EU-Vietnam Cooperation Facility

The European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships has launched the EU-Vietnam Cooperation Facility, a restricted fee-based services procurement to provide technical assistance, capacity building and policy dialogue support for EU development programmes in Vietnam with an estimated contract value of €2,000,000 and a maximum implementation period of 30 months. Submission is electronic via the EU Funding and Tenders Portal with a request to participate deadline of 30 November 2026 at 16:00 (Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh) and shortlisted candidates will be invited to tender. Award will follow the best price-quality ratio with quality weighted at 80% and price at 20%, and applicants must meet selection criteria including minimum turnover, staffing and relevant contract references. The contract is financed under NDICI-Global Europe and is not a grant; applicants should consult the tender specifications on the Funding and Tenders Portal for full eligibility, submission and evaluation requirements.

What it funds

Scope

Provision of high-quality consulting services to support project cycle management across EU development programmes in Vietnam and to strengthen EU-Vietnam policy dialogue under the NDICI-Global Europe framework. Activities include technical assistance for project cycle management, capacity building, policy dialogue services and related consultancy.

Who can apply

Open to natural persons and legal entities established in EU Member States or eligible countries as defined in NDICI Regulation, and to international organisations. Participation as single tenderer or consortium is allowed; members of a consortium are jointly and severally liable.

Key selection and eligibility highlights

Requests to participate must follow the specified request to participate form and declarations in the procurement documents; between 4 and 8 candidates will be invited to submit detailed tenders. Consult full tender specifications and submit via the Funding & Tenders Portal Opportunity details. 1

Footnotes

1. 1Tender specifications and additional information published 26/10/2026 on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal; estimated overall contract amount and deadlines are recorded in the contract notice.

Opportunity identification and purpose

What this tender is for

The EU-Vietnam Cooperation Facility is a restricted procurement procedure run by the European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships (INTPA). The contract seeks a contractor to provide high-quality consulting and technical assistance services to support project cycle management of all EU development programmes in Viet Nam and to strengthen EU-Vietnam policy dialogue. Activities will include technical assistance for project cycle management, capacity building, facilitation of policy dialogue, and related advisory services under the NDICI-Global Europe framework.

Eligibility and applicant requirements

Eligible Applicant Types

Participation is open to natural persons who are nationals of, and legal persons effectively established in, EU Member States or eligible countries and territories as defined in Article 28 of Regulation (EU) No 2021/947 (NDICI-Global Europe). International organisations may also participate. Eligible applicant types therefore include: consultancy firms, large enterprises, research and policy institutes, NGOs, international organisations, consortia (permanent or ad hoc groupings). SMEs are not precluded but the procurement is explicitly marked as not SME-suitable. Sub-contracting is permitted. All participants must register in the Participant Register and obtain a PIC. Ineligible persons (including those listed under EU restrictive measures at award) will cause exclusion of the candidate or entire consortium if involved.

Geographic and nationality eligibility (Beneficiary Scope)

Open to entities established in European Union Member States and eligible countries/territories listed under Article 28 of Regulation (EU) No 2021/947. The contract is financed under NDICI-Global Europe geographic programme for Asia & Central Asia and will be performed in Viet Nam. International organisations are eligible. Applicants must comply with rules of origin and nationality as set out in PRAG and the contract notice.

Financial and contractual information

Funding Type and Value

This is a procurement tender for a fee-based services contract funded from NDICI (budget line NDICI/14.020131). The estimated overall contract amount is €2,000,000. The award will be a services contract awarded on a best price-quality ratio basis and may take the form of a framework agreement. The maximum contract period is 30 months. Payments will follow contractual terms once the contract is awarded.

Selection, award and evaluation

Selection criteria (summary, as applied to requests to participate)

Candidates will be evaluated at selection (short-listing) stage on economic/financial capacity, professional capacity, and technical capacity. The contracting authority will invite between 4 and 8 candidates to submit full tenders. If fewer than 4 eligible candidates meet criteria, the authority may proceed with fewer. If more than 8 meet criteria, re-examination using comparative criteria will rank candidates.

If more than 8 candidates qualify, additional comparative criteria to select the 8 best are: (1) highest number of qualifying contracts completed; (2) highest cumulative value of qualifying contracts. Documentary evidence must support references and values; where relying on capacity providers the required declarations and commitments must be provided.

Application process and timeline

Application mechanics and templates

Requests to participate must be submitted using the official request to participate form and accompanied by the Declaration on Honour on Exclusion and Selection criteria (PRAG templates). The request to participate form and declaration templates are available from the EU External Action/EXACT Annexes and the Funding & Tenders Portal documentation pages. All supporting documents must be uploaded in the correct attachment sections in eSubmission. No additional brochures or unsolicited documents will be considered.

Operational and technical expectations

The contractor will be expected to provide a broad range of consulting services supporting EU project cycle management and policy dialogue in Viet Nam. Core expected capabilities include: project design and appraisal, implementation support and monitoring, evaluation and learning, capacity building and training for EU and local stakeholders, facilitation of high-level and technical policy dialogue, preparation of policy papers and analytical work, and ad hoc technical assistance across sectors relevant to EU programming in Viet Nam. Experience working with EU international cooperation procedures, NDICI programmes and PRAG processes, and at least one substantial delivery in Southeast Asia are required for selection.

Administrative, legal and practical points

Submissions are subject to grounds for exclusion (PRAG Section 2.4.2.1). Candidates included in EU restrictive measures at the time of award cannot be awarded the contract. Only one request to participate or tender per natural or legal person is allowed. The eSubmission system encrypts attachments; technical specifications such as maximum attachment size (50 MB typically), supported browsers, file formats and number of attachments (up to 200 files) apply. Questions must be submitted via the Portal; clarifications published at least 8 days before the deadline. The tender specifications document (Tender specifications/requests to participate) provides full requirements and templates 1.

Project stage, sector and focus

Metrics, risks and success factors

Mentioned countries and programme context

Templates and application form structure

Concluding summary

The EU-Vietnam Cooperation Facility tender seeks an experienced contractor or consortium to deliver comprehensive technical assistance, capacity building and policy dialogue support to EU development programmes in Viet Nam under NDICI-Global Europe. The procurement is a restricted, electronic procedure with a short-listing stage that invites 4–8 candidates to tender. Applicants must satisfy stringent financial, professional and technical selection criteria, including minimum turnover and contract reference thresholds and experience in Southeast Asia. The award will be on best price-quality ratio for an estimated contract value of €2,000,000 and up to 30 months duration. Applications must be submitted via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal using official request templates and the required declarations. Interested organisations should study the tender specifications (requests to participate) carefully, ensure PIC registration and compliance with PRAG selection/exclusion rules, assemble documentary evidence for selection criteria, and prepare for the invited tender stage if short-listed. Full procurement documents including the tender specifications and the additional information contract notice are available on the Funding & Tenders Portal and in the linked PDF tender dossier 1.

Footnotes

1. 1Tender specifications (requests to participate) and additional information contract notice a5f_additional_information_contract_notice_en (Version 1) published 26/10/2026 on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal provide full details of eligibility, selection and award criteria, templates and procedural instructions. Access the procurement file via the opportunity page on the Funding & Tenders Portal: Opportunity page.

Opportunity summary

The EU-Vietnam Cooperation Facility is a fee-based service procurement launched by the European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships. It will provide consulting and technical assistance to support the management of EU development programmes in Vietnam and strengthen EU-Vietnam policy dialogue. The facility is intended to help the European Union implement its cooperation strategies and political priorities effectively, with the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument, Global Europe as the principal financing framework 1.

The contract is not a grant scheme. Applicants compete to become a contractor delivering services to the European Commission. The procurement covers technical assistance for project cycle management, capacity building, policy dialogue, research, analysis and related consulting services.

The 2026 annual support measure for Vietnam identifies €2 million for the cooperation facility technical assistance component implemented through direct procurement. The tender notice also states an estimated overall contract value of €2 million 2.

Key opportunity data

What the contract is intended to deliver

The successful contractor will act as a technical and advisory resource for EU cooperation activities in Vietnam. The description indicates a broad, flexible service remit rather than a single narrowly defined study.

The wider 2026 EU-Vietnam support measure links the cooperation facility to implementation of EU cooperation priorities, Team Europe initiatives and Global Gateway activities. It also envisages support for project identification and formulation, capacity development, policy dialogue, research and innovation, information exchange, and technical and administrative support 2.

Who can apply

Participation is open to eligible natural persons who are nationals of, and legal persons effectively established in, an EU Member State or an eligible country or territory under Article 28 of Regulation EU 2021/947. International organisations may also participate.

Applicants may participate as an individual organisation or as a consortium. A consortium can be a permanent legally established grouping or an informal grouping formed for this procurement. All consortium members are jointly and severally liable to the contracting authority.

Vietnamese organisations should verify their eligibility under the applicable NDICI Global Europe nationality and origin rules before forming a consortium or relying on local delivery capacity. Establishment in Vietnam alone does not, on the information available, automatically establish eligibility.

An applicant may submit no more than one request to participate, whether acting individually, as consortium leader or as a consortium member. A person or organisation participating in more than one submission risks exclusion of every affected submission.

Consortium and external capacity rules

Applicants may rely on the capacities of other entities, including parent companies or specialist partners, provided they demonstrate that the necessary resources will be available for contract performance.

Minimum selection requirements

The selection criteria apply to the candidate or consortium as specified in the procurement documents. For consortium submissions, most criteria are assessed on the consortium as a whole, but the current ratio requirement must be satisfied by each consortium member.

Experience references may concern contracts started before the four-year reference period. Where a contract was only partly implemented during the relevant period, only the completed portion supported by documentary evidence will be considered. Experience that resulted in a breach of contract and termination by a contracting authority cannot be used as a selection reference.

Shortlisting and second stage

This is a two-stage restricted procedure. Candidates first submit requests to participate. Normally, between four and eight eligible candidates will be shortlisted and invited to submit detailed tenders. If fewer than four candidates meet the selection criteria, the contracting authority may invite the candidates that do qualify.

If more than eight candidates meet the selection criteria, the contracting authority will rank them using only the stated comparative criteria.

Shortlisted candidates may not change their consortium composition, form alliances with other shortlisted candidates or subcontract to another shortlisted candidate for this procurement unless the contracting authority gives prior authorisation. A tender submitted by a differently composed group may be excluded.

Award methodology

The contract will be awarded using the best price-quality ratio. The available procurement data assigns 80 percent of the weighting to quality and 20 percent to price. The detailed quality subcriteria, scoring methodology, financial evaluation rules and requirements for the final tender should be taken from the tender specifications issued to shortlisted candidates.

The high quality weighting indicates that technical methodology, relevant expertise, proposed personnel, understanding of EU cooperation requirements, delivery arrangements and quality assurance are likely to be decisive. Price remains material but is not the dominant evaluation element.

Funding, contract value and payment

The estimated overall contract value is €2,000,000. This is the estimated procurement value available for the service contract, not a grant allocation or an award amount paid without deliverables.

The procurement is fee-based. The available notice does not state a grant funding rate, co-financing percentage or fixed reimbursement rate. Applicants should therefore price the requested services in accordance with the financial format and instructions in the tender documents, including any applicable fee rates, reimbursable costs, assumptions and tax treatment.

All financial information in the request to participate and subsequent tender must be expressed in euros. Where historical amounts were originally expressed in another currency, the procurement document specifies use of the October 2026 InforEuro exchange rate.

Duration and timetable

The metadata contains an additional date of 1 January 2026, but this is inconsistent with the official tender information showing publication on 26 October 2026 and a request to participate deadline of 30 November 2026. It should not be treated as the operative deadline unless the Funding and Tenders Portal issues a formal correction.

Submission requirements

Requests to participate must be submitted exclusively through the European Commission Funding and Tenders Portal. Submissions by email, post or other means will be disregarded.

The submission should contain only the documents requested by the procurement documents. Additional brochures, letters or unsolicited material may not be taken into consideration.

Exclusion, integrity and compliance conditions

Each candidate must provide a signed declaration confirming that it is not in an exclusion situation listed in the applicable Practical Guide provisions. Capacity-providing entities and subcontractors must provide the declarations required by the procurement documents.

Entities included on EU restrictive measures lists at the time of the award decision cannot receive the contract. Applicants should conduct sanctions, ownership, conflict of interest and integrity checks for themselves, consortium members, key experts, capacity providers and subcontractors.

The procedure and contract language is English. Written communications, forms and supporting information should therefore be prepared in English unless the procurement documents expressly allow another language.

Applicant assessment

This opportunity is most suitable for established international cooperation consultancies, development advisory firms, research and policy organisations, or consortia combining EU procurement experience, Southeast Asian delivery experience and strong project cycle management capability.

Main risks and points requiring verification

Recommended preparation plan

Official sources and reference notes 1

The authoritative tender record is the European Commission Funding and Tenders Portal opportunity page EU Funding and Tenders Portal tender record. The tender document titled Additional information about the Contract Notice provides the eligibility, exclusion, selection, shortlisting and submission requirements Tender specifications.

The broader 2026 EU-Vietnam support measure confirms that the action is financed under NDICI Global Europe, implemented through direct procurement and includes a €2 million technical assistance procurement component Annual support measure for Vietnam.

The European Commission country information page states that EU cooperation with Vietnam includes an allocation for the 2021 to 2024 period and an additional allocation for 2025 to 2027, providing wider context for the facility EU cooperation with Vietnam.