Execution of low-value payments through the local clearing systems in the beneficiaries’ countries including Automated Clearing House (ACH) and other ...

The European Commission Directorate‑General for Budget (procurement EC-BUDG/2026/OP/0010, TED ref 196/2026 698523-2026) has published an open public procurement tender to contract banking and payment execution services for low-value non-euro payments routed through beneficiaries' local clearing systems, including ACH equivalents, with dedicated euro-denominated accounts located in an EU Member State. Submission is electronic only via the Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission system, the tender deadline is 9 November 2026 at 16:00 Europe/Brussels time and the contract may run up to 60 months (renewable). The Commission intends to award direct service contracts to up to two highest-ranked tenderers (with a possible third award if it materially increases country coverage) and requires minimum operational coverage in at least 13 listed countries plus SWIFT FileAct and ISO XML messaging compliance. This is a commercial service contract (not a grant); bidders must complete the prescribed financial model and meet exclusion, selection and mandatory technical requirements set out in the tender documents.

What is being procured

Scope in one line

Execution of low-value international payments outside SEPA in local currencies via beneficiaries' local clearing systems (ACH and equivalent), plus related bank-account management, reporting, customer support and optional electronic account-management services.

Key commercial points

Contracts will be awarded on a best price-quality ratio. The financial evaluation emphasises weighted transaction costs, an account-confirmation fee, an electronic account-management fee and remuneration on balances. Tenderers must provide a financial model and technical tender as specified in the procurement documents.

Deadlines and milestones

Practical essentials for bidders

Footnotes

1. 1Procurement folder and full tender documents (invitation to tender, tender specifications, draft contract and annexes) are available on the Funding & Tenders Portal at the tender details page: ec.europa.eu

Administrative summary and procurement identity

What is being procured and why

Who can apply and how to submit

Evaluation, selection and award (detailed)

Technical and operational requirements (key elements)

Commercial and financial model

Tenders must complete the provided financial model (Annex 6 Excel) and fill P1, P2, P3 and R components. Evaluation uses weighted average cost P1 (volume-weighted across currencies and number of payments), fixed fees and remuneration assumptions (theoretical balance €6 000 000 used for evaluation). Pricing must be expressed in euros, VAT excluded (Commission is VAT-exempt). Exchange rate and interest reference rates are defined in the financial model; tenderers must keep specified spreads throughout the contract.

Contract form, security and compliance

Procurement process details and practical notes

Access to procurement notifications, documents and downloads available at the Funding & Tenders Portal tender details page F&T Portal opportunity page 1.

Eligibility, consortium and geographic scope (structured answers)

Below are the structured extractions requested from the raw procurement content. Each item reproduces requirements and constraints as stated in the procurement documents.

Practical recommendations (based on specification content)

This notice and its annexes form the complete procurement picture. The contracting authority’s tender page contains the invitation to tender, tender specifications, financial and technical forms, draft contract and security appendix. Use the portal to subscribe and download all documents, and submit clarifications via the Questions & answers section Funding & Tenders Portal tender details 1.

Footnotes

1. 1Tender documents, Annexes and submission are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal opportunity page: ec.europa.eu

Execution of low-value payments through local clearing systems

This is a European Commission public procurement tender, not a grant scheme. The successful economic operators will be contracted to provide banking and payment execution services for low-value payments in non-euro currencies to beneficiaries worldwide through local clearing systems, including Automated Clearing House systems.

The contracting authority is the European Commission, Directorate-General for Budget, which will manage the procurement, sign the contract and supervise performance. The procurement is identified as EC-BUDG/2026/OP/0010 and has TED reference 196/2026 698523-2026. The official opportunity page is EU Funding and Tenders Portal opportunity.

Opportunity profile

What the procurement covers

The Commission needs banking partners able to process payments to beneficiaries outside the SEPA area in multiple non-euro currencies. Payments are expected to be made in the local currency of the beneficiary and through the local clearing system of the country where the beneficiary maintains its bank account.

The selected banks will open and manage dedicated euro-denominated accounts for the Commission in an EU Member State. The accounts will be funded by the Commission on a just in time basis according to expected payment needs. The contractor will then execute outgoing payments through local clearing systems and provide account reporting, payment status information, charge statements, interest calculations and related support.

The procurement objectives are to expand local currency payment coverage, reduce international banking costs, improve intraday control and transparency over payment flows and balances, strengthen reconciliation and reporting, provide reliable customer support during Brussels working hours, and reduce operational and fraud risks through automation and standardised processes.

The financial model identifies countries and currencies including, among others, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China Hong Kong, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa region currencies, Switzerland, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vietnam and Zambia. The country volumes, transaction numbers and balances in the financial model are statistical estimates and do not constitute a commitment by the Commission to purchase any particular volume.

Contract structure and potential awards

The tender is not divided into lots and will result in direct contracts. Subject to receiving a sufficient number of compliant tenders, the Commission intends to award contracts to a maximum of two highest-ranked tenderers. A third bank may receive a contract if its appointment would increase coverage by at least five countries not covered by the first and second-ranked banks.

The planned contract has an initial duration of 12 months and may be renewed four times, with a maximum overall duration of 60 months. Within three years after signature, the Commission may use a negotiated procedure to procure repeated or similar services from the contractor up to a maximum of 50 percent of the initial contract value, subject to the applicable financial rules and conditions.

No grant award, co-financing rate or fixed funding amount is provided. The successful tenderers will be paid under the financial and contractual terms resulting from the procurement. The total estimated procurement value is not displayed in the available notice data and must be verified in the contract notice, financial model and draft contract before preparing a bid.

Who can apply

Any interested economic operator may submit a tender as a sole tenderer or as a group of economic operators. Subcontracting is permitted, and a tenderer may rely on the capacity of other entities where the procurement rules and required commitment documentation are satisfied.

Participation is open to natural and legal persons within the scope of the EU Treaties, international organisations, and entities established in third countries where access is permitted under an applicable agreement with the European Union or under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement. The same access rules apply to subcontractors and entities whose capacity is used to meet selection criteria.

The opportunity is commercially most relevant to banks and payment service providers with direct or reliable access to local clearing systems in multiple countries, an EU-based account infrastructure, international payments capability, SWIFT connectivity, foreign exchange services, strong compliance controls and the operational capacity to meet the required reporting and service levels.

Each participating organisation must be registered in the European Commission Participant Register and have a valid nine-digit Participant Identification Code. Every organisation involved in a joint tender, including group members, must use its own PIC. An EU Login account is required to access eSubmission and submit the tender.

A tenderer may not participate simultaneously as a sole tenderer and as a member of another group, or as a member of more than one group in this procedure. Tenders must be prepared independently and autonomously. Joint tender members assume joint and several liability, and must appoint a group leader authorised to act for the group.

Eligibility and exclusion requirements

Tenderers and involved entities must not be in an exclusion situation under the EU Financial Regulation. The declaration covers insolvency, unpaid taxes or social security contributions, grave professional misconduct, fraud, corruption, organised crime, money laundering, terrorist financing, trafficking, significant contractual deficiencies, irregularities, evasion of legal obligations and obstruction of audits or investigations.

The exclusion assessment also applies to relevant directors, management or supervisory members, persons with representation or control powers, beneficial owners and persons with unlimited liability where applicable. Tenderers must also declare the absence of conflicts of interest, EU restrictive measures and established debts to the Union.

The Declaration on Honour must be submitted using the tender documents. The Commission may request recent judicial, tax, social security and other supporting evidence from the presumed successful tenderer, or from any tenderer where necessary. Evidence may need to be provided within a short deadline, so applicants should prepare it in advance.

The tenderer must identify relevant subcontractors, particularly subcontractors on whose capacity it relies or subcontractors expected to perform more than 20 percent of the contract. Commitment letters and supporting documents are required where specified in the tender specifications.

Mandatory operational requirements

The service provider must support payment processing in at least 13 countries from the country list in the financial tender model. Broader country coverage is strategically important because coverage is a stated priority and may affect the possible award of a third contract.

All accounts opened under the tender must be located in an EU Member State. The contractor must not execute a payment that would put an account into debit on the value date. Overdraft interest will not be accepted.

Execution dates must be respected where instructions are received before the applicable cut-off time and the account has sufficient funds. Charges must be fixed and must not depend on transaction size. The most favourable exchange rate for the Commission must be applied where currency conversion is required, and the full payment amount must reach the beneficiary without deductions.

The average settlement time between the value date and credit to the beneficiary bank account must not exceed D plus three. Where an intermediary bank or subcontractor is used, the contractor remains responsible for correct execution until the funds are available at the beneficiary bank.

The contractor must provide daily or next-day account reporting and payment information using the specified SWIFT and ISO XML message standards. Required formats include pain.001.001.03 for payment instructions, pain.002.001.03 for payment and file status reporting, camt.053.001.02 for account statements and camt.054.001.02 for credit advice.

Payment instructions must be received and processed through SWIFT FileAct. Offers that cannot support the required FileAct and XML arrangements for a proposed country may be rejected for that country. The contractor must support future relevant changes to SWIFT transmission and reporting standards without interruption to the service.

The contractor must process remittance information of up to 140 characters and support shared cost instructions under current SWIFT standards. Exceptional OUR or DEBT instructions may also be used. Unauthorised charges, including charges imposed by intermediaries or beneficiary payment service providers, may not be invoiced to the Commission.

Balances must be remunerated every day, including 29 February in leap years. The tenderer must offer one of the permitted reference rates, namely €STR, the ECB Deposit Facility Rate or EURIBOR €1M, and specify the applicable margin. The quoted spread must remain unchanged for the contract duration, subject to the rules on replacement of a discontinued reference rate.

The contractor must provide annual confirmation of account balances, loans, signatures and open items for the Commission audit process. It must also provide an annual market developments and innovation review, including a meeting and supporting documentation covering relevant banking, payments, technology, security and service developments.

Customer support and service levels

The contractor must appoint a dedicated relationship manager and backup personnel. The support function must operate effectively during the Commission's Brussels working hours and must provide statistics where required.

Additional electronic account management service

The tenderer must include an electronic bank account management solution in its offer, although the Commission may choose whether to purchase the service. The solution should support authoritative account lists, signatory and contact registers, electronic signatory verification, account opening and lifecycle requests, electronic bank certificates, workflow management and status tracking.

The expected workflow should support stages including draft, submitted, awaiting signature, under bank review, additional information required, approved or rejected, and implemented. The inclusion of this capability is mandatory for tenderers even though its purchase is optional for the Commission.

Evaluation and award criteria

The tender evaluation will cover access to procurement, administrative compliance, exclusion, selection, technical compliance, award criteria and verification of restrictive measures or other rejection grounds. A tender that fails an earlier mandatory stage may not proceed to full evaluation.

The award method is therefore price quality ratio with a stronger weighting for price. However, country coverage, technical set-up and operational compliance are critical because the tender specifications state that the Commission's priority order is first the ability to process local currency payments in various countries, second the technical set-up requirements, and third transaction costs, foreign exchange margin and interest costs.

The financial offer must be prepared using the prescribed financial model. It covers payment costs by country and currency, weighted average cost per €1,000 paid, annual account balance confirmation fees, annual electronic bank account management fees, interest reference rate, margin and remuneration of balances. The model contains indicative transaction and balance information but the Commission gives no undertaking regarding future volumes or balances.

Technical and tender documentation

The principal documents available for the procedure are the invitation to tender, Annex I tender specifications, the Declaration on Honour, the financial offer form, the technical tender form, the draft contract and the draft contract security appendix. All documents are published in English and no translations are currently indicated in the portal.

The tender should be prepared in one of the official languages of the European Union, while the English version of the procurement documents is the authentic version where interpretation issues arise. Variants are not allowed and alternative solutions described as variants may be disregarded.

Applicants should map every requirement in the tender specifications to a specific response, evidence document, service description or financial model entry. The technical offer should demonstrate country coverage, local clearing access, SWIFT FileAct capability, ISO message compliance, reconciliation, reporting, security, fraud prevention, customer support and business continuity.

Submission requirements and timetable

Tenders must be submitted exclusively through the Funding and Tenders Portal eSubmission system. Submissions by email, post or another method will be disregarded. A valid EU Login account and Participant Identification Code are required.

The deadline stated in the official procurement data is 9 November 2026 at 16:00 Europe/Brussels time. Late tenders will be rejected. The eSubmission receipt and its timestamp provide the evidence of timely submission. Tenderers should submit well before the deadline to allow for account registration, document validation, file uploading and technical troubleshooting.

The public opening is scheduled for 10 November 2026 at 10:00 Europe/Brussels time. Up to two representatives per tender may attend the virtual opening, subject to the procedure for requesting access. The deadline for questions is 29 October 2026 at 23:59 Europe/Brussels time, and the authority is not required to answer questions submitted less than six working days before the tender deadline.

The metadata also contains a separate date of 1 January 2026. That date is inconsistent with the detailed official notice, which identifies the tender deadline as 9 November 2026. Applicants should rely on the current portal deadline and monitor the official page for amendments or corrections.

Key applicant risks and recommendations

The opportunity is demanding and is not suitable for a provider that only offers conventional cross-border transfers without local clearing access, EU account infrastructure, SWIFT FileAct connectivity and comprehensive multi-country operational support.

The indicative financial model includes a large number of countries and currencies, with particularly high indicative volumes in currencies such as United States dollars and Swiss francs. These figures are not guaranteed, so bidders should price and resource the service without relying on the projected volumes as minimum business.

The minimum country coverage of 13 countries is a pass or fail operational requirement, while wider coverage may improve the commercial and strategic position of a tender. Applicants should provide clear evidence of direct or contracted access to each proposed local clearing system and explain the responsibility chain for intermediaries and subcontractors.

The price submission should be checked carefully for all transaction charges, foreign exchange margins, interest margins, account confirmation fees and electronic account management costs. Charges not expressly included or authorised may not be recoverable under the contract.

The technical response should include a detailed implementation plan covering account opening, connectivity testing, payment migration, cut-off times, reconciliation, reporting, incident management, fraud controls, sanctions screening, business continuity and service-level monitoring.

The bidder should complete Participant Register registration, validate the PIC, identify group members and subcontractors, prepare the Declaration on Honour and supporting evidence, obtain required commitment letters, confirm authorised signatories and test eSubmission well before the deadline.

Overall assessment

This is a strategically significant banking services procurement for a provider capable of delivering international local-currency payment infrastructure at institutional scale. The strongest bids are likely to combine extensive country coverage, reliable local clearing access, mature SWIFT and ISO reporting capability, strong compliance and security controls, competitive transaction pricing and demonstrable customer support performance.

The opportunity offers no grant funding or fixed subsidy. Its commercial value comes from the potential award of a direct service contract of up to 60 months, with remuneration determined through the successful financial offer and actual services ordered. Before bidding, each applicant should review the complete tender specifications, financial model, technical tender form, draft contract and security appendix through the official procurement documents page.