European 5G Observatory "Path to the Digital Decade" (Phase V)

Open EU procurement (EC-CNECT/2026/OP/0137) by the European Commission DG CNECT for a service contract to continue the European 5G Observatory, covering monitoring of 5G and early 6G developments, data visualisations, weekly updates, annual connectivity assessments, newsletters and stakeholder workshops. The estimated contract value is €600,000 with an initial 24-month duration and possible renewals up to a maximum of 72 months. Tenders must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal by 17 September 2026 at 16:00 Brussels time and the award will follow the best price-quality ratio with quality weighted 60% and price 40%. Applicants must be economic operators eligible under EU procurement rules and comply with specified technical, security and accessibility requirements in the tender documents.

What it funds

Service contract to operate and develop the European 5G Observatory:monitoring and reporting on 5G deployment, early 6G developments, policy and market analysis, website content/visualisations, annual reports, scoreboards and stakeholder workshops.

Who can apply

Any economic operator established in the EU/EEA (sole tenderer or group), including consortia and subcontracting arrangements; participation rules, exclusion and selection criteria are in the procurement documents.

Top-level facts

Funding / Contract value:Estimated total procedure value €600 000; fixed-price service contract for an initial 24 months, renewable up to 72 months total ¹.

1. 1Procedure: open procedure (electronic submission via the Funding & Tenders Portal)
2. 2Award method: best price-quality ratio (price 40%, quality 60%)
3. 3Main CPV: 79300000 Market and economic research; additional CPV 71316000

Lead contracting authority:European Commission, DG CNECT - Communications Networks, Content and Technology. Submissions and full procurement documents are on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

How to apply:Prepare an electronic tender in the F&T Portal (EU Login required); follow tender specifications, declaration on honour, financial form and other annexes in the procurement documents available on the call page Procurement details. ¹

Footnotes

1. 1Procurement documents (invitation, tender specifications, draft contract, annexes and financial form) are published on the F&T Portal at the procurement details page above.

Essential facts

Procurement reference:EC-CNECT/2026/OP/0137. Procedure: open procedure (electronic submission via EU Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission). Contracting authority: European Commission, DG CNECT - Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT.E - Future Networks). Subject: continuation and further development of the European 5G Observatory for a 2-year service contract with possible renewals up to a 72-month maximum duration. Estimated total value: €600 000 (for initial and overall estimated procured services as published). Main CPV: 79300000 Market and economic research; polling and statistics. Deadline for receipt of tenders: 17 September 2026 16:00 (Europe/Brussels). Public opening: 18 September 2026, 10:00 (Europe/Brussels).

Primary objective:Continue and expand the European 5G Observatory activities: monitor 5G deployment and early 6G developments, provide quantitative and qualitative data and analytics to support the Digital Decade 2030 reporting cycle, host and maintain the public repository and data visualisations, produce annual state-of-connectivity reports and scoreboards, prepare newsletters, organise stakeholder workshops, perform targeted surveys and deliverable datasets to DG CNECT.

Who should consider applying

This procurement targets experienced market and technology research and data-visualisation service providers able to supply multi-disciplinary teams (project management, telecoms market analysts, data experts and communications specialists). The contracting authority expects organisations with track-record in telecommunications market analysis, spectrum and policy monitoring, data collection and indicators and web-based data visualisation. Joint bids (consortia) and use of subcontractors are explicitly permitted and regulated in the tender specifications.

Eligible Applicant Types

Permitted applicants include private companies, consultancies, SMEs, large enterprises, research organisations and consortia/joint tenders composed of those entities. Subcontracting is allowed; identified subcontractors (those relied upon for selection criteria or exceeding 20% of contract volume) must be listed in Annex 4 and provide commitment letters. Entities on whose capacities a tenderer relies may be documented via Annex 5.2 commitment letters. Non-EU bidders may participate subject to rules on access to procurement; check tender documents for access rules.

Funding Type

This is a public procurement (tender) for a service contract. Financial mechanism:procurement / service contract awarded under best price-quality ratio.

Consortium Requirement

Consortiums are allowed but not mandatory. The procedure supports single tenderers or joint tenders (groups). Joint tenders must designate a group leader and submit an Agreement/Power of Attorney (Annex 3). All group members bear joint and several liability if awarded.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility)

Geographic eligibility:EU/EEA and other countries as per Commission rules. The Observatory's activity scope covers the EU, EU neighbouring markets (EEA, EFTA, EU candidate countries, the UK) and leading global markets (United States, China, Japan, India, Australia, Brazil, South Korea). Procurement advertising: the contract is open to entities established in the European Economic Area and parties compliant with access rules described in the procurement documents.

Target Sector

Primary sectors:ICT, telecommunications, networks (5G/6G), market research and data visualisation, policy and regulatory monitoring, spectrum policy, digital infrastructure and digital policy analysis. Secondary: industry-specific sectors where 5G/6G pilots/testbeds occur (mobility, industry 4.0, health).

Mentioned Countries

Explicitly mentioned countries and regions in the tender text:European Union (Member States), European Economic Area, European Free Trade Association (EFTA), EU candidate countries, United Kingdom, United States, China, Japan, India, Australia, Brazil, Republic of Korea (South Korea).

Project Stage

Expected maturity:monitoring, data collection, analysis, validation, reporting and public dissemination. Activities cover ongoing monitoring (operations), research/analysis, demonstration of dashboards and public reporting. Outputs feed policy reporting (Digital Decade annual reports) and provide analytical recommendations; therefore tasks span research, validation, demonstration and continuous operations.

Funding Amount

Estimated total value of the procurement:€600 000 (published estimated overall contract amount). The financial offer must be fixed price, inclusive of all expenses, and submitted using Annex 6 Financial Tender Form. The tender specifications note the contract is concluded initially for 24 months and renewable twice (up to 72 months); financial envelopes should reflect the full pricing proposed for the initial period and the fixed-price model stated in the financial form.

Application Type / Submission Method:Electronic submission only via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission system. A valid EU Login account and registration in the Participant Register (PIC) is required. All attachments must meet eSubmission technical requirements. Tenders submitted in any other way (paper, email) will be disregarded.

Nature of Support

This is a paid service contract. Beneficiaries (contractor) receive monetary payment against deliverables and invoices. The contract also requires non-financial services: content hosting, public dissemination, data handover, stakeholder events and coordination with Commission services.

Application Stages

Single-stage submission for tender receipt (open procedure). Evaluation proceeds through administrative compliance, exclusion and selection checks, technical and financial evaluation against award criteria and ranking by best price-quality ratio. The contracting authority may request further evidence from tenderers at short notice (e.g. supporting financial/legal documents) during evaluation or before award.

1. 1Stage 1: Electronic tender submission by deadline via eSubmission (one-step).
2. 2Stage 2: Administrative check and exclusion criteria verification (Declaration on Honour - Annex 2).
3. 3Stage 3: Selection criteria verification (legal, financial, technical capacity) — some evidence may be requested later.
4. 4Stage 4: Award evaluation — technical (quality 60%) and financial (price 40%) scoring and best price-quality ratio ranking.
5. 5Stage 5: Request for supporting evidence from the presumed winner, contract signature and handover.

Success Rates

No published historical success rates are provided in the tender documents. As an open single-award procurement with an estimated procedure value and standard open procedure rules, success probability depends on the number and quality of tenderers and compliance with selection and award criteria. Tenderers should assume a competitive selection and prepare to meet all exclusion, selection and award requirements.

Co-funding Requirement

No co-funding from the bidder is required beyond the bidder's own cost-share implicit in fixed-price bids. The contract price must be submitted as a fixed price not subject to revision and inclusive of all expenses (A+B+C). Where external data purchases are necessary, bidders must include such costs in their fixed-price offer. No additional EU co-financing mechanism is indicated.

Application templates and required documents (forms and structure)

The procurement documents include specific templates, mandatory forms and annexes that must be completed and uploaded in eSubmission. Key templates and attachments published with the tender are: Invitation to tender, Tender specifications (with annexes), Draft direct service contract, Annex 3 Agreement/Power of Attorney (for joint tenders), Annex 4 List of identified subcontractors and proportion of subcontracting, Annex 5.1 Commitment letter by identified subcontractor, Annex 5.2 Commitment letter by an entity whose capacities are relied upon, Annex 6 Financial offer form, and Declaration on Honour (Annex 2). All documents are published on the Funding & Tenders Portal for download and must be used as provided.

How the application forms look and how to structure your submission:The tender requires two main parts to be uploaded in eSubmission: 1) Technical tender and supporting documents (including Declaration on Honour, evidence for selection criteria, organisation chart, CVs of key personnel and project methodology). 2) Financial tender using the provided Annex 6 Financial form (fixed price inclusive of staff days, travel, other costs). For joint tenders, include Annex 3 Agreement/Power of Attorney signed by group members. Identify and list subcontractors in Annex 4; obtain Annex 5.1 letters for identified subcontractors. If relying on other entities’ capacities, include Annex 5.2 commitment letters. Keep documents named clearly according to the eSubmission guidance and the Annex 1 list of required documents.

1. 1Technical offer: methodology, work plan, roles and responsibilities, team CVs, evidence for T1/T2 selection criteria, sample deliverables or references.
2. 2Administrative forms: Declaration on Honour (Annex 2), proof of legal capacity and registration, LEAR/PIC details for Participant Register.
3. 3Subcontracting and capacity documents: Annex 3 (joint tender power of attorney), Annex 4 (identified subcontractors), Annex 5.1 and 5.2 (commitment letters).
4. 4Financial offer: Annex 6 Financial form. Fixed price, inclusive of all staff days, travel and other costs, priced in EUR and VAT-exempt per Commission rules where applicable.
5. 5Security and data protection considerations: evidence of ability to comply with security baseline and data localisation requirements, and any required personal data processing notifications.

Evaluation and award: criteria and scoring

Award method:best price-quality ratio. Weighting: Quality 60% and Price 40%. Quality is subdivided into three technical award criteria with sub-criteria: 1) Coverage and quality of methodology and tools (40 points) — including geographic, market, policy and regulatory coverage; clarity/feasibility; data gathering and analysis techniques. 2) Organisation of work and resources (40 points) — feasibility, allocation of time and senior staff participation, coordination mechanisms. 3) Quality control and data quality assurance (20 points). Thresholds and full scoring rules are in the tender specifications.

Scoring formula:combined score = (cheapest price / tender price) * 100 * 40% + (quality score out of 100) * 60%. In case of equal scores, the highest quality score wins; further tie-break rules follow descending award criterion order.

Deliverables, schedule and contract structure

Key deliverables (initial 24-month contract):inception meeting and report (month 1); weekly newsletters and repository updates (ongoing, from month 1); first annual state-of-EU-5G connectivity assessment and scoreboard (month 6 or aligned to Digital Decade annual report publication); update of data visualisations and charts (month 6 and ongoing); one stakeholder workshop per year with post-workshop summary; final presentation and final datasets handed to Commission (month 24). If renewed, same pattern repeated for months 25-48 and months 49-72 for further renewal.

Team and capability requirements (selection criteria)

Selection criteria include legal and regulatory capacity, economic and financial capacity (minimum average yearly turnover requirement: consolidated assessment above €200 000 for last two financial years), and technical and professional capacity. The tender specifications require evidence of recent relevant projects and defined minimum professional profiles.

1. 1Mandatory team roles (minimum profiles specified): 1 Project Manager with 5+ years experience; 3 Consultants with 5+ years in mobile communications market analysis and policy; 1 Data Expert with experience in JavaScript, JSON, Highcharts and Leaflet (3+ years); 3 Communication specialists with web copy and event experience (3+ years).
2. 2Two similar projects in the last 4 years with minimum value €100 000 each for consolidated experience evidence (criterion T1).
3. 3Provision of CVs, references and project lists as evidence with the tender.

Security and data protection obligations

The contractor and its personnel must comply with the Commission's security rules and the security baselines included in the tender documents (Appendix 1 and Appendix 2). Personal data processing must comply with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and the contractor must ensure data localisation and access rules specified in the tender. Service providers processing Commission personal data must be in the EU/EEA (data centres) and transfers to third countries require prior written authorisation and legal safeguards.

Practical submission guidance and deadlines

All submissions must be uploaded to eSubmission before the published deadline. Use the published Annex templates and follow the Annex 1 list of required documents. Participant Register PIC is mandatory. The contracting authority operates a public Q&A during the submission period; consult the Funding & Tenders Portal for clarifications and subscription to updates. The final deadline in the published tender notice is 17 September 2026 16:00 Europe/Brussels.

If you require the procurement documents and templates, they are available on the F&T Portal at the tender page: Opportunity page and documents ¹.

Risks, constraints and additional notes

Key constraints:strict eSubmission technical and format rules (attachment size limits, allowed file types, naming conventions), mandatory PIC registration, tight deadlines and security screening requirements for personnel with access to Commission IT or premises. The contracting authority reserves the right to request supporting evidence at short notice. Abnormally low tenders may be investigated and potentially rejected. The contracting authority is not bound to reply to questions submitted after the published Q&A cut-off date. The contract includes fraud prevention, audit and checks clauses and the Commission may perform compliance verifications and audits.

Summary: what is this opportunity about and how to explain it?

This is an open procurement by the European Commission (DG CNECT) to award a direct service contract to continue and expand the European 5G Observatory for the Digital Decade agenda. The contractor will operate a public data repository and analytics platform tracking 5G deployment and early 6G developments across the EU and selected global markets; provide annual consultancy-style reports and scoreboards feeding the Digital Decade reporting cycle; maintain and extend data visualisations and the web presence; publish weekly topical repository items and a newsletter; organise stakeholder engagement workshops and targeted surveys; procure and integrate third-party data where needed; and hand over datasets and deliverables to the Commission. The contract is initially 24 months with two possible renewals up to a total of 72 months, has an estimated budget of €600 000, and will be awarded on the basis of the best price-quality ratio. Applicants must submit a single-step electronic tender via the F&T Portal eSubmission system using the official templates (Annexes) and providing mandatory declarations and evidence. The opportunity is best suited to organisations or consortia combining telecoms market analysis, data collection and advanced data visualisation capabilities, proven experience in telecom policy and spectrum monitoring, and capacity to engage stakeholders and produce high-quality public-facing outputs.

Footnotes

1. 1Procurement documents published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal include: Invitation to tender, Tender specifications and annexes (Annexes 1-6 including Declaration on Honour, Agreement/Power of Attorney, list of identified subcontractors, commitment letters and Financial offer form), Draft Service Contract and QA history. Access via the opportunity page and login is required to download full files.

This is an EU procurement tender for services, not a grant, to continue the European 5G Observatory under a new service contract for monitoring 5G, early 6G and related connectivity policy developments across Europe and key global markets.[1]

Opportunity at a glance

What the contract is about

The contract would keep the European 5G Observatory running as a policy and market intelligence platform that reports on 5G deployment, commercial developments, spectrum developments and early 6G trends, while supporting the Digital Decade reporting cycle and related evidence needs.[1][3]

The specification describes four main work strands:annual quantitative monitoring and scoreboards, weekly online news and policy updates, website and data visualisation maintenance, and stakeholder workshops and surveys.[1]

1. 1Annual state of EU 5G connectivity assessments with datasets and scoreboards for the State of the Digital Decade reporting cycle.[1]
2. 2Weekly repository updates and a newsletter with typically 10 to 15 items per week on commercial and policy developments.[1]
3. 3Ongoing management of the Observatory website, interactive charts, maps and content editing using Commission systems and standards.[1]
4. 4Two online stakeholder workshops during the initial contract period, with related surveys, expert interviews and summary reports.[1]

Who can apply

The call is open to any interested economic operator, meaning a natural or legal person offering services, and bids may be submitted by a single tenderer or by a joint tender group with subcontracting allowed.[1]

Applicants must be established within the scope of the EU Treaties or be a third country operator covered by a special EU public procurement agreement, and they must ensure that neither they nor any involved subcontractor is subject to EU restrictive measures or an asset freeze.[1]

• A PIC is required for each organisation participating in the tender, and the submission must be made through EU Login and the electronic submission system.[1]
• A natural or legal person cannot participate both as a sole tenderer and as a member of another group in the same procedure, and cross subcontracting is forbidden.[1]
• Joint tenders require an agreement or power of attorney, with joint and several liability for all group members.[1]
• The tenderer must submit independently, and the declaration on honour covers exclusion criteria, selection criteria, restrictive measures and the absence of existing EU debt.[1]

Award, duration and value

The contract is valued at €600000 and the award method is the best price-quality ratio, with the procurement documents indicating a quality weighting of 60 percent and price weighting of 40 percent.[1]

The tenderer must accept a fixed price model that is not subject to revision and is inclusive of all expenses, and the specifications indicate that variants are not allowed.[1]

• Maximum duration is 72 months.[1]
• Initial period is 24 months.[1]
• The contract can be renewed, subject to budget availability and agreement, to cover the longer term Observatory work described in the specifications.[1]
• The tender is not divided into lots and is marked as not SME suitable.[1]

Delivery and compliance requirements

The work must support EU accessibility and web governance standards, including the Europa Web Guide, Commission corporate visual identity, WCAG 2.1 AA and EN 301 549, while using Commission tools such as Leaflet, Highcharts and WEBTOOLS for visualisations and maps.[1]

The core team profile set out in the specifications includes project management, 5G communications and market analysis, data and visualisation expertise in JavaScript, JSON, Highcharts and Leaflet, and copywriting and stakeholder engagement skills.[1]

• Deliverables include inception work, annual reports, datasets, scoreboards, charts updates, newsletters, workshops and final handover materials.[1]
• The Observatory covers the EU, neighbouring markets and selected global markets such as the United States, China, Japan, India, Australia, Brazil and South Korea.[1]
• The contractor may need to purchase third party data to fill data gaps and support comparative analysis.[1]
• The contract also requires compliance with data protection, fraud prevention, security, equal opportunities and environmental requirements.[1]

Practical submission notes

Submissions must be sent electronically only through the portal, and the live notice states that the deadline remains 17 September 2026 at 16:00 Brussels time after a published clarification confirmed the original deadline was maintained.[1]

Applicants should prepare for electronic tendering constraints, including attachment limits, browser compatibility, and the need to keep the submission valid for the tender validity period indicated in the procurement documents.[1]