EEA/DTL/TC/26/001 - Topic Centre on support to the implementation of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service and In situ coordination

The European Environment Agency is issuing an open procurement for a single framework service contract to provide scientific, technical, analytical and coordination support to the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service and the Copernicus In Situ Component. The framework has an indicative ceiling of €4,800,000, a maximum duration of 48 months and will be awarded by best price-quality ratio with a 70 percent quality and 30 percent price weighting. Eligibility is restricted to consortia of at least five Topic Centre Organisations designated by the EEA Management Board and one partner must act as coordinator. Tenders must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding and Tenders Portal eSubmission system by 12 October 2026 at 14:00 Europe Copenhagen time.

What it funds

High-level scope

Framework service contract to provide scientific, technical, analytical and coordination support for implementation, QA, integration, development and user uptake of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) and the Copernicus In‑Situ Component. Activities include methodological work, analyses, testing, pilot exercises, tool support and capacity building.

Estimated budget:Indicative total procedure value €4,800,000 for the framework (2027–2030); specific contracts awarded from the framework. Maximum FWC duration to 31 December 2030 ¹.

1. 1Who can apply: designated EEA Topic Centre Organisations only; tenders must be submitted by a consortium of at least five designated Topic Centre Organisations established in different EEA member countries.
2. 2Procedure: open electronic tender (eSubmission) via EU Login; submissions in an EU official language accepted.
3. 3Contract form: single-award framework contract; implementation via specific contracts; award by best price-quality ratio.
4. 4Core requirements: project management and consortium governance, contract manager (non-substitutable), technical teams (senior and junior experts), compliance with EEA IT/data/corporate standards and Common Workspace.

Procurement type:tender (open procedure). Estimated maximum contract duration 48 months; award method best price-quality ratio. Financial offer uses daily rates for contract manager, senior and junior experts. Submit via the Funding & Tenders Portal F&T Tender Details. ¹

Footnotes

1. 1See procurement documents and technical specifications on the F&T Portal (Invitation to tender, Annexes 1–9, draft framework contract and financial template).

Opportunity summary

Type:Tender (framework service contract). Lead contracting authority: European Environment Agency (EEA). Procedure: Open procedure for award of a single framework service contract to a Topic Centre consortium. Purpose: provide scientific, technical, analytical and coordination support for implementation, assessment, quality assurance, integration, further development and uptake of CLMS and the Copernicus In-Situ Component activities over 2027-2030. Activities include analyses, methodology development, investigations, testing, pilot exercises, technical tools maintenance, QA/QC, coordination with data providers, capacity building and user uptake work.

Estimated total value:€4,800,000 (indicative total budget for 2027–2030) ¹

Maximum contract duration:Up to 48 months; FWC concluded to end 31 December 2030 with services for specific contracts to be performed up to six months after FWC expiry.

Main CPV / Nature of contract:72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support; contract nature: services; framework agreement without reopening of competition; award by best price-quality ratio.

Deadlines and milestones (portal dates and times are Europe/Copenhagen)

Detailed eligibility and application requirements

This procurement is restricted to Topic Centre Organisations designated by the EEA Management Board for the 2027–2030 period. Only consortia of at least five designated Topic Centre Organisations established in different EEA member countries are eligible. One partner must be identified as coordinator (contract manager cannot be subcontracted). Participants must be registered in the EC Participant Register and use eSubmission for tendering. Subcontracting is permitted for ancillary tasks but core tasks must remain within the designated Topic Centre partners; subcontracting to non-designated entities is capped at 10% of the contract ceiling.

Eligible Applicant Types:Topic Centre Organisations (designated by EEA Management Board). Applicants must form a consortium of at least five designated Topic Centre Organisations located in different EEA member countries. Subcontractors allowed for ancillary tasks only; subcontracting to entities not in the designated list capped at 10%.

Funding Type:Tender / Framework service contract (procurement for services). Not a grant, loan or equity instrument.

Consortium Requirement:Consortium required: at least five designated Topic Centre Organisations, with one coordinator responsible for management and as legal contact.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):Restricted to Topic Centre Organisations designated by the EEA’s Management Board (EEA member and cooperating countries). EEA membership covers EU Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Türkiye; tender text references EEA member countries. International cooperation and external partners may be engaged under agreements but eligible tenderers are the designated Topic Centres.

Target Sector:Earth observation, geospatial data and services, environmental monitoring and assessment, climate, land monitoring, in-situ coordination, IT/Big Data, AI/ML, data science, software development and IT operations, capacity building and stakeholder engagement.

Mentioned Countries:The documentation explicitly references EEA member countries (EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Türkiye). Contracting authority location: Copenhagen, Denmark.

Project Stage:Operational and development: expected to support activities ranging from research/analysis and methodological development, operational production and QA/QC, to demonstration, piloting, user uptake and continuous service improvement. TRL/knowledge maturity ranges from advanced (operational CLMS) to development/demonstration for novel pilots.

Funding Amount:Indicative total budget for the FWC is €4,800,000 for 2027–2030. Specific contracts will be issued from the framework and total annual allocation will depend on available EU Copernicus contribution agreements and budgets.

Application Type:Open call for tenders (electronic eSubmission only via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission system). Registration in the Participant Register (PIC) is mandatory.

Nature of Support:Monetary: paid services under a procurement contract (daily rates for Contract Manager, Senior Experts, Junior Experts). Non-monetary: access to EEA Common Workspace, technical guidance, integration with EEA platforms; deliverables are expected to be published open access where possible.

Application Stages:Single-stage tender submission (electronic). Evaluation stages: 1) Exclusion/selection checks (administrative, financial and technical capacity), 2) Technical evaluation (quality / technical merit using weighted award criteria), 3) Price evaluation and ranking by best price-quality ratio, 4) Award and signature of FWC followed by signature of specific contracts. Expected number of procurement phases effectively 3 major evaluation actions.

Success Rates:Not published. As a single FWC with limited budget and a restricted pool (designated Topic Centres), competition will be among eligible consortia. No explicit historical success rate is provided in the documents. Expected selection is limited to one contractor for the FWC.

Co-funding Requirement:No explicit co-funding requirement stated. Prices must be all-inclusive and inclusive of staff costs, overheads and standard expenses except certain reimbursable travel defined in Annex 3. Subcontracting to non-designated entities is limited to 10% of the contract ceiling.

Application forms and templates — structure and required documents

The procurement package includes a set of mandatory templates and annexes tenderers must complete and submit via eSubmission. All required attachments must follow the system technical guidance (supported browsers, file types, max file size, max number of attachments). The main templates and forms included in the procurement documents are listed below.

1. 1Administrative Data Form (identification of consortium coordinator and partners, declaration of designated Topic Centre status, PICs).
2. 2Declaration on Honour (exclusion grounds) — mandatory for coordinator, partners and subcontractors.
3. 3Simplified Financial Statement template — to demonstrate economic/financial capacity (annual turnover) for the last two closed financial years.
4. 4Annex 4 - Overview of expertise template (Excel): CVs and consolidated expert overview table showing profiles for contract manager, senior experts and junior experts; counts and required experience thresholds are explicit.
5. 5Annex 1 — Financial Offer template (DOCX): daily rates (EUR) to be quoted for P1 Contract Manager, P2 Senior Experts, P3 Junior Experts; all fields compulsory and prices must be all-inclusive and in EUR.
6. 6Technical Offer: maximum 18 A4 pages addressing award criteria (management/governance; approach for CLMS support; approach for in-situ support; approach for CLMS user uptake) and complying with formatting guidance (minimum font 11, margins, line spacing).
7. 7CVs and supporting evidence for past contracts (at least 3 comparable contracts ≥ €500,000 each during the last 3 years) and client references where possible.
8. 8Signed Draft Framework Service Contract Annexes are provided for review (Annex 2); tenderers must be able to accept contract terms without reservations or risk exclusion.
9. 9Any declarations on pre-existing rights and IP where relevant (models included in Annex III templates).

The tender must include evidence of capacities of all consortium partners and subcontractors where relied upon. All forms must be signed by an authorised representative. The eSubmission system will timestamp submissions; late tenders are excluded. Use eSubmission guidance and system requirements early to avoid technical issues.

Technical and operational notes for bidders

Key operational requirements and expectations from the technical specifications and annexes (summary of mandatory technical aspects):

• Topic Centre must nominate a contract manager (role cannot be subcontracted) and ensure consortium coordination, internal management structure and QA procedures aligned with EEA corporate standards (Annex 5).
• All deliverables must conform to EEA IT, security and data management policies and use the EEA Common Workspace (CWS) for data, code and reproducible workflows (Annex 7).
• Source code and client-specific software are expected to be delivered with reproducibility artifacts: containerization (Docker), CI/CD scripts, automation scripts, deployment recipes, inline documentation and Quarto markdown for technical library content (Annex 6 IT Architecture Principles).
• Where AI/LLM/Generative AI is proposed for tender drafting or contract delivery, bidders must disclose usage in the tender and explain purpose, stages of use, added value, risks and mitigation (human oversight and validation); any AI systems used must comply with the AI Act and data protection rules; use of AI during contract implementation requires prior written EEA approval (detailed in Annex I technical specifications).
• Deliverables to be provided in English; where publications are intended they should be prepared following EEA corporate publishing standards and templates (Annex 5).
• Data, notebooks, scripts and code must be maintained in EEA GitHub and CWS, be reproducible from assets stored in CWS and include metadata and QA documentation.
• Tenderers must demonstrate technical capacity by providing CVs for at least 1 contract manager (≥5 years experience), 15 senior experts (each ≥7 years), and 6 junior experts (each ≥3 years), and show at least 3 comparable contracts ≥ €500,000 in the last 3 years.

Evaluation and award: scoring and thresholds

Evaluation is based on a two-dimension award:Technical merit (70 points) and Price (30 points). Tenders must achieve minimum points per criterion and at least 70% of the overall technical score (49/70) to be considered for price evaluation. Price scoring is formula-based using lowest-price / tender price ratio multiplied by maximum price points and weighting factors per category (Contract Manager 10%, Senior Expert 60%, Junior Expert 30%). The final ranking is by the best price-quality ratio.

How to apply: practical steps

1. 1Register organisation in Participant Register and obtain PIC (Participant Identification Code).
2. 2Subscribe to the call on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal to receive updates and Q&A.
3. 3Prepare all documents listed in Annex 9 (Administrative form, declarations, financial template, technical offer, CVs, Annex 4 expertise overview, evidence of comparable contracts, declarations on AI use if any).
4. 4Complete Financial Offer Annex 1 (daily rates in EUR) — all fields compulsory.
5. 5Upload all attachments in eSubmission ensuring file types and sizes follow system requirements; do not wait until last minute.
6. 6Confirm consortium roles in the Administrative Data Form and ensure no designated Topic Centre partner participates in more than one consortium for this FWC.
7. 7Keep evidence of submitted tender and timestamp from eSubmission.

If clarifications are needed, use the Questions & Answers tool in the F&T Portal before the deadline for questions. The contracting authority may not answer requests submitted less than six working days before the tender deadline.

Risks, restrictions and key legal points

• Any limitation to the draft framework contract or its annexes will lead to automatic exclusion; tenders must accept contract terms as published or risk exclusion.
• Tenderers must comply with EEA IT security and data policies; CWS use is mandatory except in exceptional circumstances with prior EEA approval.
• Subcontracting is restricted for core tasks; subcontracting beyond tendered partners requires prior written approval.
• The EEA is exempt from VAT; prices must be exclusive of VAT and in EUR.
• Use of AI in contract delivery requires disclosure and may need prior approval for new AI tools introduced during the contract; obligations under GDPR/EU data protection rules apply.

Useful documents provided with the procurement

• Invitation to tender and contract notice (EN).
• Annex I - Technical Specifications (detailed tasks, WPs, deliverables, evaluation criteria).
• Annex 1 - Financial offer template (daily rates matrix).
• Annex 2 - Draft Framework Service Contract (including general and special conditions).
• Annex 3 - Reimbursement rules (travel and daily allowances table).
• Annex 4 - Overview of expertise template (Excel, CV instructions).
• Annex 5 - EEA corporate publishing and branding standards.
• Annex 6 - IT Architecture Principles and Implementation Guidelines (technical/DevOps expectations).
• Annex 7 - EEA IT and Data Management policies including mandatory use of EEA Common Workspace (CWS).
• Annex 8 - Copernicus In-Situ Component Strategy (2028–2034) - strategic context.

Concluding summary: What this opportunity is about and how to explain it

This tender seeks to award a single framework service contract to a consortium of designated EEA Topic Centre Organisations to operate a Topic Centre supporting the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) and cross-cutting coordination for the Copernicus In-Situ Component for 2027–2030. The contractor will provide a pool of scientific, technical and coordination services covering operational product support (e.g., Corine Land Cover production and HRLs), quality control tools and codebase maintenance, CLMS product development and pilots, in-situ data integration, thematic inventories and reference data work, capacity building and user uptake activities, and other ad-hoc analytical and methodological tasks. The contract is a procurement for services (framework agreement). The FWC has an indicative ceiling of €4.8 million and will be operationally implemented through several specific contracts/yearly task cycles. Applications are restricted to designated Topic Centre Organisations submitted as a consortium of at least five designated organisations. The evaluation will be by best price-quality ratio with strong emphasis on technical capacity, consortium governance and domain expertise, plus daily-rate pricing for contract manager and expert categories. Tenderers must comply with EEA technical, IT, data governance and publication standards, use the EEA Common Workspace, and disclose any use of AI in their proposals and delivery. The tender is submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission system. This is an operational, technically ambitious procurement aimed at ensuring CLMS continuity, quality, evolution and user uptake while strengthening Copernicus in-situ coordination across Europe.

Footnotes

1. 1The official procurement documents and annexes including the technical specifications, financial offer template, draft framework service contract, IT principles and Copernicus In-Situ Component Strategy are published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal opportunity page and form the basis for tender preparation.

This is an EU procurement tender for a framework service contract issued by the European Environment Agency. It seeks scientific, technical, analytical and coordination support for the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service and the Copernicus In Situ Component, so it is a contract opportunity rather than a grant call.[1][2]

What the contract is about

The contract is designed to support implementation, assessment, quality assurance, integration, further development and uptake of activities related to CLMS and Copernicus In Situ coordination. The scope also includes analyses, methodological developments, investigations, testing, pilot exercises and other support activities that improve the operational and policy use of these services.[1]

Who can apply

Eligibility is highly restricted. Only Topic Centre Organisations designated by the EEA Management Board under the relevant Implementing Rules may participate, and consortia must include at least five Topic Centre Organisations established in different EEA member countries. The consortium must also name one partner as coordinator for liaison with the EEA.[1]

In practical terms, the opportunity is aimed at established Copernicus and Earth observation organisations with proven scientific, technical and coordination capacity, not ordinary general market suppliers.[1][2]

Key commercial terms

Deadlines and submission rules

• Deadline for tenders: 12 October 2026 at 14:00 Europe Copenhagen.[1][2]
• Questions deadline: 2 October 2026 at 23:59 Europe Copenhagen.[1]
• Public opening: 13 October 2026 at 10:00 Europe Copenhagen.[1]
• Submission method: electronic only through eSubmission, and tenders sent by email or post will be disregarded.[2]
• Tenderers must use EU Login and the Participant Register to submit electronically.[2]
• Tenders may be submitted in any official EU language, while the procurement documents are published in English.[2]

What applicants should note

• The work is linked to the EEA Copernicus tasks and may evolve with operational, technical and policy needs during the framework period.[1]
• The procurement documents include the invitation letter, technical specifications, financial offer template, draft framework service contract, reimbursement rules, overview of expertise, corporate standards, IT architecture principles, EEA IT and data management policies, Copernicus In Situ Component Strategy and the eSubmission checklist.[1]
• The technical specifications indicate an indicative total budget for the 2027 to 2030 period of €4,800,000.[1]
• Because this is a restricted Topic Centre procurement, successful bids will likely need to demonstrate existing Copernicus delivery experience, consortium depth and strong operational coordination capability.[1][2]

Overall assessment

This is a niche, high specialisation EEA procurement for an established consortium of Topic Centre organisations. For eligible operators, it offers a multi year framework contract with a clear technical mission and a defined budget, but the entry barrier is high because of the strict eligibility and consortium requirements.[1][2]