Measurements required in the frame of stability monitoring of certified reference material BCR-683

Planned European Commission procurement by DG JRC for laboratory measurement services to support stability monitoring of certified reference material BCR-683 (procedure EC-JRC/GEE/2026/LVP/4810-EXA). This notice is a prior information/expression of interest, not a call for tenders, and no contract value, technical specifications or award criteria are disclosed. Expressions of interest are indicated to open 12 October 2026 and close 23 October 2026, with an indicative launch of the negotiated procedure around 26 October 2026. The contract is a paid services procurement (not a grant) with a maximum planned duration of four months.

Opportunity type

Planned negotiated procedure (low/middle value)

This publication is an announcement of intent to launch the tender; it is not the call for tenders itself. Full procurement documents and submission links will be available on the portal Tender details. 1

Footnotes

1. 1Use an EU Login account to access the Funding & Tenders Portal and submit expressions of interest. More info at the portal page linked above.

Basic Identification and Administrative Data

Eligible Applicant Types

Eligible applicants are organisations capable of performing laboratory measurements and research laboratory services. Based on the procurement CPV and contracting authority, the likely eligible applicant types include the following categories; eligibility will be confirmed in the future negotiated tender documentation:

Funding Type and Contracting Mechanism

Consortium Requirement

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility)

Target Sector and Scientific Scope

Mentioned Countries

No specific countries are explicitly mentioned in the announcement. The contracting authority is the European Commission (DG JRC), based in the EU; the region referenced is Europe/Brussels for dates and submission deadlines.

Expected Project Stage / Maturity

Funding Amount and Contract Value

Application Type and Submission Method

Nature of Support

Application Stages and Process

Success Rates

Co-funding Requirement

Application Templates and Document Structure

Key Dates and Timeline

Technical and Scientific Requirements (expected)

How to Prepare and Next Steps

Footnotes

1. 1This ExA publication is an announcement of intent and not a call for tenders. Detailed contract notices, technical specifications, selection/exclusion criteria and financial information will be published in the negotiated procedure documents available via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal when the contracting authority launches the tender.

Measurements required in the frame of stability monitoring of certified reference material BCR-683

This opportunity is a planned European Commission procurement for laboratory measurement services supporting the stability monitoring of certified reference material BCR-683. It is a contract opportunity rather than a grant: the successful contractor will be paid for delivering the specified measurement services under a negotiated procurement procedure.

The opportunity is currently a prior information and expression of interest notice. It is not yet a call for tenders, and the final procurement documents, technical specifications, selection requirements, award criteria and financial ceiling are not available in the published notice.1

Opportunity identification

Funding character

This is a public procurement opportunity financed through the EU institutional procurement framework. It should not be treated as a Horizon Europe, research grant or other co-financing opportunity. Applicants would submit a commercial tender for the provision of services rather than request reimbursement of eligible project costs.

No grant funding rate, co-financing percentage, eligible cost categories or grant budget is specified. The published notice also does not disclose an estimated total contract value or maximum available budget. Bidders should therefore not assume that the opportunity provides a fixed award amount or that the contracting authority will reimburse costs using a standard EU funding rate.

Scope and likely work content

The stated purpose is to perform measurements required for stability monitoring of certified reference material BCR-683. The detailed analytical parameters are not published in the planned notice.

The eventual technical specifications are expected to define the measurement campaign, sample handling requirements, measurement methods, quality controls, reporting format, delivery schedule and any requirements concerning traceability, uncertainty estimation and laboratory competence. These points must be confirmed when the negotiated procedure is launched.

Based on the description and the research laboratory services classification, a suitable contractor is likely to need capabilities for controlled analytical measurements, documented quality assurance, measurement traceability and preparation of technically defensible results. The precise instruments, analytes, number of samples, repeat measurements and acceptance criteria cannot be established from the available notice and must not be assumed.

Who can apply

The likely target applicants are economic operators able to provide the required laboratory measurement services. Potential applicants may include accredited commercial laboratories, research organisations, universities, public laboratories and specialist analytical service providers, subject to the final eligibility and capacity requirements.

The notice does not publish a definitive legal-entity eligibility list, minimum turnover threshold, required laboratory accreditation, prior experience threshold, technical equipment requirement or rules for subcontracting and consortia.

A prospective bidder should be prepared to demonstrate legal and professional capacity, relevant experience in analytical or reference-material measurements, suitably qualified personnel, access to appropriate equipment, quality-management procedures, reliable sample custody and the ability to deliver results within the contract period.

Whether a consortium may participate, whether subcontractors are permitted and whether a specific accreditation such as ISO/IEC 17025 will be mandatory must be verified in the invitation and tender specifications. These conditions are not established by the planned notice.

Key timetable

The dates below are indicative procurement milestones and should be monitored in the Funding and Tenders Portal because they may change before the negotiated procedure is launched.

The notice also contains an internal registration timestamp of 23 October 2026 at 23:59 Brussels time. Applicants should follow the operational deadline displayed in the portal submission interface and should submit well before the deadline rather than relying on the later internal timestamp.

Submission requirements

Expressions of interest must be submitted electronically through the submission function identified in the Funding and Tenders Portal. An EU Login account is required for electronic submission, subscription to the procedure and submission of questions.

The notice does not provide a conventional tender document package at this stage. It states that the publication announces the contracting authority’s intention to publish a future negotiated low or middle value procedure.

An expression of interest is not necessarily a complete tender. Interested organisations should monitor the portal for the invitation, technical specifications, administrative conditions, draft contract, financial forms and final submission instructions. Only the final procurement documents will establish the binding requirements.

Contract duration and delivery planning

The maximum planned duration is four months. This is a short delivery period for laboratory work and may require immediate access to equipment, calibrated methods, competent staff and internal quality review processes.

Applicants should assess whether they can complete sample receipt, preparation, measurement, repeat analysis, data validation, uncertainty evaluation and final reporting within four months. If the tender documents require multiple measurement rounds or time-separated stability observations, the practical schedule may need to be clarified because the published notice does not describe the monitoring design.

Financial and contractual conditions

No contract value is disclosed in the available notice. The classification as a low or middle value negotiated procedure indicates the contracting authority’s procedural categorisation, but it does not reveal the eventual maximum price or the amount that will be awarded.

No funding rate is applicable in the grant sense. The successful tenderer is expected to offer a price for the required services, with payment terms, invoicing arrangements, taxes, intellectual property provisions, confidentiality obligations, liability provisions and acceptance conditions to be specified in the final procurement documents.

Applicants should prepare a cost model covering staff time, instrument use, consumables, sample logistics, quality-control measurements, repeat measurements, data processing, technical reporting, overheads and any applicable taxes. The cost model should remain adaptable until the technical volume and financial template are published.

Assessment considerations

The published planned notice does not state the award criteria or their weighting. The final procedure may assess technical quality, methodology, laboratory competence, relevant experience, delivery schedule, quality assurance and price, but these are potential considerations rather than confirmed criteria.

A strong future tender response is likely to benefit from a clear measurement methodology, evidence of method validation or verification, a robust uncertainty approach, documented traceability, quality-control procedures, named technical personnel, realistic scheduling and a transparent price breakdown. These elements should be aligned with the final specifications rather than submitted as unrequested material at the expression-of-interest stage.

Applicant readiness checklist

Key uncertainties and due diligence

The opportunity should therefore be treated as an early market-alert and preparation opportunity rather than as a fully specified tender. A decision to bid should be made only after reviewing the future invitation and all attached procurement documents.

Overall assessment

This is a narrowly defined specialist laboratory services opportunity for organisations with relevant analytical measurement capability and rapid mobilisation capacity. It may be suitable for an accredited laboratory, specialist research institute or experienced analytical service provider, but the commercial attractiveness cannot be assessed reliably until the budget, workload and technical requirements are disclosed.

The main immediate action is to submit an expression of interest through the Funding and Tenders Portal, establish a monitoring process for the negotiated procedure and prepare evidence of laboratory competence, traceability, quality assurance and comparable measurement experience. The four-month maximum duration makes operational readiness and confirmed access to appropriate facilities particularly important.

Official source

The authoritative opportunity record is the European Commission Funding and Tenders Portal notice for procedure EC-JRC/GEE/2026/LVP/4810-EXA.1

Footnotes

1. 1Official notice: EU Funding and Tenders Portal opportunity. The notice states that this is a planned publication announcing the intention to launch a future negotiated low or middle value procedure, not a current call for tenders.