Multi-Component Security Monitoring System

The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) seeks to award a direct services contract for the design, development, deployment, verification, validation and support to accreditation of the Multi Component Security Monitoring System (MC SECMON) to provide harmonised security monitoring across Union Space Programme and Union Secure Connectivity components. The contract is a competitive procedure with negotiation, has a maximum value of €45 million including options, a maximum duration of 54 months, and will be awarded on a best price-quality basis with quality weighted at 60 percent and price at 40 percent. Participation is restricted to economic operators established in EU Member States that meet strict ownership and control conditions and security requirements, and the procurement is security sensitive with requirements for Facility and Personal Security Clearances and COMSEC handling. The deadline to submit a request to participate is 8 December 2026 at 23:59 Europe/Prague time.

What it funds

Scope in one line

A competitive procedure with negotiation to award a direct contract for the design, development, deployment, verification, validation and support to accreditation of a Multi-Component Security Monitoring System to provide harmonised security monitoring across Union Space Programme components and the Union Secure Connectivity Programme.

Footnotes

1. 1Full tender specifications, timelines, security and selection requirements are in Annex I to the Invitation to Participate available on the portal Tender details.

Opportunity summary

The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) has published a competitive procedure with negotiation to award a direct services contract for the design, development, deployment, verification, validation and support to accreditation of a Multi-Component Security Monitoring System (MC SECMON). The system will provide harmonised security monitoring capabilities across relevant components of the Union Space Programme and the Union Secure Connectivity Programme. The procurement is published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal and the TED record number is 713005-2026 / 200/2026, reference EUSPA/CP/08/26.

Full structured extraction and categorisation

The answers below extract and group all actionable and relevant information from the published procurement documentation (Invitation to Participate, Annex I Tender Specifications and all annexes).

Concluding summary — what this opportunity is about

In short, EUSPA invites qualified EU-established economic operators or consortia to compete for a high-value services contract to deliver a Multi-Component Security Monitoring System (MC SECMON) that will harmonise security monitoring across multiple Union Space Programme components. The procurement is complex and security-sensitive: candidates must satisfy strict eligibility, security, financial and technical selection criteria, sign a reinforced Non-Disclosure Undertaking to receive classified reference material in Phase II, and demonstrate capability in security operations centre systems, integration and accreditation. The contract covers system design, development, deployment, verification, validation and support to accreditation, with optional maintenance, onboarding of additional monitored constituents and AI overlay integration. Interested organisations should prepare the Phase I Request to Participate using the published templates, ensure compliance with security and ownership/control rules, and submit the RtP via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal prior to 08 December 2026 23:59 Europe/Prague.

Footnotes

1. 1Tender documents and publication are hosted on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal opportunity page: EU Funding & Tenders Portal - MC SECMON.

Procurement opportunity assessment

This is a high value EU public procurement opportunity, not a grant scheme. EUSPA intends to award a direct services contract for the design, development, deployment, verification, validation and support to accreditation of a Multi Component Security Monitoring System, known as MC SECMON. The system will provide harmonised security monitoring capabilities across relevant components of the Union Space Programme and the Union Secure Connectivity Programme. 1

The opportunity is particularly relevant to established cybersecurity, security monitoring, space systems, secure communications, software engineering, systems integration and security accreditation providers able to work with EU classified information and comply with EU space programme security requirements.

Key opportunity facts

What the procurement is about

EUSPA has responsibility for security monitoring for several components of the Union Space Programme and the Union Secure Connectivity Programme. The procurement seeks a common, multi component capability that can support security monitoring for systems including Galileo, EGNOS, GOVSATCOM, EU Secure Connectivity and EU Space Surveillance and Tracking, with the tender scope specifically identifying EU SST, EGNOS and IRIS2 as relevant monitored constituents.

The solution is intended to create a harmonised security monitoring architecture, increase operational and technical capacity, support multi tenancy, modernise existing technical baselines and enable shared operational functions and infrastructure. The approach is expected to generate operational synergies and economies of scale across participating programme components.

The contractor will be expected to deliver a complete monitoring platform. The tenderer may adapt and evolve an existing Galileo Security Monitoring solution, adapt and evolve the Secure Communications Security Monitoring solution, or propose an independent compliant solution.

The detailed Statement of Work, technical requirements, draft contract and additional reference material will be made available to candidates shortlisted after Phase I. The Phase I documents therefore provide a basis for assessing eligibility and capability, but do not disclose the complete technical and contractual requirements.

Scope of services

The firm baseline scope is the implementation of the MC SECMON system and includes design, development, deployment, verification, validation and support to accreditation. The baseline is intended to establish capacity for the expected monitoring workload and to onboard the EU SST constituent.

The procurement may also include the following options:

The contractor will deploy and validate the system at EUSPA Galileo Security Monitoring Centre facilities in France and Spain. Additional monitored entity sites may be identified during later phases of the procurement.

Technical approach options

Tenderers must select one of three technical approaches in Phase II and Phase III. Combined approaches are not permitted.

Selection of the technical approach is the tenderer’s responsibility. Tenderers are expected to assess the technical complexity, integration risk, accreditation consequences, schedule impact and cost structure of the selected approach. The tender documents state that risks inherent in the selected approach will generally remain with the tenderer and will not, by themselves, justify additional compensation, an extension of time or contractual adjustment.

Contract value and duration

The maximum total value of all purchases under the contract is €45 million for the full contract duration, including options. A financial offer exceeding this maximum is subject to automatic rejection. This amount is a procurement ceiling and should not be interpreted as a grant amount, guaranteed revenue or reimbursement rate.

The baseline implementation period is up to 18 months. If the relevant options are exercised, the contract may continue for up to a further 36 months, resulting in a maximum duration of 54 months.

EUSPA also reserves the right, within three years after contract signature, to use an exceptional negotiated procedure for new services with the same contractor. The additional value of such new services may reach 50 percent of the initial contract value, subject to the applicable financial and procurement rules. This possibility is separate from the stated €45 million maximum contract value and should be assessed against the final contract documentation.

There is no stated EU co financing rate, eligible cost model, grant contribution, advance payment rate or applicant funding allocation. Tenderers must submit a commercial offer for the required services and bear their own preparation costs.

Who can apply

Participation is open to economic operators that meet the applicable EU space programme security and ownership conditions. Applicants may participate as a sole economic operator or as a group of economic operators, with subcontractors permitted in both cases.

The principal participation conditions are cumulative:

The ownership and control assessment requires the relevant declaration and supporting information in Annex I.H Part II. The conditions apply individually to prime contractors, group members, Core Team members and subcontractors involved in security sensitive activities.

A waiver of the third country control condition is not available to prime contractors or Core Team members. EUSPA may consider a motivated waiver for a subcontractor that is not part of the Core Team where the required Member State authority assessment and safeguards are provided.

Consortia and joint tenders

A joint tender may be submitted by a group with or without a separate legal form. The group must appoint a leader and provide a power of attorney authorising the leader to act on behalf of the group. Group members are jointly and severally liable for contract performance.

Each group member must satisfy the applicable access, exclusion, non rejection and selection requirements. Economic and financial capacity and technical and professional capacity may be assessed cumulatively where the tender documents allow this, while requirements that apply individually must be met by each relevant entity.

Applicants should carefully manage consortium composition. A legal entity may not submit more than one request or tender as a sole tenderer, group leader or group member. Cross subcontracting between competing tenderers is prohibited where it creates the prohibited reciprocal relationship described in the tender specifications. Collusive or anticompetitive behaviour can lead to rejection.

Subcontracting and supply chain requirements

Subcontracting is permitted, but the prime contractor remains fully responsible to EUSPA for the complete performance of the contract. Subcontractors must generally meet the applicable exclusion, selection and access conditions, with additional requirements applying to security sensitive activities and security relevant commercial off the shelf products.

The contractor is expected to achieve a minimum 30 percent share of subcontracting awarded through competitive tendering outside the tenderer’s undertaking. The objective is to promote participation by start ups, new entrants and SMEs from across the Union. Tenderers must provide a supply chain plan, identify proposed subcontracted activities, describe competitive tendering, identify participating SMEs and start ups, and state the proportion of each subcontracted task relative to the total tender price.

If the 30 percent target cannot be achieved, the tenderer must provide a detailed and objective justification addressing technical, security, performance, schedule, responsibility and implementation constraints. The quality of this plan or justification is itself relevant to the qualitative award assessment.

Security and accreditation requirements

This is a security sensitive procurement. Candidates should expect substantial requirements relating to EU classified information, industrial security, communications security, secure facilities, personnel security and accreditation support.

The precise security classification guide, detailed security obligations and final contractual security provisions will be provided to shortlisted candidates in later phases. Organisations without an established security clearance and accreditation capability should assess whether they can obtain the necessary authorisations within the procurement and delivery timetable.

Artificial intelligence requirements

The procurement includes an optional AI overlay capability. The proposed function may support vulnerability analysis, incident ticket enrichment and response decision making. The AI solution is expected to be based on an AI system already placed on the EU market under the applicable provider name or trademark.

Where tenderers propose using AI systems or general purpose AI models in delivering the contract, they must identify the tool, describe its intended use, classify its role under the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, perform a risk assessment, identify the relevant provider or deployer roles and demonstrate compliance with applicable AI, security, data protection and fundamental rights requirements.

AI compliance is a continuing contractual obligation. Tenderers should therefore prepare governance arrangements covering model risk, human oversight, data handling, explainability where relevant, security, logging, performance monitoring and change control.

Selection criteria and evidence

Phase I selection will assess access to procurement, exclusion criteria, non rejection criteria, legal and regulatory capacity, economic and financial capacity, technical and professional capacity and minimum requirements.

The published Phase I documentation identifies the following evidence areas:

The exact minimum turnover threshold, detailed experience thresholds, number and nature of references, security clearance evidence and other scoring or pass fail requirements must be taken from the current versions of the Phase I annexes. These thresholds are not stated in the available portal summary and should not be assumed from the contract value.

Award methodology

The procedure uses best price quality ratio. The available procurement data assigns 60 percent to quality and 40 percent to price. Detailed qualitative subcriteria are set out in the Tender Specifications and will be applied to the Initial Tenders and later tender submissions, including the Best and Final Offer.

The quality assessment is expected to be material because the contract involves architecture selection, security accreditation, operational integration, technical performance, supply chain commitments, SME participation and optional AI functionality. A low price alone is unlikely to compensate for weaknesses in security, delivery feasibility or technical quality.

Procurement timetable

The portal metadata contains an additional January 2026 date, but the official call details and tender specifications identify 8 December 2026 as the deadline for requests to participate. Applicants should rely on the live portal deadline and any subsequent official corrigendum.

Submission requirements

Requests to participate must be submitted exclusively through the electronic submission address in the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. An EU Login account is required for electronic submission, questions and access to relevant eProcurement functionality. A valid Participant Identification Code is also required for participating organisations.

Applicants should prepare the administrative and technical files using the templates and instructions in the Phase I documents. The request to participate must include the required reinforced non disclosure undertaking and supporting evidence for all relevant group members, Core Team members and subcontractors.

Applicants should not submit confidential or security sensitive information outside the channels specified by EUSPA. Questions for Phase I must be submitted through the portal Questions and Answers function by the published clarification deadline.

Applicant assessment

This opportunity is best suited to a prime contractor or consortium with the following combined profile:

Key commercial and delivery risks

Recommended preparation actions

Overall assessment

MC SECMON is a strategically significant, technically complex and security sensitive procurement with a maximum value of €45 million and a potential duration of 54 months. It offers a substantial opportunity for organisations capable of delivering secure, accredited and multi tenant monitoring systems for European space and secure connectivity infrastructure.

The principal barriers to entry are not the submission format but the security eligibility framework, European ownership and control conditions, evidence of relevant technical and financial capacity, access to cleared facilities and personnel, and the ability to form a compliant and credible delivery and subcontracting structure. Applicants should treat Phase I as a detailed qualification exercise and should obtain the complete current tender documentation before finalising their bid strategy.

Official opportunity page and source documents

The live opportunity page, the Invitation to Participate, the Phase I Tender Specifications and the associated annexes should be treated as controlling sources. 1

The detailed Phase I Tender Specifications contain the procedure structure, scope, eligibility rules, security requirements, selection criteria, award methodology, submission requirements and indicative timetable. 2

Sources

Footnotes

1. 1Official EU Funding and Tenders Portal opportunity record supplied for this assessment. EU Funding and Tenders Portal opportunity
2. 2Official Phase I Tender Specifications supplied for this assessment. Phase I Tender Specifications