Monitoring and analysis services of the Cyprus media

The European Parliament Directorate-General for Communication (EP-COMM/2026/OP/0019) publishes an open procurement for a framework contract to provide daily monitoring and quantitative analysis of Cyprus media, including English-language press reviews, audio-visual summaries and ad-hoc reports. The contract is initially 12 months with tacit renewals up to 48 months and an estimated total value of €350,000 (€300,000 monitoring; €50,000 analysis). Tenders must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission system by 19 May 2026 at 16:00 CET and include a mandatory simulation, financial statements and technical documentation demonstrating media monitoring experience and minimum turnover requirements. Applicants must comply with exclusion and selection criteria, copyright licensing obligations and EPMM platform integration requirements as specified in the tender documents.

What it funds

Framework contract to provide daily media monitoring (national/regional print, online, radio, TV) and monthly quantitative media analysis in Cyprus, plus ad‑hoc reports and one‑page analyses; deliverables uploaded to the European Parliament Media Monitor (EPMM) platform and distributed to internal recipients.

Who can apply

Open to natural or legal persons and public entities established in EU Member States and in third countries having specific public‑procurement access agreements with the EU; groups of operators and subcontracting are permitted, subject to the tender specifications and exclusion/selection checks.

Key contractual facts

Estimated value:€350,000 (maximum for up to 4 years; budget split indicated as €300,000 for monitoring and €50,000 for analysis) ¹

Contract form and duration:Framework agreement (open procedure) initial 12 months, tacitly renewable up to a maximum of 48 months; award by best price‑quality ratio.

1. 1Submission: electronic only via eSubmission (EU Login required).
2. 2Deadlines: questions by 12/05/2026; final tender deadline 19/05/2026 16:00 (Brussels time).
3. 3Languages accepted: any EU official language; procurement documents in English.

Selection and technical highlights

Selection requires minimum financial capacity (turnover threshold specified in tender docs), proven media‑monitoring and analysis experience (minimum years and team qualifications), language skills (English plus local languages) and technical ability to integrate via the EPMM API or upload tools; candidates must comply with copyright/licensing and EP environmental policy.

1. 1Daily delivery targets: ca. 20 English summaries and 20 clippings (print/online) and ca. 5 audiovisual summaries per working day (adjustable during events).
2. 2Media analysis: manual tagging and quantitative reports; typical ad‑hoc reports estimated ~3/year; quantitative packages priced per item bands.
3. 3Technical: upload via EPMM (API or manual), PDFs with OCR, metadata standards and mandatory fields defined in Annexes.

Contracting authority:European Parliament, Directorate‑General for Communication, Directorate for Media (Media Intelligence Unit).

Apply and download full procurement documents, templates and annexes from the Funding & Tenders Portal; submission must follow the tender specifications and annexes available on the portal F&T Portal - tender page ¹.

Footnotes

1. 1Procurement page and documents (invitation letter, technical specifications, annexes, price list, draft contract) are published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: Tender documents.

Opportunity summary

The European Parliament, Directorate-General for Communication (DG COMM) invites electronic tenders to award a framework contract for daily monitoring and monthly quantitative analysis of Cyprus media. Services cover written press (national and regional), audio-visual media (radio, TV) and main online media in Cyprus. Deliverables are daily English-language press reviews (summaries plus clippings or links), daily audio-visual summaries and periodic ad-hoc and monthly quantitative analyses delivered via the European Parliament Media Monitoring and analysis platform (EPMM). The initial contract period is 12 months with tacit annual renewal up to a maximum of 48 months. The estimated total value for the framework contract including renewals is €350,000 (media monitoring activities €300,000; media analysis €50,000).

Publication and procedure:TED reference 72/2026 251663-2026. Open procedure on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. TED publication date 14/04/2026. Electronic submission via eSubmission is mandatory. Deadline for receipt of tenders 19/05/2026 16:00 Europe/Brussels. Public opening 20/05/2026 10:00 Europe/Brussels. Deadline for questions 12/05/2026 23:59 Europe/Brussels. The contracting authority may extend deadlines in case of major eSubmission outages. See procurement documents on the F&T Portal Funding and Tenders Portal ¹.

What the contract covers

The framework contract covers two main streams:(1) Media monitoring services (daily national press reviews: approx. average 20 English summaries plus 20 clippings per day; audio-visual summaries: average 5 summaries per day; weekend/holiday editions delivered on next working day) and delivery via EPMM; (2) Media analysis services (quantitative tagging and monthly analyses, ad-hoc reports and one-page executive summaries, simulation testing during tender evaluation). The contractor must provide metadata, OCRed PDFs where allowed, hyperlinks where publishers require, human editorial oversight of English summaries, and adherence to copyright licensing and reporting obligations. The contractor must use or interface with EPMM (manual upload or automated API).

Key administrative and contractual facts

1. 1Contracting authority: European Parliament, COMM - Directorate-General for Communication (Directorate for Media, Media Intelligence Unit).
2. 2Procurement type: Open procedure, framework agreement without reopening of competition.
3. 3Nature of contract: Services - CPV 92400000 News-agency services.
4. 4Maximum contract duration: 48 months (initial 12 months + tacit renewals up to 4 years).
5. 5Estimated total value: €350,000 (all renewals included).
6. 6Award method: Best price-quality ratio with qualitative criteria followed by price evaluation.
7. 7Submission: Electronic only via eSubmission; EU Login account and PIC registration required; 2-factor authentication requirement noted for future access.
8. 8Languages: Tenders may be submitted in any official EU language; procurement documents published in English.

Eligibility and applicant requirements

Participation is open to natural or legal persons and public entities established in EU Member States and third countries covered by applicable public procurement agreements with the EU. Tenderers must indicate country of establishment and provide legal evidence. Groups of economic operators (consortia) are allowed; they must specify roles and assume joint and several liability and may be required to adopt a legal form before contract signature. Subcontracting is permitted but subject to declaration and approval.

Selection and exclusion conditions

Tenderers must submit the Declaration on the tenderer’s honour (Annex III) covering exclusion grounds under Articles 138 to 143 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509. Minimum financial requirement: yearly turnover of at least €175,000 for the last three closed years. Technical/professional capacity: at least three years’ experience in similar services, availability of a team (editorial coordinator with at least 3 years’ proven experience; other team members at least 1 year), availability of keyword-search electronic program and news database, language competence (English and languages of monitored sources) with evidence (CVs, diplomas, language certificates, declarations for native speakers).

What the tender must include (overview of required documents and simulations)

Tenders must include standard administrative documentation, Annex III declaration, Annex IV financial identification form, completed Annex F price list (unit prices all inclusive without VAT), technical offer describing methodology, staffing, IT compatibility with EPMM, evidence of financial capacity (Annex VII, financial statements), CVs for key personnel, list of references, and the simulation deliverables described in Annex C and Annex D (media monitoring sample for 30 April 2026 and media analysis tagging simulation for the April plenary week period).

Evaluation and award criteria

Evaluation is two-phase:qualitative assessment (thresholds apply) then price. Qualitative criteria: 1) Quality and consistency of the proposed simulation (max 70 points, threshold 35); 2) Methodology proposed (max 30 points, threshold 15). Tenderers must obtain at least 65 points combined and meet per-criterion thresholds to move to price evaluation. Price scoring: the lowest-priced tender receives maximum 100 points; other bids get proportional points using the formula (Pm/Po)*100 where Pm is lowest price and Po is evaluated tender price. Final ranking uses combined quality + price points to select the best price-quality ratio.

Qualitative deliverables required in the simulation:The media monitoring simulation deliverable: two Word documents (Press Review and Audio-Visual Review) for 30 April 2026 including English summaries, full metadata per item, and a PDF file with OCRed clippings where copyright allows. The media analysis simulation: tagging table (use Annex D spreadsheet structure) for core printed and online sources for the period 27 April–03 May 2026, with justifications of tone tags. A one-page explanation of methodology and a clear cost breakdown for the simulation using the same unit prices as Annex F must be included.

Services required in detail (technical requirements)

Key technical and operational requirements (full details in Annex I and annexes A–F):daily delivery deadlines (National Press Review before 08:00 CET; National Audio-Visual Review before 08:30 CET; weekend/holiday reviews before 09:00 CET next working day), human editorial oversight for English summaries, maximum characters (print/online summaries 800 characters; audio-visual summaries 1600 characters), original-language title plus accurate English translation, specified metadata fields (title, summary, date, theme, category, source, media type, page number, broadcast time/duration, article type, EP/MEP presence in title, prominence), upload to EPMM via EU Login with 2FA, or delivery by email only in short-term EPMM unavailability with subsequent re-upload at no cost, and a helpdesk available (contractor) between 07:00–18:00 CET for delivery issues.

1. 1Content and format: summaries in English plus clippings as PDFs with OCR (max 500 KB per PDF) or direct hyperlinks if publisher licensing precludes PDF copies.
2. 2Metadata: complete set required for each item; EPMM reference categories and source lists must be used.
3. 3Interface: vendor may upload manually or use the EPMM API; technical interface specifications are provided (Annex E). If API used, contractor must implement updated API versions within 15 days when released.
4. 4Copyright: contractor responsible for obtaining and maintaining necessary licences from copyright management organisations for clippings and must include all rights fees in unit prices; EP will own summaries and have broad reuse rights including modification and internal/external distribution; clippings are licensed to EP per contract clauses.
5. 5Storage and access: summaries and metadata stored in EPMM; distribution restricted to a defined list of recipients (initially 20 internal recipients) controlled by the EP; additional recipients billable per the unit price for additional recipients.
6. 6Quality control and penalties: contract defines performance metrics (timeliness 90% on-time delivery per month; accuracy and completeness targets 98%; summary error tolerances and penalty schedule for missed/incorrect items and metadata).

Prices and invoicing

Tenderers must provide an all-inclusive unit price list (Annex F) excluding VAT that covers research, production, delivery, copyright fees, storage and redistribution. Price schedule items include: per-summary unit price for packages (20 summaries/day average), per-clipping package (20 clippings/day for 20 recipients), per-additional recipient price, audiovisual summaries unit price (average 5/day), ad-hoc report packages (under 100 news items, max 50 recipients), quantitative media analysis packages (tiers: under 50 items; 51–150; 151–300), and hourly rate for consultancy/expertise without travel. The Price Evaluation uses a simulated contract budget calculated for 4 years (Annex F simulation sheet) to derive the single price value Po used in scoring.

Eligible applicant types

Eligible applicants:natural persons and legal persons, public entities, groups of economic operators, consortia. Typical eligible applicant profiles include media monitoring companies, news agencies, research consultancies specialising in media analysis, SMEs, large enterprises, non-profits and research centres with appropriate media monitoring capability. Subcontractors are permitted and must be declared (Annex VI).

Funding type / financial mechanism

Funding type:Procurement / service contract (framework agreement). This is a paid contract (service procurement) where the European Parliament pays the contracted supplier according to agreed unit prices and invoicing terms; it is not a grant, loan or equity instrument.

Consortium requirement

Consortium:not required. The tender can be submitted by a single tenderer or a group of economic operators (consortium). If submitted by a group, the tender must specify the roles, qualifications and experience of each member; the group members assume joint and several liability. The EP may require that the selected group adopt a legal form before signature.

Beneficiary scope (geographic eligibility)

Beneficiary geographic eligibility:Economic operators established in EU Member States and in third countries that concluded public procurement agreements with the EU on equivalent terms are eligible. Primary target: services delivered for Cyprus media; contractor may be established anywhere provided eligibility conditions and applicable restrictive measures compliance are met.

Target sector

Sector:Media monitoring, news-agency services, media analysis, communications and public affairs. The work supports institutional communications, media intelligence and public outreach for an EU institution.

Mentioned countries

Explicitly mentioned country:Cyprus (media to be monitored). Contracting authority headquarters and procurement administration are in Belgium (Brussels). Tender open to EU Member States and applicable third countries per procurement documents.

Project stage and expected maturity

Expected maturity:operational/delivery stage. The services require a supplier with production-ready monitoring systems, editorial capacity, and analytics experience to deliver daily operational outputs and to integrate with the EP’s EPMM platform and workflows immediately after contract start.

Funding amount (scale)

Funding amount:Estimated total contract value €350,000 for the full framework duration including renewals; budget split indicated: media monitoring €300,000 and media analysis €50,000. Unit pricing must be provided in Annex F and used to compute the simulated contract value for price evaluation over 4 years.

Application type and submission method

Application type:Open call for tenders. Submission method: Electronic only via the eSubmission system on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. EU Login account and PIC are mandatory. Tender validity period required: 6 months. Late or non‑electronic submissions will be rejected.

Nature of support

Nature of support:Paid services contract. Beneficiaries will receive monetary payments for services delivered under contract terms and will deliver digital products and services (non-monetary deliverables: monitoring outputs, analysis reports, data uploads to EPMM). The EP acquires rights to use summaries and associated metadata as defined in the draft contract (ownership/licensing clauses).

Application stages

Number of application/evaluation stages:Two main stages. Stage 1: Qualitative evaluation (simulation and methodology thresholds). Stage 2: Price evaluation for tenders that pass Stage 1. There is also standard administrative eligibility/exclusion checks prior to award and possible clarifications during evaluation; the award decision is followed by a standstill and signature phase.

Success rates

Success rates:Not published. As a competitive open tender at EU-institution level for a single-award framework contract with limited budget and specific technical requirements, success rates are typically low and depend on the number and quality of bidders. Tenderers should assume rigorous selection and competitive scoring applying both qualitative thresholds and price comparison.

Co-funding requirement

Co-funding:No co-funding by the contractor is required. This is a procurement contract: the contractor will be paid according to the unit prices agreed in the framework. All costs to perform services must be covered by the contractor's price; tenderers must include all copyright and licence fees in their unit prices. No additional external co-financing obligations are indicated.

Templates and structure of application forms

The procurement documentation provides standard templates and mandatory annexes to be completed and uploaded via eSubmission. Key templates and forms include: Invitation letter and conditions to tender; Tender Specifications; Annex I Technical specifications (with Annexes A to F including methodological aspects, example clipping, simulation, quantitative analysis guide, EPMM content provider interface specs and price list); Annex II EP environmental policy; Annex III Declaration on the tenderer’s honour (exclusion and selection); Annex IV Financial identification form; Annex V Information sheet for groups of economic operators; Annex VI Declaration concerning subcontractors; Annex VII Financial data sheet; Annex VIII Declaration on restrictive measures regarding Russia/Ukraine. Bidders must follow the Excel templates for Annex D (quantitative analysis), Annex F (price list and simulation budget) and provide the media-monitoring simulation deliverables per Annex C. Electronic file naming and attachment guidelines must follow eSubmission System Requirements. Tenderers must include CVs and supporting evidence for language competence and references.

1. 1Annex III: Declaration on the tenderer’s honour covering exclusion and selection criteria (mandatory).
2. 2Annex F: Price list template (unit prices without VAT) and simulation budget contract sheet (used for price evaluation).
3. 3Annex C: Simulation brief — provide sample Press Review and Audio-Visual Review for 30 April 2026 and cost breakdown for that sample.
4. 4Annex D: Quantitative analysis tagging spreadsheet template — fill with tags for items in April plenary period (27/04–03/05/2026).
5. 5Annex E: Technical interface specification if automated uploads to EPMM are proposed (API details and XML/RSS schemas).
6. 6Annex IV: Financial identification form with proof of bank account and identification documents.

Performance monitoring, quality obligations and penalties

The contract contains explicit performance metrics and associated penalty regime. Examples included in the technical specifications: on-time delivery target 90% per month with invoice credit penalties for shortfalls; accuracy and completeness target 98% with penalties equivalent to twice the unit price for missed/erroneous items; metadata accuracy target 98%; quality of written summaries allowance up to 5 errors/month before invoice reduction increments. Contractors must correct inaccurate summaries within specified short timeframes at no extra cost. These penalties are without prejudice to other contractual remedies.

Compliance requirements and restrictive measures

Tenderers must comply with EU legal requirements including Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 on financial rules, data protection Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, and EP environmental policy (Annex II). Tenderers must declare compliance with restrictive measures under Regulation 833/2014 (Russia-related sanctions) and submit Annex VIII. The EP may request documentary evidence of compliance with exclusion and selection criteria prior to award, typically within 5 to 10 working days.

How outputs will be used and intellectual property

Ownership and rights:The European Parliament will obtain ownership of summaries (all rights transferred) and broad reuse rights including internal distribution, reproduction, modification, translation and AI training. For full-text clippings the EP receives a licence to upload, store and distribute copies to defined recipients and for internal use; contractor responsible for obtaining necessary third-party licences and including all copyright remuneration in unit prices. Contractors must provide information on licence limitations and storage/retention rules for copyrighted clippings.

Integration with EP systems and IT specifications

Technical integration:EPMM is the EP’s media monitoring and analysis platform. Contractors may upload manually via the EPMM Document Upload GUI or automatically via the Content Provider interfaces (I_REFERENCE, I_PRESSREVIEW, I_ENCLOSURES). Detailed RSS/XML metadata schema, required fields, enclosure handling and category lists are provided in Annex E. Date/time formats, mandatory fields and business rules are specified. Contractors must test compatibility in advance, implement API updates within 15 days of release and accept training on EPMM provided by the EP. EU Login access and 2FA for contractor editorial accounts will be managed by EP.

Deliverables and typical volumes (indicative)

1. 1Daily National Press Review: average 20 English summaries + 20 clippings per day (print/online) — delivery before 08:00 CET on weekdays.
2. 2Daily National Audio-Visual Review: average 5 English summaries per day — delivery before 08:30 CET on weekdays.
3. 3Weekend/holiday combined reviews: one delivery on next working day before 09:00 CET with combined items.
4. 4Ad-hoc special monitoring reports: estimated average 3 reports per year (package under 100 news items and max 50 recipients).
5. 5Monthly quantitative media analysis packages: mixed-size packages (under 50; 51–150; 151–300 items) per Annex F usage estimates.

Practical steps to prepare a compliant tender

1. 1Register organisation in the Participant Register and obtain PIC; ensure EU Login account and plan for 2FA.
2. 2Download and study all procurement documents on the F&T Portal, including Tender Specifications and Annexes A–F.
3. 3Prepare legal, financial and technical evidence: Annex III, Annex IV, Annex VII and required supporting documents (financial statements, references).
4. 4Assemble editorial team CVs with proof of language proficiency (C2 or equivalent for English and original-source languages or signed native declarations plus supporting education/work evidence).
5. 5Complete Annex F price list with all-inclusive unit prices excluding VAT and compute the simulation budget (Annex F simulation sheet).
6. 6Prepare the media monitoring simulation (Press Review and Audio-Visual Review sample for 30/04/2026) and the media analysis tagging table per Annex D for 27/04–03/05/2026.
7. 7Ensure IT compatibility and readiness to test uploads with EPMM using specifications in Annex E (RSS/XML and enclosure rules).
8. 8Submit the tender via eSubmission before the deadline and retain submission receipt; monitor the Q&A on the F&T Portal and submit questions via the Portal Q&A before the cut-off date.

Contact points and additional information

Primary contact for procurement questions:media-tenders@europarl.europa.eu. Procurement documents, templates and Q&A are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal call page. The contracting service is DG COMM, Directorate for Media, Media Intelligence Unit. Institutions for review procedures: Court of Justice of the European Union. See official procurement notice and documentation on the F&T Portal Funding and Tenders Portal ¹.

Templates and application form structure: detailed outline

The tender submission should be organised clearly and match the procurement structure. Suggested file order and naming for attachments in eSubmission: 1 Administrative and eligibility pack: Invitation letter acknowledgement, Annex III Declaration on the tenderer’s honour, Annex V group info (if applicable), Annex VI subcontractors, evidence of registration, and identification documents; 2 Financial pack: Annex IV financial identification form + bank proof, Annex VII financial data sheet, last 3 years financial statements; 3 Technical pack: Technical offer with detailed methodology, editorial workflow, staffing plan and CVs, software and keyword strategy, EPMM interface plan and API use (if applicable), Evidence of facilities and databases; 4 Simulation pack: Annex C deliverables (Press Review sample), Annex D tagging spreadsheet, cost breakdown for simulation; 5 Price pack: Annex F completed price list and simulation budget; 6 Environmental compliance: statement on implementing EP environmental policy (Annex II) and any sustainability measures; 7 Any clarifications and optional annexes.

Summary: what is this opportunity and how to explain it

This is a procurement opportunity by the European Parliament to contract an expert supplier to deliver a continuous, daily media-monitoring service and periodic quantitative media analysis of Cyprus media in English for EP communication needs. The awarded supplier will be responsible for detecting news across print, online, radio and TV, producing accurate English summaries and clippings or publisher links, uploading content and metadata into the EP’s EPMM platform, carrying out manual tagging and quantitative analyses on batches of items, and delivering ad-hoc reports. The procurement is a framework agreement (initial 12 months, renewable up to 4 years) with an estimated total value of €350,000. The tender process uses an open procedure with a two-stage evaluation (qualitative simulation and methodology, followed by price). Tenderers must demonstrate editorial competence, technical integration capacity with EPMM, copyright licensing arrangements, adequate financial standing and proven prior experience in media monitoring and analysis. All submissions are electronic via eSubmission and must follow the templates and annexes supplied in the procurement documentation. This contract helps the European Parliament to maintain up-to-date media intelligence from Cyprus to inform institutional communications and strategic outreach.

Footnotes

1. 1Procurement documents, Annexes A–F, draft contract and additional templates are published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal opportunity page: ec.europa.eu

Funding Opportunity Overview

The European Parliament Directorate-General for Communication is launching an open procurement procedure to award a framework contract for daily monitoring and analysis of Cyprus media. This contract aims to provide comprehensive media intelligence covering written press, audio-visual media, and online sources, with a focus on European Parliament and European Union related coverage. The service will deliver daily press reviews, audio-visual summaries, and quantitative media analysis to support the EP's communication strategy and policy dissemination efforts.

Contract Details

Procedure Identifier:EP-COMM/2026/OP/0019

Contracting Authority:European Parliament, Directorate-General for Communication, Directorate for Media, Brussels, Belgium

Contract Type:Framework agreement without reopening of competition

Maximum Contract Duration:48 months total, comprising an initial 12-month period with three annual renewal options

Estimated Total Value:€350,000 excluding VAT for the entire contract period

Budget Allocation:Media monitoring activities: €300,000; Media analysis: €50,000

Key Deadlines

Scope of Services

Media Monitoring Services

The contractor must provide daily monitoring of Cyprus media covering three main themes in priority order: European Parliament activities and events, Members of the European Parliament in European context, and European Union related topics. Services include delivery of press reviews with summaries and clippings from print and online sources, audio-visual reviews from radio and television, and weekend/holiday editions. All deliverables must be in English language and delivered via the European Parliament Media Monitoring platform (EPMM).

Regular Monitoring Delivery Requirements:National Press Reviews must be delivered before 08:00 CET on weekdays containing approximately 20 summaries and 20 press clippings per day. National Audio-Visual Reviews must be delivered before 08:30 CET containing approximately 5 audio-visual summaries per day. Weekend and holiday reviews must be delivered before 09:00 CET on the following working day. All news items must be monitored from core and non-core sources listed in the technical specifications, with priority given to core sources during high-volume periods.

Special Media Monitoring:The contractor must be prepared to deliver ad-hoc reports on specific topics, events, or visits related to European Parliament activities. The European Parliament estimates an average of three such reports per year. These reports include summaries, clippings, and a one-page executive summary, delivered the day after the monitoring period ends.

Media Analysis Services

The contractor must provide quantitative media analysis services including sorting and tagging of media items according to specific parameters. Analysis involves manual coding of media items by qualified analysts using the EPMM platform. The European Parliament estimates an average of 1.5 analyses per month on a yearly basis. Analysis must be delivered within 24 hours of the monitored period end, with tags covering tone, prominence, speaker identification, and role of the European Parliament in coverage.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

Who Can Apply

Participation is open on equal terms to all natural or legal persons and public entities established in European Union Member States and third countries with specific public procurement agreements with the EU. Tenderers must indicate their country of establishment and provide supporting evidence of eligibility. Groups of economic operators may submit joint tenders with joint and several liability. Subcontracting is permitted with prior notification to the contracting authority.

Legal and Regulatory Capacity

Tenderers must be enrolled in a relevant professional or trade register, except for international organisations. For service contracts, tenderers must hold particular authorisation proving they are authorised to perform the contract in their country of establishment or be a member of a specific professional organisation. In case of groups, each member must furnish proof of authorisation.

Financial and Economic Capacity

Tenderers must demonstrate sufficient economic and financial resources to perform the contract. The European Parliament requires a minimum yearly turnover of €175,000 for the last three years for which accounts have been closed. Financial capacity will be assessed based on completed financial data sheets and financial statements or extracts for a period equal to or less than the last three years for which accounts have been closed. Tenderers may rely on the capacity of other entities by providing assurance of their commitment to make resources available.

Technical and Professional Capacity

Tenderers must demonstrate at least three years of experience in services or deliveries similar to those required by the contract. The team must include experts in media monitoring with the editorial coordinator having at least three years proven experience in the field, and other team members having at least one year experience. All team members must be fluent in English and in the language of the media sources monitored at minimum C2 level (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). Tenderers must have technical facilities including keyword-search electronic programs and news databases. Language proficiency may be demonstrated through diplomas, degrees, certificates from recognised language institutions, language proficiency certificates, professional experience references, or for native speakers, a signed declaration with supporting documentation.

Exclusion Criteria

Tenderers will be excluded from participation if they are in bankruptcy, subject to insolvency procedures, in breach of tax or social security payment obligations, guilty of grave professional misconduct, convicted of fraud or corruption, involved in criminal organisations, money laundering or terrorist financing, or have shown significant deficiencies in performing previous EU-funded contracts. Tenderers must also comply with restrictive measures adopted under Article 29 TEU or Article 215 TFEU, including restrictions related to Russia's actions destabilising Ukraine. All tenderers must submit a declaration on honour concerning exclusion criteria and provide documentary evidence upon request within 5 working days.

Award Criteria and Evaluation

The contract will be awarded to the tender offering the best price-quality ratio. Evaluation is conducted in two stages: first, qualitative criteria are assessed; only tenders meeting minimum quality thresholds proceed to price evaluation.

Quality Criteria:Criterion 1: Quality and consistency of proposed simulation (maximum 70 points, minimum threshold 35 points). Criterion 2: Methodology proposed for fulfilling requirements including production steps, search tools, team composition, delivery deadlines, technical requirements, copyright compliance (maximum 30 points, minimum threshold 15 points). Tenderers must obtain at least 35 points for Criterion 1, at least 15 points for Criterion 2, and at least 65 points combined to proceed to price evaluation.

Price Criterion:The price considered for evaluation is the Grand total from the Price list for the four-year contract period. The evaluation committee awards a maximum of 100 points for the price criterion. The lowest-priced tender receives maximum points; other tenders receive points proportionally based on the formula: (Pm / Po) multiplied by 100, where Pm is the lowest price and Po is the tender price being evaluated. Final ranking combines quality and price points, with the highest total score ranking first.

Submission Requirements

Tenders must be submitted exclusively via the electronic submission system (eSubmission) on the Funding and Tenders Portal. Tenders submitted by email or letter will be rejected. Tenderers must register in the European Commission's Participant Register to obtain a Participant Identification Code (PIC). The submission receipt from eSubmission showing the official date and time of receipt constitutes proof of compliance with the deadline. No more than one tender per tenderer will be considered; if multiple tenders are submitted, only the latest will be evaluated. All costs for tender preparation and submission are borne by tenderers and will not be reimbursed.

Required Documentation

• Declaration on the tenderer's honour concerning exclusion and selection criteria (Annex III)
• Financial identification form with proof of banking information and identification documents (Annex IV)
• Financial data sheet with financial statements for the last three years (Annex VII)
• Declaration concerning subcontractors if applicable (Annex VI)
• Information sheet concerning groups of economic operators if applicable (Annex V)
• Declaration on restrictive measures concerning Russia (Annex VIII)
• Simulation deliverables: sample daily media monitoring service for 30 April 2026 and media analysis simulation for April plenary session (27 April to 3 May 2026)
• Clear cost breakdown for simulation services using the Price list template
• List of principal services provided in the past three years with dates, amounts, and client references
• CVs of editorial coordinator and team members with evidence of language proficiency
• Evidence of technical facilities including keyword-search programs and news databases

Performance Requirements and Penalties

The contractor must correct inaccurate summaries within 6 hours at no additional cost. Failure to meet performance requirements may result in service credits, invoice reductions, or other contractual remedies as specified in the contract.

Technical and Operational Requirements

Platform and System Access:The contractor must use the European Parliament Media Monitoring (EPMM) platform to upload, edit, and send daily reviews and provide quantitative media analysis. The contractor's editorial team members will connect via EU Login with two-factor authentication. The European Parliament will provide training on EPMM use via video conference. The contractor has one week after training to practice in a test environment before production delivery begins. The contractor may upload media items either manually via Documents Upload tool or automatically via API (application programming interface), with specifications provided in Annex E.

Press Clipping Format and Specifications:Press clippings must be delivered in PDF format with OCR (Optical Character Recognition), readable on computer screens and when printed. Where publishers do not allow press clippings, copies must be delivered via hyperlinks directly from the publisher's platform pointing to the specific full text. PDF characteristics must not exceed 500KB per single file, output all text in black or RGB (not CMYK or grey), contain either portrait or landscape pages (not both in single PDF), and avoid multilayer PDFs with excessive metadata. PDFs should contain only text and photos as originally presented on the page with no hidden text.

Helpdesk Service:The contractor must provide helpdesk service for technical issues with delivery and product availability or for updates and upgrades needed for service compatibility with EP systems. Helpdesk service timing is between 07:00 and 18:00 CET on weekdays.

Copyright and Intellectual Property

The contractor is responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable copyright and intellectual property legislation. All copyright and related costs for access, storage, and distribution of copyright-protected materials must be included in pricing. The European Parliament will obtain full ownership of all summaries and have rights to reproduce, copy, distribute, store, modify, translate, and use summaries for AI training purposes. For press clippings from print and online media, the contractor must obtain and maintain necessary licences from relevant copyright management organisations. The contractor must provide clear information regarding any licence limitations.

Media Sources and Coverage

The contractor must monitor a comprehensive list of Cyprus media sources including core and non-core outlets. Core sources include online outlets (alphanews.live, ANT1.com.cy, philenews.com, politis-news.com, sigmalive.com, omegalive.com.cy, kathimerini.com.cy), printed press (Haravgi, Kathimerini, Phileleftheros, Politis, Alithia), radio stations (CYBC Radio Trito, Kanali Exi, Radio Proto, Politis Radio 107.6), and television channels (Alpha Cyprus TV, CYBC TV, ANT 1, OMEGA TV). Non-core sources include additional online outlets, print publications, radio stations, television channels, podcasts, and YouTube news channels. The source list may be adjusted during the contract lifetime due to changes in the media landscape without additional costs.

Contact Information and Submission

Contracting Authority Contact:European Parliament, Directorate-General for Communication, Directorate for Media, 60 rue Wiertz, Brussels, Belgium. Email: media-tenders@europarl.europa.eu

Submission Portal:EU Funding and Tenders Portal at [[ec.europa.eu

Electronic Submission System:eSubmission system accessible via the F&T Portal. Tenderers may request to attend the virtual opening session by sending an email to media-tenders@europarl.europa.eu no later than one working day before the scheduled opening, including representative names, email addresses, tenderer name, and eSubmission submission receipt.

Important Applicant Notes

Tenderers must ensure they have an EU Login account with two-factor authentication activated by 30 June 2026. The contracting authority is not bound to reply to questions submitted fewer than six working days before the tender deadline. The European Parliament may cancel the procurement procedure at any time until contract signature without compensation to tenderers. Tenderers will be notified of outcomes by email to the address provided in the eSubmission application. A standstill period will be observed before contract signature. All tenderers must comply with the European Parliament's environmental policy and equal opportunities promotion policy. Tenderers must declare whether they are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as defined in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC.

Footnotes

1. 1The simulation is a mandatory part of tender evaluation and assesses the contractor's capacity to detect, deliver complete media items with relevant metadata, and perform media analysis. Tenderers must provide sample daily monitoring for 30 April 2026 and media analysis for the April plenary session period (27 April to 3 May 2026). All costs associated with the simulation are borne solely by the tenderer.