Preparation and implementation of the pilot survey on company use and productivity impact of AI - 250001/7820

Budget:Estimated total value: €740,000 1

Who can apply:organisations legally established in the EEA (sole tenderers or consortia). Tenders must follow the Procurement Documents and be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal; subcontracting and reliance on other entities are allowed but subject to the rules in the Tender Specifications.

Procurement type and value:Tender type: Open procedure (call for tenders). Estimated total value: €740 000. Contract nature: services (main CPV 79311000 — Survey services). Maximum contract duration: 18 months. Award method: best price-quality ratio.

Where to obtain documents:All procurement documents (Invitation to Tender Part A, Tender Specifications Part B, Standard Reply Form Part C, Draft Service Contract Part D, List of Quality Indicators Part E) are published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal under the tender details page. The portal is the official source for clarifications, Q&A and electronic submission F&T Portal. 1

Eligible Applicant Types:Eligible applicants: legal persons and natural persons meeting procurement access rules. Typical eligible organisations include specialised survey agencies, market research firms, social research institutes, private research consultancies, academic survey units, consortiums of the above, and subcontractors. The procurement allows single tenderers or joint tenders (consortia). Subcontracting is permitted but identified subcontractors (those providing >10% of contract value or whose capacities are necessary for selection criteria) must be declared and provide declarations of intent. Entities relied upon to fulfil selection criteria that are not subcontractors must provide explicit commitment letters. The tender documents specify documentation requirements for all involved entities.

Funding Type:Primary mechanism: procurement (service contract). This is not a grant, loan or award; it is a contract for services paid by the contracting authority subject to invoice, deliverables and approval.

Consortium Requirement:Either a single contractor or a consortium (joint tender) is allowed. If joint tender, a group leader must be appointed and an Agreement/Power of Attorney signed by all members. Joint tender members are jointly and severally liable. The Standard Reply Form Part C contains templates for consortium agreements and subcontractor declarations.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):Procurement is open to entities falling within the scope of the EU Treaties and to operators established in countries with procurement access agreements if applicable. The specified survey coverage is five EU Member States: Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. Data handling and storage requirements mandate processing and data centres to be within the EU/EEA (see data protection minimum requirements).

Target Sector:Primary thematic sectors: labour / employment / workplace research, technology adoption (artificial intelligence), productivity, human resources and management practices. CPV codes also include social research and survey services (CPV 79311000 and associated classifications).

Mentioned Countries:Countries explicitly mentioned as survey coverage: Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden. Contracting authority location: Ireland (Eurofound, Dublin).

Project Stage:Expected project maturity: preparation, pilot testing, implementation (fieldwork), data processing and methodological reporting (from preparation through data delivery). This covers development from preparation through demonstration/validation to delivery of final microdata and documentation.

Funding Amount:Estimated total contract value: €740 000 (exclusive of VAT). Maximum possible increase of contract ceiling through extensions or repeat services is up to 50% of contract price as specified in Part B.

Application Type:Submission method: electronic submission via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission system. This is an open call for tenders (open procedure); submission is required via the portal and a Participant Identification Code (PIC) is required for each organisation or consortium member.

Nature of Support:Beneficiaries receive monetary payment under a service contract following acceptance of specified deliverables. Non-monetary support includes access to Eurofound expertise, datasets and official feedback; but primary contractual exchanges are financial (invoiced payments) for services delivered.

Application Stages:Single-stage tender submission to the portal followed by evaluation. Evaluation sequence: administrative compliance, exclusion checks, selection criteria verification (economic, financial, technical/professional capacity), quality and price evaluation using best price-quality ratio (quality weighted 70, price 30). After evaluation, notification and contract award. The procedure includes possibility to request supporting documents during evaluation (i.e., documentary evidence on selection and exclusion criteria).

Success Rates:No explicit historical success rate is published in the tender documentation. As an open procurement, success depends on compliance with mandatory selection criteria, achieving minimum quality thresholds (minimum 50% of points on each quality sub-criterion and at least 70 of 100 total quality points), and competitive price-quality scoring. Tenders failing minimum criteria are rejected prior to ranking.

Co-funding Requirement:No co-funding requirement is stated. The tender is a fixed-price service contract; the contractor proposes fixed and variable costs in the financial offer based on the reference sample (1 000 interviews per country).

Templates and Application Forms:Tender documents include mandatory templates: Part A Invitation to Tender, Part B Tender Specifications (detailed technical requirements, quality indicators, schedule), Part C Standard Reply Form (identification, consortium agreement template, subcontractor declaration, declaration on honour, legal and financial identification form, standard reply form tables, cost table template, IPR and AI use declarations, Data Protection Due Diligence Checklist), Part D Draft Service Contract, Part E List of Quality Indicators (quality assurance plan and targets). Bidders must complete Part C templates (Identification, Declarations, Financial cost table) and submit CVs, company profile, references and technical offer addressing award criteria.

Evaluation stages:administrative compliance, exclusion checks (declaration on honour and documentary evidence upon request), selection criteria (economic/financial capacity and insurances; technical/professional capacity and team CVs), compliance with tender minimum requirements, and quality & price evaluation. Quality is scored up to 100 points across five main criteria; minimum pass thresholds apply to sub-criteria and total quality score. Final ranking uses best price-quality ratio with weights price 30% and quality 70%.

Minimum quality requirements:bidders must score at least 50% in each criterion category and at least 70/100 overall to be considered for the price-quality ranking.

Key mandatory documents and declarations to be submitted with the tender:completed Standard Reply Form (Part C) including identification and consortium/subcontracting sections, signed declaration on honour (non-exclusion and selection compliance), company profile, references demonstrating at least €1 000 000 combined value experience in establishment/company surveys in the last five years, CVs for Project Leader and coordination and country teams (Europass recommended), evidence of memberships (ESOMAR/WAPOR or equivalent) or declarations for subcontractors conducting fieldwork, insurance evidence on request, financial statements or bank statements on request, legal entity & financial identification form, completed Data Protection Due Diligence Checklist upon request, cost table using the template in Part C.

Data protection and AI use obligations:Data protection: contractors must meet minimum technical and organisational data protection security requirements. Processing and storage of personal data and data centres must be limited to EU/EEA territory unless specific adequacy mechanisms apply. The tender includes an Annex I Data Protection Due Diligence Checklist; negative answers to minimum items may lead to rejection. Use of AI: any use of AI (including generative AI) for deliverables must be declared in the technical offer; subsequent use after award requires prior approval and specific deliverable-level declarations.