MARCOMPASS (Mapping Evolving Competencies and Emerging Job Profiles within Maritime Administrations)

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has issued a call for tenders identified as EMSA/2025/OP/0031, titled "MARCOMPASS (Mapping Evolving Competencies and Emerging Job Profiles within Maritime Administrations)." This tender seeks to commission a comprehensive study aimed at assessing the implications of regulatory and technological changes driven by decarbonisation and digitalisation on maritime administrations' functions, competencies, and workforce requirements. The goal is to inform strategic workforce planning, institutional adaptation, and targeted capacity-building at the European level. The estimated total value of the service contract is €350,000, and the project is expected to be completed within a maximum duration of nine months. The evaluation for awarding the contract will be based on the best price-quality ratio, with a deadline for tender submission set for November 27, 2025, at 16:00 Europe/Lisbon time. Public opening of the tenders will occur on December 2, 2025, at 10:00 Europe/Lisbon. Eligible applicants include legal entities capable of providing the required services, such as consulting firms or research institutions, with a noted indication that smaller organizations may not be suitable, as denoted by the "smeSuitableIndicator" being false. An application can be submitted either by a single organization or as part of a consortium, with a Personal Identification Code (PIC) required for participation. The study focuses on understanding how decarbonisation and digitalisation impact the workforce dynamics within maritime administrations, aiming to map current and future job profiles, identify competency gaps, assess training needs, and recommend policy interventions. The contract is explicitly a procurement for services, not a grant, where the contractor is compensated for delivering the study. Electronic submission is needed for applications, and potential tenderers can download relevant documentation, including technical specifications, a draft service contract, and a tenderer checklist from the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. It is advised that submissions adhere to technical requirements such as file size limits and document naming conventions. The tender documents explicitly note that any questions received after November 19, 2025, will not be addressed.

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has published a call for tenders, EMSA/2025/OP/0031, titled "MARCOMPASS (Mapping Evolving Competencies and Emerging Job Profiles within Maritime Administrations)". The TED reference for this call is 198/2025 677753-2025.

The overall objective of the study is to assess the implications of ongoing regulatory and technological transformations driven by decarbonisation and digitalisation on the functions, competencies, and workforce requirements of maritime administrations. The aim is to inform strategic workforce planning, institutional adaptation, and targeted capacity-building at the European level.

This is an open procedure with an estimated total value of €350,000. The contract is for services, with a maximum duration of 9 months. The award method is based on the best price-quality ratio. No framework agreement is mentioned.

Key milestones include:

TED publication date:15/10/2025

Date and time of public opening:02/12/2025 10:00 Europe/Lisbon

Deadline for receipt of tenders:27/11/2025 16:00 Europe/Lisbon

Deadline for questions:Contracting authority is not bound to reply to questions submitted after 19/11/2025 08:00 Europe/Lisbon

Submissions must be sent exclusively via electronic submission.

The following documents are available for download:

Tender Specifications (Technical specifications), published on 15/10/2025, Version 1, in English.

Invitation to tender (request for offer), published on 15/10/2025, Version 1, in English.

Service Contract (Draft contract), published on 15/10/2025, Version 1, in English.

Tenderer Checklist (Other invitation to tender document), published on 15/10/2025, Version 1, in English.

EMSA study report template (Other invitation to tender document), published on 15/10/2025, Version 1, in English.

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In summary, this is a call for tenders by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) seeking a study to assess the impact of decarbonisation and digitalisation on maritime administrations' workforce and competencies. The study aims to guide strategic workforce planning and capacity building. The tender is open to all eligible organizations, with submissions due by November 27, 2025. The project has an estimated budget of €350,000 and a maximum duration of 9 months. The tender documents, including technical specifications and the draft contract, are available for download from the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. The submission must be done electronically, and potential tenderers should ensure they have a PIC (Participant Identification Code) and adhere to the eSubmission system's technical requirements, including file size and naming conventions.

Eligible Applicant Types:The opportunity details do not explicitly define eligible applicant types. However, given that it is a call for tenders for a service contract, eligible applicants are likely to be organizations, companies, research institutions, or consortia with the expertise to conduct studies and provide services related to the maritime sector. The requirement for a Personal Identification Code (PIC) suggests that any legal entity can apply.

Funding Type:The funding type is procurement, specifically a service contract. The call is an invitation to tender (request for offer).

Consortium Requirement:The opportunity details mention that a Personal Identification Code (PIC) is mandatory to participate in a call for tenders as a sole candidate/tenderer or as a member of a group (consortium). Therefore, either a single applicant or a consortium is acceptable.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):The opportunity details do not explicitly define geographic eligibility. However, given that it is an EU tender, it is highly likely that the beneficiary scope includes EU member states and potentially other countries associated with EU programs.

Target Sector:The target sector is maritime, specifically focusing on the implications of regulatory and technological transformations (decarbonisation and digitalisation) on maritime administrations. This includes workforce planning, institutional adaptation, and capacity-building within the maritime sector. The Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) code 79314000 also indicates market research services.

Mentioned Countries:No specific countries are mentioned, but the European Union is implied as the relevant region due to the lead contracting authority being the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).

Project Stage:The project stage is for conducting a study, which falls under the research and analysis phase. The study aims to assess the implications of transformations and inform strategic planning, suggesting a development or validation stage.

Funding Amount:The estimated total value of the contract is €350,000.

Application Type:The application type is an open call for tenders, with electronic submission.

Nature of Support:The beneficiaries will receive money in exchange for services rendered, as this is a service contract.

Application Stages:The application stages are not explicitly detailed, but they would likely involve at least two stages: submission of the tender and evaluation of the tender.

Success Rates:The success rates are not mentioned in the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement:The co-funding requirement is not mentioned in the provided text.

Summary:

This is a call for tenders issued by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) with the procedure identifier EMSA/2025/OP/0031. The tender, titled MARCOMPASS (Mapping Evolving Competencies and Emerging Job Profiles within Maritime Administrations), seeks to commission a study to assess the impact of decarbonisation and digitalisation on maritime administrations. The study will focus on the functions, competencies, and workforce requirements within these administrations, with the goal of informing strategic workforce planning, institutional adaptation, and targeted capacity-building at the European level.

The estimated total value of the service contract is €350,000, and the maximum contract duration is nine months. The award method will be based on the best price-quality ratio. The TED publication date was 15/10/2025, and the deadline for receipt of tenders is 27/11/2025 at 16:00 Europe/Lisbon time. The public opening of the tenders will occur on 02/12/2025 at 10:00 Europe/Lisbon time. The contracting authority is not bound to reply to questions submitted after 19/11/2025 at 08:00 Europe/Lisbon time.

Submissions must be sent electronically. Tenderers must have a Personal Identification Code (PIC). The maximum number of documents that can be uploaded per tender is 200, and the maximum file size for attachments is 50 MB. The system supports all 24 official EU languages and uses UTF-8 character set encoding. The system encrypts all uploaded documents.

Interested parties can download the tender specifications, invitation to tender, draft service contract, tenderer checklist, and EMSA study report template from the provided documents section. The eSubmission system supports the latest versions of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.