use of generative AI in tender preparation and contract implementation. Tenderers must declare LLM/AI use in the tender and describe the purpose, stages of use, expected added value, risk mitigation and human oversight approaches. Use of agentic AI tools for EEA work is restricted to EEA-approved infrastructure and requires DTL and EEA approval. Any deliverable produced with generative AI must include an explicit acknowledgement and confirmation of human validation. All processing of personal data must follow Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and any AI processing must comply with the AI Act where applicable.

Source and documentation:This summary is based on the published tender documentation and Annexes on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal and TED procurement notice. Full procurement documents (Invitation to Tender, Annex I Technical Specifications, Annex 1 Financial Offer template, Annex 2 Draft FWC, Annexes 3–7, Checklist, and Annex 4 experts template) are available on the Portal. For submission use eSubmission and consult the Annex 7 checklist. See the tender page on the Funding & Tenders Portal F&T Portal tender details. ¹

Footnotes

1. 1Full procurement documentation and annexes are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal at the tender details page: ec.europa.eu

This is an EU procurement call for a framework service contract, not a grant, to support the European Environment Agency with economic analysis, data work, modelling, valuation, and policy support needed to accelerate the transition to a climate neutral and environmentally sound society. The call sits within the EEA Topic Centre system and is restricted to designated Topic Centre Organisations that form the required consortium structure.[2]

Core purpose:To provide environmental economics support across biodiversity, climate mitigation, climate adaptation, circular economy, pollution and human health, sustainable finance, and cross cutting methodologies and outreach.

What the contract is about

The Topic Centre is intended to build and maintain the economic and financial evidence base used by the EEA in its reporting, knowledge, data, and network functions. The work includes dataset development, indicator maintenance, valuation, cost benefit analysis, scenario work, modelling, policy support, technical papers, reporting inputs, and stakeholder engagement.

• Biodiversity, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, including natural capital accounting, ecosystem service valuation, and nature related risk analysis
• Climate change mitigation, energy, transport, and land use, including decarbonisation pathways, investment needs, and competitiveness analysis
• Climate adaptation, resilience, and risk management, including costs of inaction, avoided losses, and climate related financial risk
• Circular economy and clean industry, including material flow metrics, circularity gaps, and industrial transformation analysis
• Pollution and human health, including monetised health impacts and policy cost effectiveness
• Sustainable finance and competitiveness, including taxonomy, CSRD, ESRS, SFDR, EUGBS, CSDDD, and capital flow tracking

The technical specifications also foresee support for methodologies and tools for economic analysis, valuation, modelling and projections, as well as outreach products such as summaries, policy briefs, dashboards, and presentations.

Estimated value:€1,000,000 for environmental economics over 2027 to 2030, with the annual allocation for specific contracts depending on available funds and EEA priorities.

Contract duration:The framework contract runs until 31 December 2030 at the latest. The planned duration is 53 months, and the contract is described as an initial 24 month period renewable three times.

Key facts

Who can apply

Only Topic Centre Organisations designated by the EEA Management Board may participate. Tenderers must submit as a consortium of at least three designated Topic Centre Organisations established in at least three different EEA Member Countries, and one partner must act as coordinator.[2]

• Each partner may participate in only one consortium for this Topic Centre call
• The coordinator is the main contact point with the EEA and cannot subcontract the contract manager role
• The consortium may rely on subcontractors or other entities for capacity, but core tasks cannot be subcontracted
• Subcontracting to entities not included in the Topic Centre Organisation list is capped at 10 percent of the contract ceiling across the full duration
• Only one level of subcontracting is allowed
• All participating entities must submit a declaration on honour

The procurement documents require the consortium to be able to operate in English, maintain quality assurance procedures, use EEA digital and data management policies, and ensure that outputs are ready for publication or direct use by the EEA.

Selection requirements

Applicants must demonstrate legal and regulatory capacity, stable financial standing, and technical and professional capacity. The minimum financial requirement is annual turnover of at least €200,000 for each of the past two closed financial years, assessed on a combined basis across the consortium and any capacity providers.

• At least 3 years of demonstrable experience in the expert service areas described in the technical specifications
• Capacity to provide a team with suitable qualifications and relevant experience
• Economic and finance data management skills
• IT skills for data management, including Python, SQL, R, Stata, ETL tools, and large database handling
• Data visualisation and dashboard development skills
• Artificial intelligence, machine learning, geospatial and earth observation skills
• Spatial and economic modelling skills, including CGE, IAM, macro financial, input output, and sectoral models
• Ecosystem service and natural capital modelling skills
• Skills in novel analytical approaches and reproducible pipelines
• Experience in EU environment and climate policy support, reporting, and technical analysis
• Skills in technical report writing, knowledge synthesis, and stakeholder engagement

The tender documentation places strong emphasis on the ability to work with large and complex economic and environmental datasets, to harmonise assumptions, to develop indicators, and to support policy relevant modelling and valuation.

Award and evaluation

Tenders are first checked against exclusion and selection criteria. Only compliant tenders proceed to the award evaluation, which is based on technical merit and price. Technical merit is weighted at 70 percent and price at 30 percent, with a minimum technical threshold of 49 points.

• Exclusion checks apply to all entities involved, including coordinator, members, and subcontractors
• Selection criteria include legal, financial, and technical capacity
• Award focuses on methodology, quality of deliverables, risk management, and value for money
• The EEA reserves the right to request additional evidence or clarifications

Submission and process

Tenders must be submitted electronically through the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. An EU Login account and a Participant Identification Code are required, and the tender must be submitted in one of the official EU languages, with English being the working language for the contract.

• All submission documents must be complete at the time of submission
• Late tenders are rejected automatically
• Questions submitted after 15/09/2026 23:59 Europe/Copenhagen do not have to be answered
• Tenderers may withdraw or replace a submission before the deadline
• The EEA may cancel the procedure before signature without compensation

The invitation letter states that all tender preparation costs are borne by the tenderer, and the opening session is virtual. Tenderers may request attendance in advance using the procedure described in the invitation.

AI use and data policy

The tender documents allow the use of artificial intelligence in contract implementation, but require full compliance with the AI Act, GDPR, and EU data protection rules, plus human oversight and quality validation. Tenderers must disclose any use of large language models or other AI systems in the tender and, if used during delivery, acknowledge this in the deliverables.

Applicant takeaways

This opportunity is best suited to established Topic Centre Organisations with strong interdisciplinary capacity in environmental economics, policy analysis, modelling, and data science. The most competitive bids are likely to combine domain expertise, evidence of delivery at EU or Member State level, strong consortium governance, robust QA procedures, and a clear methodology for producing publishable, policy ready outputs.