Managed Services for the EOSC Platform - EOSC EU Node

Tender EC-CNECT/LUX/2026/OP/0090 issued by the European Commission DG CNECT seeks suppliers to provide managed services for the EOSC EU Node platform covering operations, maintenance, continuous improvement and support. The framework contract is estimated at €40,000,000 for a maximum duration of 48 months and covers provision and operation of six public services and federated FAIR data access services. Tenders must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal by 17 July 2026 at 16:00 CEST and bidders may apply as single entities or consortia in accordance with the procurement documents. Award will be based on quality weighted 60 percent and price weighted 40 percent and bidders must comply with the technical, security and accessibility requirements set out in the tender specifications and model contract.

Tender | Framework services for EOSC managed platform

Who can apply

Suppliers of IT managed services and platform operations able to deliver continuous improvement, operations, maintenance and support for a large-scale FAIR data and services platform. Submission is by eSubmission through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal; consortia or single economic operators meeting procurement selection criteria may apply.

Estimated value and duration:Estimated overall contract amount €40,000,000; planned contract period 48 months ¹.

1. 1Deadline for submission: 17 July 2026, 16:00:59 (Brussels time)
2. 2Open tender event: 20 July 2026 (see tender documents)
3. 3Submission method: required eSubmission via the Funding & Tenders Portal

Scope:provide and operate managed services for the EOSC EU Node platform, enabling access to FAIR data and professional-quality FAIR services across data handling, computing, processing, analysis and storage. Tender documents, technical and administrative specifications, financial form and model contract are published on the portal Tender details.

Footnotes

1. 1Official tender page and documents available at the portal: ec.europa.eu

Essential Facts and Administrative Data

Overview

This is a procurement tender issued by the European Commission, DG CNECT (Communications Networks, Content and Technology) for the continuous improvement, operations, maintenance and support of the managed services for the EOSC EU Node platform. The services must provide access to a rich portfolio of FAIR data and professional quality FAIR services across domains including data handling, computing, processing, analysis and storage.

Call identifier:EC-CNECT/LUX/2026/OP/0090

Tender type and procedure:Procurement (tender) under an open ESUBMISSION procedure. The contracting mechanism uses a framework service contract model and is suitable for establishing one or more service contracts under the terms indicated in the procurement documents.

Estimated contract value and duration:Estimated overall contract amount: €40,000,000. Planned implementation period: 48 months (4 years).

Key deadlines:Tender submission closing date: 17 July 2026 at 16:00:59 (Europe/Brussels). Additional published consider-changed-until date for documents: 17 July 2026. Public open tender event scheduled for 20 July 2026 at 11:00 (CEST) as indicated in the tendering process details.

Eligibility, Funding and Application Characteristics

Below are the categorised answers and detailed explanations extracted from the tender metadata and accompanying procurement documents. Each item reproduces the factual content available in the tender notice and document list.

1. 1Eligible Applicant Types: The procurement is open to economic operators able to comply with public procurement rules for services and to satisfy the selection criteria laid down in the tender documents. This typically includes private companies (SMEs and large enterprises), consortia (including public-private partnerships), research organisations, universities, non-profit entities and other legal entities able to perform the services. The tender notice explicitly lists a tendererQualificationRequest and procurement-specific selection documents; specific exclusion, suitability and selection criteria are defined in the Administrative Specifications and Annexes documents and must be met by bidders.
2. 2Funding Type: This opportunity is a procurement contract (tender) awarding a framework/service contract. The primary financial mechanism is a public service contract (procurement).
3. 3Consortium Requirement: The procurement allows responses from single entities or consortia. The tender documentation includes a Tender Response Format and Annexes which detail how joint bids or subcontracting arrangements must be presented. The procurement supports submission by consortia where required to demonstrate capacity.
4. 4Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The contracting authority is the European Commission (DG CNECT). Eligibility follows EU public procurement rules; bidders from EU Member States and countries eligible under the Financial Regulation and Procurement Rules (including potentially EEA, EU candidate countries and other countries as defined in the procurement documents) may participate. Any country-specific eligibility restrictions and required declarations are detailed in the Invitation to Tender and Annexes.
5. 5Target Sector: The tender targets ICT services in the domain of research infrastructure and data services. Specific thematic sectors include: FAIR data management, scientific data platforms, high-quality data services, research computing, data processing, storage services and analytics services. The main CPV classification is 72000000 (IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support).
6. 6Mentioned Countries: The contracting authority is an EU institution (European Commission). No individual participant countries are explicitly listed as eligible or required in the summary other than references to EU and EU-funded programmes. The tender is published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal and is managed from DG CNECT; geographic applicability follows EU procurement rules.
7. 7Project Stage: The required service provision is operational and production-level: continuous improvement, operation, maintenance, support and iterative development. The expected maturity is deployment/operation and continuous service improvement (post-development, live-services management, and enhancement).
8. 8Funding Amount: The estimated total procedure value is €40,000,000 for the planned 48-month period. Financial breakdown, pricing rules and a required Financial Tender Form are provided in Annex 6 - Financial tender form.
9. 9Application Type: Submission method: ESUBMISSION via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. The tender documents include a Tender Response Format and other annexes to be completed and uploaded electronically before the stated deadline.
10. 10Nature of Support: This is a paid contract for services; beneficiaries (contractor(s)) will receive monetary payments under the contract terms and conditions in exchange for delivering the specified managed services. No separate grants or non-monetary services are indicated; the support is contractual remuneration.
11. 11Application Stages: The procurement process includes the following stages: (1) publication of the Invitation to Tender and supporting documents; (2) submission of tenders via the portal; (3) evaluation of tenders against selection and award criteria (quality and price); (4) contract award and signature; (5) post-award administrative formalities and contract execution (including security requirements). In procurement terms, this is commonly treated as a single-stage tendering procedure with post-submission evaluation leading to award. The notice also lists an additional information request period and an open tender event. Therefore applicants should prepare for 1 main submission stage followed by evaluation and award (effectively 2 to 3 administrative stages).
12. 12Success Rates: The notice does not provide historical success rates or quotas. Success rate depends on number and quality of bids; typical single-award EU framework-service procurements have low single-digit to low double-digit success rates depending on competition. No explicit success rate is stated in the tender documentation.
13. 13Co-funding Requirement: No co-funding from bidders is required in the sense of providing matching funds, since this is a paid public procurement. Bidders must price their services competitively and may be required to demonstrate financial capacity, guarantees or security performance bonds as indicated in the tender rules. The procurement documents include a Declaration on Honour and financial forms to be completed.
14. 14Templates: The tender package explicitly includes templates and structured documents that bidders must use or follow: EN-Invitation_to_tender (main tender), Tender Specifications Part 1 Administrative Specifications (V2), Tender Specifications Part 2 Technical Specifications (V2), Model Service FWC (model contract), Tender Response Format (DOCX), Annexes (DOCX), Annex 6 - Financial tender form (XLSX), ANNEX2 Declaration on Honour (DOC). Bidders must complete the Tender Response Format, Annex 6 Financial tender form, and the required declarations. The Tender Response Format structure is provided as a DOCX to be completed; administrative and technical response sections will require evidence for selection and exclusion criteria, technical offer per the Technical Specifications, and the price schedule filled in the financial tender form.

Evaluation, Award Criteria and Contractual Conditions

Awarding criteria:Quality and Price. The tender metadata specifies quality weighted at 60 and price weighted at 40 (60/40). Detailed sub-criteria for technical quality, service levels, security, experience and past performance are defined in the Technical Specifications and the Tender Response Format. Security requirements are provided in Appendix 1 to the Model Contract - Security requirements. The Model Service Framework Contract (Model_Service_FWC) sets out contractual clauses, terms, performance regimes and potential subcontracting rules.

Operational and Technical Expectations

The technical scope is large and production-oriented. Bidders must demonstrate operational capability in the following areas (extracted from the technical specifications): continuous platform operations and 24x7 support, platform maintenance, feature development and continuous improvement, integration and interoperability with EOSC services and external data providers, provisioning and management of FAIR data and FAIR services, computing and storage service management, security and compliance with EU security requirements, monitoring and incident management, service level management and reporting, user support and helpdesk, and capacity to scale and evolve services across research domains.

1. 1Service management and operations including service desk, incident and problem management, change management and release management.
2. 2Platform engineering and software maintenance including API management, integration with third-party services and continuous delivery.
3. 3Data management support that ensures FAIR principles, metadata handling, persistent identifiers and data access policies.
4. 4Infrastructure and cloud operations for compute and storage resources, capacity planning and resource orchestration.
5. 5Security operations including implementation of the Appendix 1 security requirements and compliance monitoring.
6. 6Monitoring, reporting and KPIs aligned with the contract and performance regimes.

Practical Next Steps for Interested Bidders

Interested bidders must:register and prepare to submit via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal using ESUBMISSION; download and study all procurement documents including Administrative and Technical Specifications, Model Contract and Annexes; complete the Tender Response Format and Annex 6 Financial tender form; provide required declarations (Declaration on Honour) and proof of financial and technical capacity as requested; comply with security requirements; and submit the electronic tender before the deadline.

Submission portal and official source:Tender and documents are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: ec.europa.eu Tender details Documents section ¹

The submission method code is ESUBMISSION. An additional information request period ends on 9 July 2026. The tender validity period required of bidders is nine months.

Final summary and explanation

This procurement is for a single framework/service contract to provide managed services for the EOSC EU Node platform over an estimated total value of €40 million for 48 months. It is a production-level, operational services contract focused on delivering and maintaining FAIR data services, research computing, storage and analytics capabilities, and continuous platform enhancement and support. Bidders must submit electronic tenders via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, complete the provided Tender Response Format and financial templates, and meet the administrative, technical and security requirements set out in the published documents. Award will be based on a combination of quality (60) and price (40). The contracting authority is the European Commission, DG CNECT, and the procurement follows EU public procurement rules as specified in the Administrative Specifications.

Footnotes

1. 1All tender documents and updates (Invitation to Tender, Administrative and Technical Specifications, Tender Response Format, Model Contract, Annexes and financial templates) are published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal at the Tender details page linked above. Bidders must consult those documents for full terms, exact eligibility rules, selection criteria, award subcriteria and submission instructions.

Key Opportunity Details

This tender, identified as EC-CNECT/LUX/2026/OP/0090, is an open procurement procedure by the European Commission (DG CNECT) to ensure continuous improvement, operations, maintenance, and support of the EOSC EU Node platform, providing access to FAIR data and professional services across research domains [[1]][[7]].

Estimated Contract Value:The estimated overall contract amount is €40,000,000, covering a maximum duration of 48 months (4 years) as a framework agreement [[1]][[7]].

Submission Deadline:Tender proposals must be submitted by 17 July 2026 at 16:00 CEST via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal using electronic submission [[7]][[10]].

Who Should Apply

Participation is open to any natural or legal person (sole tenderer or joint tender/consortium) within the scope of EU Treaties, including international organisations, with no reservation for specific entities [[1]].

1. 1SMEs and large enterprises with technical capacity in cloud, data management, and federated services
2. 2Research infrastructure providers and supercomputing centers (e.g., PSNC, Open Science Agora Consortium as past winners)
3. 3Consortiums capable of delivering six managed services: File Sync & Share, Interactive Notebooks, Large File Transfer, Virtual Machines, Cloud Container Platform, and Bulk Data Transfer [[2]][[20]]

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

Tenderers must meet selection criteria based on procurement documents, including technical qualification and compliance with EU security and accessibility standards (e.g., EN 301 549 for ICT accessibility) [[1]][[6]].

Quality is the dominant criterion, emphasizing technical excellence, service reliability, and alignment with FAIR principles and EOSC Federation goals [[1]].

Scope of Services and Requirements

The contract covers managed services for the EOSC EU Node, including incremental improvement, continuous operation, maintenance, and support of the integrated suite of services owned by the European Commission [[13]].

1. 1Provision of six publicly available services: File Sync & Share, Interactive Notebooks, Large File Transfer, Virtual Machines, Cloud Container Platform, Bulk Data Transfer [[20]]
2. 2Support for federated access to scientific resources, enabling multidisciplinary and multinational research [[8]][[16]]
3. 3Compliance with security requirements (Appendix 1 to Model Contract) and accessibility standards (EN 301 549, WCAG 2.2 AA) [[1]][[6]]
4. 4Adherence to FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) across all domains [[1]][[13]]

Contract Type and Duration

This is a framework agreement (FWC) with a maximum duration of 48 months, allowing the Commission to call off services as needed to serve the evolving EOSC Federation, operational nodes, and end-users [[13]].

Contract Extension:The contract includes a renewal option, though specific periods are not detailed in the summary [[1]].

Submission and Documentation

All documents, including Tender Specifications (Parts 1 & 2), Annexes, Response Format, Financial Form, and Model Contract, are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal [[1]].

1. 1Tender Specifications Part 1: Administrative Specifications (V2, updated 15/06/2026)
2. 2Tender Specifications Part 2: Technical Specifications (V2, updated 03/07/2026)
3. 3Annexes, Tender Response Format, Financial Tender Form, Declaration on Honour, Security Requirements, Model Service FWC [[1]]

Submissions must be electronic (ESUBMISSION) via the portal, with no physical copies accepted [[1]].

Background and Strategic Context

The EOSC EU Node was initially procured in 2022 (Ref. CNECT/LUX/2022/CD/0023) with winners including Open Science Agora Consortium and PSNC, and is now being re-procured in 2026 to ensure continuous operation and incremental improvement [[4]][[13]].

This procurement aligns with Horizon Europe Research Infrastructures Work Programme 2026-2027, advancing the vision of seamless research data access under the Open Science Policy [[4]][[13]].

For further information on EOSC services and their value to researchers, see EOSC EU Node Services in Action [[20]].

Footnotes

1. 1Official tender details and documents are available at EU Funding & Tenders Portal.