Environmental Services: Operational Support for Airborne and Sea Operations

Frontex has published an open procurement (FRONTEX/2026/OP/0051) for Environmental Services to deliver frequent, customised atmospheric and oceanographic intelligence supporting airborne and sea operations, with an estimated total value of €1,200,000 (excl. VAT) and a maximum duration of 48 months (initial 12 months plus up to three 12-month renewals). Tenders must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal by 03/09/2026 16:00 Europe/Warsaw and will be evaluated on best price-quality ratio with weighting 60% quality and 40% price. Minimum selection requirements include an average annual turnover over the last three years above €500,000 and demonstrable technical experience with at least two similar contracts of minimum €100,000 each completed within the last three years. Required submission documents include Annex IVb Technical Proposal, Annex IVa Financial Proposal and standard declarations and evidence for legal, financial and technical capacity as specified in the tender documents.

Opportunity type

Call for tenders — services

What it funds:purchase of environmental information services to support Frontex airborne and sea operations. Deliverables include aviation weather reports (METAR/TAF/SIGMET/AIRMET), weather alerts (push API), tailored weather effect charts for assets, monthly service reports, user manuals and training.

Funding / contract value:Estimated total procedure value €1,200,000 (maximum contract value for up to 48 months). Payments are quarterly (each quarter equals 25% of the annual contract value). ¹

1. 1Who can apply: economic operators (natural or legal persons), alone or as a consortium; subcontracting and relying on other entities allowed but must be declared.
2. 2Minimum selection requirements: average annual turnover last 3 years above €500,000; at least 2 similar contracts in the last 3 years each >= €100,000.
3. 3Procedure: Open procedure, electronic submission via EU Funding & Tenders Portal (eSubmission).

Award criteria:Best value for money with weighting 60% technical quality (project management, technical solution, Copernicus use, coverage of alerts, service availability) and 40% price. Technical minimum thresholds apply; offers must meet mandatory Terms of Reference requirements (service availability, formats, security, COPERNICUS use where applicable).

How to apply:submit a complete tender electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal (eSubmission). Required documents include technical proposal (Annex IVb), financial proposal template (Annex IVa), Declaration on honour (Annex V), Tender Submission Form (Annex VI), evidence for selection criteria and any Power of Attorney / commitment letters for consortia or subcontractors.

Key technical delivery requirements (high-level):24/7 service availability target >=98%, WMS/WFS/Vector Tiles time-aware services, push weather alerts via REST API, meteograms (HTML5) exportable to PNG/PDF/CSV, SLA-driven support (24/7 Customer Service Desk) and monthly service reports.

Footnotes

1. 1Procurement documents, tender specifications, terms of reference and templates are on the Funding & Tenders Portal: F&T Portal tender page.

Title:Environmental Services: Operational Support for Airborne and Sea Operations (FRONTEX/2026/OP/0051). Contracting authority: European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX), Plac Europejski 6, 00-844 Warsaw, Poland. Procedure: Open procedure, electronic submission via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (eSubmission). TED reference: 147/2026 534057-2026. CPV main classification: 71351600 Weather-forecasting services; additional CPV 72319000 Data supply services. Estimated total value: €1,200,000 (total for up to 48 months). Maximum contract duration: 48 months (initial 12 months with up to three 12-month renewals). Award criterion: Best price-quality ratio (technical 60% / price 40%).

What is requested

Subject of the contract:procurement of environmental services providing precise, robust, detailed, customised and frequently updated information on atmospheric and oceanographic conditions to support Frontex airborne and sea operations. Services must enhance patrolling and surveillance, optimise resource allocation, reduce crew stress and increase safety of missions.

Coverage and key deliverables:Geographic area of interest: maritime and adjacent areas bounded by coordinates approximately from 55°W, 73°N to 50°E, 73°N and from 43°W, 5°S to 50°E, 5°S. Deliverables include operational support products (aviation weather reports METAR/TAF, SIGMET/AIRMET, GAFOR, weather alerts, weather-effect charts), business documentation (Service Delivery Plan, Service Description Document, Test Plans and Reports, Service Management Reports), training (up to 20 man/days per two years) and manuals/support including a nominated Contract Manager.

Important dates and submission

TED publication date and documents published:03/08/2026; procurement documents (Invitation letter, Annex I Tender specifications, Annex II Terms of Reference, Annex III Draft service contract and Privacy Notice, Annex IVa Financial Proposal template, Annex IVb Technical Proposal template, Annex V Declaration on honour, Annex VI Tender Submission Form, Annex VII PoA/Commitment Letters, Annex VIII List of contracts, Annex IX Declaration on turnover) were published on 03/08/2026. Deadline for receipt of tenders: 03/09/2026 16:00 Europe/Warsaw. Public opening: 04/09/2026 11:00 Europe/Warsaw. Contract notice and submission through Funding & Tenders Portal: ec.europa.eu ¹.

Eligibility and who should apply

Eligible applicant types and key eligibility constraints are described in the Tender Specifications and Terms of Reference. Participation is open on equal terms to natural and legal persons within the scope of the EU Treaties and to international organisations. Access is also granted to entities from third countries with procurement access agreements (EEA, certain Association Agreements and SAA countries as specified in the tender documents). Subcontractors and entities whose capacities are relied upon must meet exclusion and selection criteria and submit commitment letters and declarations of honour.

1. 1Eligible applicant types (expected and acceptable): startups, SMEs, large enterprises, research institutes/agencies, universities, specialised weather and oceanographic service providers, independent consultants acting as prime contractors, consortia (joint tenders).
2. 2Entities from EEA countries and eligible third countries listed in the Tender Specifications are allowed (examples in the Terms of Reference: Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein; Western Balkans under SAA; Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine under Association Agreements where applicable).
3. 3Subcontractors: permitted but must be clearly identified and provide Declaration on Honour and Commitment Letter (Annex VII).
4. 4Group/consortium tenders: permitted; group members must appoint a leader and accept joint and several liability and supply a Power of Attorney (Annex VII).

Mandatory compliance and exclusion grounds:Tenderers and all involved entities must not be subject to EU restrictive measures and must declare they are not in exclusion situations (bankruptcy, breach of tax/social obligations, grave professional misconduct, criminal offences, irregularities, serious deficiencies in previous EU-funded contracts, creation of shell entities to avoid obligations, or resistance to official audits). Supporting evidence may be requested and will be verified. Tenderers are required to submit a signed Declaration on Honour (Annex V) and provide documentary evidence on request.

Procurement structure and evaluation

Procedure type:Open procedure with eSubmission. Tender validity: 6 months. Award method: Most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) with technical quality weighted 60% and financial price 40%. Technical proposals are evaluated against two main criteria blocks: 1) Project and Service Management (20 points) and 2) Technical Solution (40 points), total technical score 60 points. Minimum thresholds: at least 50% of each criterion and 60% total (36/60) to pass to financial evaluation. Financial scoring: lowest total reference price receives 100 points; others proportional. Final score formula: 0.6 x Technical score + 0.4 x Financial score.

1. 1Technical evaluation details: Criterion 1 (Project & service management) sub-criteria: Work Breakdown Structure, risk assessment and mitigation, team structure and roles, quality assurance (20 points total). Criterion 2 (Technical solution) sub-criteria: system architecture and tested platforms, extent of Copernicus data use (max 10 points if ≥30% raw data from Copernicus), weather alerts coverage (max 15 points for coverage beyond TOR area), raw data processing strategy, service availability and customer support arrangements (40 points total).
2. 2Quality & compliance: Technical offers will first be checked against mandatory minimum requirements in the Terms of Reference; non-compliant offers will be rejected before scoring.
3. 3Contract type and duration: Service contract initial 12 months, renewable up to three times for a total of up to 48 months; planned deliverables and milestones are defined in the ToR.
4. 4Award documentation and transparency: contract award and contract characteristics (name, address, contract value) will be published in the Official Journal (TED) and on the Frontex website per Financial Regulation transparency rules.

Commercial and financial information

Estimated total value for the entire maximum duration (48 months):€1,200,000 (net, excluding VAT). Tenderers must submit a single Total Reference Price in EUR net (excluding VAT) in Annex IVa Financial Proposal template. Prices are all-inclusive and fixed for contract duration; price revision is not applied under this contract. Payment schedule: quarterly payments, each equal to 25% of the annual contract value, following formal acceptance of deliverables using the Model Deliverable Acceptance Form (Annex II Appendix 2). Invoices must be submitted as per contract and VAT rules; Frontex is generally VAT-exempt and guidance is provided in the Invitation to Tender.

Technical & operational requirements

Core technical requirements are set in the Terms of Reference (Annex II). Key technical & operational expectations include:

1. 1Operational products: aviation weather reports (METAR, TAF), SIGMET/AIRMET, GAFOR charts, weather alerts and weather-effect charts tailored for assets (air, sea, land).
2. 2Data formats and delivery: OGC services (WMS/WFS and Vector Tiles) as primary formats; time-aware services with ISO8601 timestamps in UTC; GetMap, GetFeatureInfo (XML/JSON/plain text) and GetLegendGraphic must be implemented; push notifications for alerts via REST API; meteorograms as HTML5/JavaScript IFRAME with PNG/PDF/CSV/Excel export capability; JWT or equivalent authentication.
3. 3Performance requirements: service availability ≥98%; response and resolution SLAs for incidents (Priority 1 response ≤1 hour, resolution/workaround ≤5 hours; Priority 2 response ≤4 hours, resolution ≤48 hours). Monitoring web service for endpoint status and monthly service-level reports.
4. 4Spatial and temporal coverage/resolution: spatial reference WGS84 Web Mercator and EPSG:4326; minimum oceanographic resolution 0.1°×0.1°, atmospheric 0.125°×0.125°; forecast range for meteorograms up to 7 days; weather effect charts for current conditions and short-term forecasts up to +48 hours, updated at least every 4 hours or immediately on alerts.

Security, testing and quality assurance:Contractor must follow EC and OWASP security guidance; Frontex will require a penetration test before go-live. Delivered services must pass agreed tests (Test Plan, Scenarios, Reports) and formal acceptance. Business documentation requirements include Service Delivery Plan, Service Description Document, testing artefacts, service management reports, minutes, training materials.

Data sources, Copernicus and IP

The contractor is responsible for obtaining and licensing all data sources and agreements; Frontex will not transfer raw data from existing contracts. The contractor is encouraged to use Copernicus Programme data where applicable and must explicitly identify Copernicus-derived data in the offer. Intellectual property: Frontex acquires ownership of results created under the contract; pre-existing materials must be identified and licensed to Frontex on a royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable basis for Union exploitation modes specified in the contract. A declaration/list of pre-existing rights must be provided at contract implementation (Annex IV template).

Submission templates and supporting documents

Mandatory templates and supporting documentation available on the Funding & Tenders Portal:Annex IVa Financial Proposal template (price table, EUR net per year for 4 years), Annex IVb Technical Proposal template (structure and sub-criteria to address), Annex V Declaration on Honour (exclusion and selection declarations), Annex VI Tender Submission Form (contact details, subcontracting, reliance on other entities), Annex VII PoA and Commitment Letters (for joint tenders, subcontractors and relied-on entities), Annex VIII List of Contracts (provide at least 2 similar contracts ≥ €100,000 each completed in the last 3 years), Annex IX Declaration on turnover (average turnover requirement). Tenderers must include supporting evidence for legal capacity, economic and financial capacity (average yearly turnover over last three financial years above €500,000) and technical capacity (at least two similar contracts completed in last three years with minimum €100,000 each).

• Annex IVa: Financial Proposal template – requires annual price per year for 4 years; price considered contract value and maximum.
• Annex IVb: Technical Proposal template – must address project management and technical solution sub-criteria; structure provided in procurement documents.
• Annex V: Declaration on Honour – exclusion and selection declarations; e-signature preferred (QES) or handwritten.
• Annex VI: Tender Submission Form – lead/contact, subcontractors, reliance on other entities, joint tender signature requirements.
• Annex VII: Power of Attorney and Commitment Letters – for joint tenders and subcontractors / relied-on entities.
• Annex VIII: List of contracts – provide references and reference letters (minimum value condition applies).
• Annex IX: Declaration on turnover – to demonstrate average turnover requirement.

Assessment, selection and contract award process stages

Number of application stages and evaluation flow:1) Administrative compliance and exclusion checks, 2) Selection criteria verification (legal, economic/financial, technical/professional capacities), 3) Technical evaluation (minimum technical compliance then scoring), 4) Financial evaluation (price scoring) and 5) Final ranking and award decision and contract signature. The tender must pass all earlier stages to be considered at subsequent stages. The contracting authority may request clarifications, missing documents or documentary evidence at any stage.

1. 1Stage 1 – Administrative/completeness and exclusion checks (Annex V declarations).
2. 2Stage 2 – Selection criteria verification: legal capacity, economic/financial (average annual turnover > €500,000), technical/professional capacity (≥2 similar contracts ≥ €100,000 in last 3 years).
3. 3Stage 3 – Technical minimum compliance and scoring (two main criteria: project & service management; technical solution).
4. 4Stage 4 – Financial evaluation of eligible tenders (lowest price scoring 100; proportional scoring for others).
5. 5Stage 5 – Final weighted scoring and award (0.6 x technical + 0.4 x financial) and contract signature.

Risk, penalties and contract management

Service availability and penalties:minimum availability 98%; monitored and reported monthly. Incident response SLAs and financial penalties for exceeding response or resolution times are defined in the Terms of Reference. Frontex may apply liquidated damages for delays and reductions in price for substandard services. Frontex reserves the right to substitute the contractor (bring in third parties) at contractor cost where performance is inadequate. Contract management requires a nominated Contract Manager (contractor) and Frontex Contract Manager; kick-off within 5 working days of entry into force; target go-live within 45 working days after contract entry into force; training and handover obligations apply.

Questions, clarifications and helpdesk

All clarifications and questions during the submission phase must be made via the Funding & Tenders Portal 'Questions & answers' section. Contracting authority will not be bound to reply to questions submitted after the date indicated in the tender specifications (26/08/2026 23:59 Europe/Warsaw). Support for eSubmission technical issues is available via the eSubmission Helpdesk; system requirements and supported browsers are indicated in the eSubmission Quick Guide on the Portal.

Structured extraction — Categorisation answers

Below are concise, structured answers to requested categorisation questions derived from the procurement documents.

1. 1Eligible Applicant Types: startups (if capable and meeting selection criteria), SMEs, large enterprises, universities and research institutes (if providing relevant services), specialised weather and oceanographic service providers, consultancies, consortia/joint ventures, subcontractors (must meet exclusion criteria). Public bodies and international organisations are eligible where permitted by access rules. Individual natural persons may participate where appropriate but must meet requirements and provide declarations. Non-profits/NGOs could bid if they meet technical and financial capacity.
2. 2Funding Type: Procurement / Service contract (procurement of services under a tender).
3. 3Consortium Requirement: Consortium allowed but not required. Single tenderer or consortium permitted; joint tenders must appoint leader and accept joint and several liability. Power of Attorney (Annex VII) required for group leader designation.
4. 4Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): EU-wide eligibility, EEA countries and third countries covered by specific access agreements (SAA, certain Association Agreements like Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine for higher-value contracts). The tender documents specify eligible non-EU countries and access conditions. Frontex is an EU agency based in Warsaw, Poland.
5. 5Target Sector: Environment / weather and oceanography services; transport/aviation support for airborne operations; maritime/oceanographic support for sea operations; ICT/platform services for delivery (OGC web services); security/defence-adjacent border surveillance sector.
6. 6Mentioned Countries: Poland (Frontex seat Warsaw), EU Member States in general, explicit references to eligible third countries including Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein (EEA), North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo (SAA), Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine (Association Agreements). The area of interest geographically spans European sea basins and Atlantic as defined by coordinates.
7. 7Project Stage: Operational service provision and ongoing operational support: expected maturity required is production/operational service delivery (demonstration to sustained operations) covering development, testing and operational operations. Proposals must show demonstrated operational references (past contracts).
8. 8Funding Amount: Estimated total value €1,200,000 (for up to 48 months). Annual payments are represented in the Financial Proposal template and the price indicated by the Tenderer constitutes the contract maximum. The contract value is all-inclusive and price revision is not applicable.
9. 9Application Type: Open call for tenders; electronic submission (eSubmission) via Funding & Tenders Portal. Formal questions via Portal Q&A. Deadlines and Q&A cut-off dates are stated in procurement documents.
10. 10Nature of Support: Financial (contract payments to supplier for delivered services) in exchange for services. The support is procurement of services; successful bidders receive contract payments (money) and contractual non-monetary obligations (deliverables, training, support).
11. 11Application Stages: 4 major stages: 1) administrative/exclusion checks; 2) selection criteria (legal, economic/financial, technical/professional capacities); 3) technical evaluation (compliance and scoring); 4) financial evaluation and final ranking/award. Additional clarifications/documentary evidence steps may be invoked by the contracting authority during evaluation.
12. 12Success Rates: Not published. As an open competitive procurement with technical and financial thresholds, success rate will depend on number and quality of tenders received; not specified in documents.
13. 13Co-funding Requirement: No co-funding required. Tender is a procurement; the supplier invoices Frontex. Prices must be all-inclusive and include any license costs. The contracting authority does not require co-financing.

Templates and application form structure

All required templates are published as annexes on the Portal. Tenderers must follow the templates and provide the following structured elements in their submission:

1. 1Technical Proposal (Annex IVb template): structured to address Criterion 1 (project & service management) and Criterion 2 (technical solution). Required content: Work Breakdown Structure and Work Packages, risk assessment and mitigation, team structure and CVs of key personnel, quality assurance measures, proposed system architecture, data sources including Copernicus, weather alert coverage plan, processing/data flow, service availability and maintainability approach, customer service desk arrangements, cybersecurity measures and testing/penetration testing approach.
2. 2Financial Proposal (Annex IVa template): prices in EUR net per year (quantity: 4 years), all-inclusive price that will be treated as the maximum contract value and used for financial scoring. Include VAT handling notes as requested in the template.
3. 3Supporting forms: Annex V Declaration on Honour (signed for exclusions and selection declarations), Annex VI Tender Submission Form (contact details; subcontracting and reliance on others; signature blocks), Annex VII Power of Attorney/Commitment Letters for consortium/subcontractors/reliance entities, Annex VIII List of Contracts (references for minimum experience), Annex IX Declaration on turnover (evidence of turnover meeting requirement).
4. 4Evidence bundle: company registration/extract, balance sheets/profit & loss (last three years) or bank statements, reference letters for similar contracts, copies of licences/agreements for data sources if already secured (recommended), CVs for key staff, signed confidentiality declaration if required.

Tenderers must ensure all attachments follow eSubmission file naming, file size (<50 MB per file guidance) and total number of files limits. PIC registration in the Participant Register is mandatory to submit via eSubmission.

How to approach a compliant bid (practical checklist)

1. 1Register organisation in the Participant Register and obtain PIC; ensure EU Login access and test eSubmission well before the deadline.
2. 2Download and study all procurement documents (Invitation letter, Tender Specifications, Terms of Reference, Draft contract and all annexes), including templates. Subscribe to the call on the Portal for updates.
3. 3Assemble technical proposal to align explicitly with all Technical Award sub-criteria and demonstrate compliance with mandatory requirements in the ToR (security, availability, data formats, SLAs, Copernicus usage where applicable). Use Annex IVb structure.
4. 4Prepare financial proposal using Annex IVa with all-inclusive EUR pricing per year for 4 years and ensure VAT handling is correct per country of establishment.
5. 5Gather selection evidence: Annex IX turnover declaration, balance sheets or bank statements for last three years, Annex VIII list of similar contracts (at least two above €100,000 each in last 3 years) and reference letters.
6. 6Complete legal forms: Annex V Declaration on Honour, Annex VI Tender Submission Form. If joint tender, include Annex VII Power of Attorney signed by all members. If relying on other entities or subcontractors, include commitment letters and declarations on honour for those entities.
7. 7Ensure cybersecurity and penetration testing plan is included and propose Copernicus data usage clearly (identify Copernicus products to be used).
8. 8Submit via eSubmission before the deadline; do not wait until last minute and obtain submission receipt timestamp as proof of timely submission.

Summary: What this opportunity is about and how to explain it

This is an open procurement by Frontex for an operational environmental services provider to supply near real-time and forecast atmospheric and oceanographic information to support airborne and maritime surveillance and patrolling operations across a broad European maritime area. The selected contractor will deliver tailored aviation and marine weather products (METAR, TAF, SIGMET/AIRMET, GAFOR, weather alerts), weather-effect charts tailored to assets and operations, web map and feature services (OGC WMS/WFS/Vector Tiles), meteogram widgets, push notification APIs for alerts, a customer service desk with SLAs, documentation, training and contractual support. The call is a competitive procurement with clear mandatory technical requirements, security expectations, service-level obligations and IP/licensing arrangements. The contract is initially 12 months with automatic renewals up to a maximum of 48 months and an estimated total maximum value of €1.2 million. Tenderers must submit a complete eSubmission including Annex IVb Technical Proposal, Annex IVa Financial Proposal and all supporting forms and evidence described in the procurement documents to be considered.

Footnotes

1. 1Procurement documents, templates and eSubmission guidance are provided on the Funding & Tenders Portal: Annex IVa Financial Proposal template, Annex IVb Technical Proposal template, Annex V Declaration on honour, Annex VI Tender Submission Form and other annexes available for download from the procedure page.

This is a public procurement tender, not a grant call. The contracting authority, Frontex, is procuring environmental services to provide frequently updated atmospheric and oceanographic information for designated operational areas, supporting airborne and sea operations, improving surveillance, allocating resources more efficiently, reducing crew stress and increasing mission safety.¹

Key opportunity facts

What the contract is about

The tender seeks a contractor able to deliver precise, robust, detailed, customized and frequently updated environmental intelligence for Frontex operations at sea and in the air. The service is intended to support patrolling and surveillance activities through improved knowledge of atmospheric and oceanographic conditions in the relevant areas, which is operationally relevant for mission planning, safety and resource deployment.

Who can apply

• Natural persons and legal persons may tender, either alone or as part of a joint tender.
• Participation is open to entities coming within the scope of the EU Treaties and to international organisations.
• Participation is also open to certain third-country operators where a relevant EU public procurement agreement applies, including EEA and Stabilisation and Association Agreement countries, and other countries covered by the procurement access rules set out in the tender specifications.
• Economic operators may use subcontractors, and they may also rely on other entities for selection capacity, provided the required documentation is submitted.
• Joint tenders are allowed, but the group must appoint a leader and a single point of contact.

Eligibility and participation rules

• No involved entity may be subject to EU restrictive measures or asset freeze measures.
• Tenderers, consortium members, subcontractors and relied-on entities must not be in an exclusion situation and must have no professional conflicting interests.
• A single economic operator may not participate in more than one tender in this procedure, whether as sole tenderer or as member of a group.
• If a joint tender is submitted, all members are jointly and severally liable for performance of the contract.
• Subcontracting is allowed only if the subcontractors and their intended scope of work are clearly identified in the tender.
• Cross-subcontracting between competing tenderers is prohibited.
• Any change in consortium composition or identified subcontractors after submission can trigger rejection unless the strict conditions in the tender specifications are met.
• Frontex may reject tenders that do not comply with the formal or substantive requirements of the procurement documents.

Selection and qualification requirements

What must be submitted

• Technical proposal using Annex IVb, covering project and service management methodology and technical solutions.
• Financial proposal using Annex IVa, with prices in EUR net of VAT and all-inclusive.
• Declaration on honour for all involved entities using Annex V.
• Tender submission form using Annex VI.
• Power of attorney for joint tenders using Annex VII.
• Commitment letters for subcontractors and other relied-on entities using Annex VII.
• Evidence of legal status and registration.
• Evidence of financial standing, including accounts or bank statements and the Annex IX turnover declaration.
• Evidence of relevant experience, including the list of similar contracts and reference letters where required.

Commercial and contractual terms applicants should note

• The quoted price must be all-inclusive and cover all direct and indirect costs, including training and administrative costs.
• The price offered will be treated as the contract value and as the maximum price for the full contract period.
• Price revision does not apply, so inflation and cost growth must be built into the offer.
• For tenderers established outside the EU but eligible under the procurement rules, the total reference price must be the gross price because no VAT refund is available.
• If the contractor is established outside Poland, it must take steps to obtain VAT exemption for services provided under the contract, with Frontex assisting through the EU VAT exemption certificate process.
• The tender offer is valid for 6 months from the final submission date.
• Frontex is not obliged to award the contract and may cancel the procedure before signature without compensation.

Submission process and practical points

• Submissions must be made electronically through the EU Funding and Tenders Portal eSubmission system only.
• EU Login is required for portal access and submission.
• A Participant Identification Code, or PIC, is mandatory for the tenderer and for each consortium member.
• The portal guidance indicates file attachments must comply with eSubmission technical requirements, including size and format limits.
• Requests for clarification should be submitted well before the deadline, as the contracting authority is not bound to reply after 26/08/2026 23:59 Europe/Warsaw.
• The public opening is online and attendance is limited to one representative per tenderer as an observer.

Overall assessment for applicants

This opportunity is best suited to established service providers with demonstrable operational weather, oceanographic, maritime, or environmental intelligence capability, a strong track record in comparable contracts, and the financial capacity to support a multi-year framework-style service arrangement. The most important competitive factors are likely to be technical quality, operational relevance, responsiveness, and demonstrated experience with similar public-sector contracts.

Footnotes

1. 1Authoritative opportunity page: Environmental Services: Operational Support for Airborne and Sea Operations.