Provision of swimming tests

Frontex is tendering a framework service contract (FRONTEX/2026/OP/0044) for the provision of pre-defined swimming tests in Warsaw, Poland, to support up to 7 200 candidates for Standing Corps Category 1 with an estimated total value of €560,000. The framework is for an initial 12 months, renewable once (maximum 24 months), and requires provision of pool facilities, qualified examiners and on-site certified first-aid/medical support, with delivery managed via Order Forms. Award will be by best price-quality ratio (technical 70%, price 30%) and submission is electronic only via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal with a tender deadline of 2 October 2026 at 11:00 Europe/Warsaw.

What it funds

Framework service contract to deliver pre-defined swimming tests for recruitment of Frontex Standing Corps Category 1 (physical swimming assessment, underwater retrieval exercises and on-site certified first-aid/medical support). Services are delivered in Warsaw (Poland) for up to 7 200 candidates over the contract period.

Estimated value:€560,000 (estimated maximum overall contract value) ¹

Key contract details

1. 1Contract type: framework service contract (initial 12 months, renewable once; max duration 24 months)
2. 2Award method: best price-quality ratio (technical weight 70%, price 30%)
3. 3Maximum scope: tests for up to 7 200 candidates; estimated up to 240 working half-days (4-hour sessions)

Who can apply

Open to economic operators (natural or legal persons) established in the EU or countries with procurement access as stated in the tender documents. Tenders may be submitted by sole tenderers or joint ventures; subcontracting and relying on other entities is permitted with required declarations and commitment letters.

How to apply

Electronic submission only via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission (EU Login required). Consult the procurement documents and submit all required annexes (technical proposal, Annex IV financial template, Annex V declaration on honour, Annex VI tender submission form, plus supporting evidence). ¹

Eligibility and minimums (high level)

1. 1Demonstrated legal capacity and absence of exclusion grounds (declaration on honour required)
2. 2Economic capacity: average turnover criteria and financial evidence as requested in procurement documents
3. 3Technical capacity: facilities in Warsaw (€25 Mpool, depth ≥€2 M), at least 6 qualified examiners and certified first-aid medical support

Visits, clarifications and all updates are published on the F&T Portal; tenderers should subscribe to the call to receive notifications ¹.

Footnotes

1. 1Full tender dossier, documents and electronic submission link available at the Funding & Tenders Portal FRONTEX provision of swimming tests.

Key facts

Title:Provision of swimming tests. Contracting authority: European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX). Procedure: Open procedure, electronic submission via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. TED reference: 165/2026 (591891-2026). Main CPV: 79600000 Recruitment services (additional CPV: 92610000 Sports facilities operation services). Nature of contract: services; Framework agreement, without reopening of competition. Award method: best price-quality ratio (70% technical / 30% price). Maximum contract duration: 24 months (initial 12 months + 1 renewal of 12 months). Estimated total value: €560 000 (excluding VAT). Maximum candidate throughput: up to 7 200 candidates across the framework. Location of performance: Warsaw, Poland. Submission method: exclusive electronic submission (eSubmission) via the Funding & Tenders Portal ¹.

Deadlines and important dates:Deadline for receipt of tenders: 02/10/2026 11:00 (Europe/Warsaw). Public opening: 05/10/2026 11:00 (Europe/Warsaw). Questions cut-off: 24/09/2026 23:59 (Europe/Warsaw). TED publication / F&T publication: 27/08/2026. See procurement documents for exact timestamps and any later updates ¹.

1. 1Tender type: Open procedure for a single lot (LOT-0001).
2. 2Contract form: Framework service contract with order forms (Order Forms govern delivery dates and quantities).
3. 3Estimated overall ceiling: €560 000 (may be increased up to +50% by negotiated procedure under Financial Regulation conditions if framework ceiling approaches exhaustion).
4. 4Maximum of 240 working half-days of testing capacity estimated in procurement documents (indicative calculation: 240 half-days * up to 30-40 candidates per half-day to cover the 7 200 candidate maximum).

What is being procured (Scope and services)

Objective:deliver pre-defined swimming tests for candidates to Frontex Standing Corps Category 1 at a venue in Warsaw, Poland. The framework covers provision of facilities, qualified examiners to assess candidate swimming performance, and certified first-aid medical support on-site. Services are required to support up to a total maximum of 7 200 candidates over the framework duration.

Detailed technical requirements (summary)

Venue and facilities (minimum):€25 Mpool (minimum), depth at least €2 Mat deepest point; waiting/rest area; changing rooms with showers (hot and cold); toilets separated for men/women; drinking water supply (minimum 1 litre per person per half-day); working technical/admin space with A4 printer/scanner and power; tested functional defibrillator included in first-aid kit; adequate ventilation/heating/lighting; contingency/back-up venue available within 24 hours if main venue becomes unusable; located in Warsaw and accessible by public transport within 45 minutes of city centre; availability of at least three reserved parking spaces within €250 Mis an advantage.

Testing format and schedule:candidate groups approx. 15–30 (max 40) per session; each session = a working half-day (4 consecutive hours); tests may run between 09:30 and 20:30 on working days; maximum number of working half-days indicated in procurement documents (up to 240 half-days over the framework duration). Frontex will manage candidate invitations and will verify each candidate’s medical fitness certificate before tests.

Examiner and medical requirements:contractor must provide a pool of at least 6 qualified examiners (to ensure two present per session and a third on standby). Examiners: post-secondary physical education diploma or equivalent, at least 3 years post-certification experience as certified/licenced lifeguard or swimming instructor, English B2 or higher. Medical support: at least one certified first-aid/paramedic professional on-site per session with at least 3 years’ relevant experience and English B2 or higher; capability to summon ambulance/medical emergency response; first-aid kit with tested defibrillator preferred.

Test content and pass/fail criteria (exercises and minimum standards):1) Swim €50 M (€25 Mcrawl then €25 Mbreaststroke) nonstop — male maximum 2:00 min, female maximum 2:15 min, one attempt. 2) Dynamic apnea freediving underwater to pick up two objects from pool bottom at up to €2 Mdepth placed €2 Mapart — dive directly to bottom and recover objects and surface; two attempts allowed; goggles not allowed except for medical reasons/contact lenses. 3) Swim €25 Mbackwards propelled by legs only (no hands) — male maximum 2:00 min, female maximum 2:45 min, one attempt. Examiners must demonstrate exercises, provide warm-up, mark lanes and complete a signed protocol for each candidate (hard-copy templates provided by Frontex). Final result communicated by Frontex representative (present during tests) based on examiner protocol.

Who can apply and how (Eligibility and submission)

Eligible applicants:natural and legal persons established in Member States, EEA, and third countries with procurement access (see tender documents). Open to single tenderers or joint tenders (consortia). Subcontracting is permitted but subcontractors and entities relied upon must be declared, must meet exclusion criteria and submit commitment letters (Annex VII) and Declaration on Honour (Annex V). Participation excludes entities subject to EU restrictive measures or other exclusion grounds in the EU Financial Regulation. PIC registration and EU Login account are required to submit electronically via eSubmission on the Funding & Tenders Portal ¹.

Eligible applicant types:Accepted: private companies (SME and large enterprises), service providers, sports facilities operators, recruitment service providers, medical/first-aid service providers, certified swim schools/coaches, joint ventures/consortia, subcontractors, nonprofit organisations if legally established and meeting requirements. Public-private partnerships acceptable if they meet selection and exclusion rules in tender documents.

Funding and contracting details

Selection, evaluation and contract award

Selection requirements:legal capacity evidence, economic & financial capacity (minimum average yearly turnover for last 3 years above €500 000 or consolidated proof per procurement documents), technical capacity (at least one similar project in last 3 years and facilities/qualified staff described). Evidence required: balance sheets (or bank statements), portfolio and reference letters, CVs of proposed staff, facility descriptions, declaration on honour, tender submission form, power of attorney (if consortium), subcontractor commitment letters where applicable.

1. 1Administrative compliance check at opening.
2. 2Exclusion checks against Declaration on Honour and EDES (Early Detection and Exclusion System).
3. 3Selection criteria verification (legal, financial, technical).
4. 4Technical evaluation scored against criteria (total 100 points; minimum threshold 60%).
5. 5Financial evaluation: lowest price = 100 points; other offers scored proportionally; abnormally low offers may be investigated.
6. 6Final score = 0.7 x technical score + 0.3 x financial score; highest final score wins.

Application documents and templates (what to submit)

Mandatory procurement documents are published as annexes on the Funding & Tenders Portal and include: Invitation to Tender, Annex I Tender Specifications, Annex II Terms of Reference, Annex III Draft Contract (with Privacy Notice and Declaration on pre-existing rights and Order Form template), Annex IV Financial proposal template (Excel), Annex V Declaration on honour (exclusion & selection), Annex VI Tender Submission Form, Annex VII Power of Attorney/Commitment letters. Tenderers must use the Annex IV financial template and Annex VI submission form and submit all requested supporting evidence. All submission rules and technical requirements for eSubmission (file formats, max file sizes, maximum number of attachments, PIC requirements) are in the eSubmission system requirements and Quick Guide linked in the procurement documents ¹.

Templates and form structure:Tender Submission Form (Annex VI): identification and contact details; joint tender partners; subcontractors and entities relied upon; statements and signatures. Declaration on honour (Annex V): exclusion and selection declarations, to be signed by each involved entity. Financial offer (Annex IV): unit price rows for three service lines (facility provision; examiners; certified first-aid) with quantity (indicative 240 working half-days each) and total net price. Draft contract (Annex III) contains the framework contract conditions and the mandatory Order Form template (Annex III Model Order Form) that will be used to trigger specific deliveries under the framework.

Procurement risk, compliance and specific rules

Important compliance points:tenderers and all involved entities (consortium members, subcontractors, other relied-upon entities) must not be subject to EU restrictive measures; must not be in exclusion situations of the EU Financial Regulation; must declare conflicts of interest and remedial measures if applicable. Subcontracting must be declared, and commitment letters must be provided. Frontex may request documentary evidence during evaluation and before award; failure to provide requested evidence within the set deadline may lead to rejection. Frontex reserves the right to cancel the procurement procedure at any time prior to contract signature without compensation to tenderers. Frontex may award and implement audits and checks and may register data in EDES where relevant.

Categorisation answers (structured)

1. 1Eligible Applicant Types: startups (if legally established and meeting selection criteria), SMEs, large enterprises, universities/research institutes if providing required services (unlikely but permitted), nonprofits (if legal and meet requirements), government entities or public entities where permitted, subcontractors, consortia/joint tenders. Individuals may participate only where procurement documents allow; however primary contracting is aimed at organisations and service providers. Investor or pure finance entities are not relevant. NGOs may participate if they can deliver the services and meet selection criteria.
2. 2Funding Type: This is a procurement/tender (contract) implementing a paid services Framework Agreement (not a grant, loan or equity).
3. 3Consortium Requirement: Single tenderer or joint tender allowed. Either a sole applicant or a consortium (group) may submit. If joint tender, appoint a group leader with joint and several liability.
4. 4Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): Applicants established in EU Member States, EEA states and third countries having procurement access under EU agreements (see procurement documents for list and conditions). Performance location is Poland (Warsaw).
5. 5Target Sector: Recruitment services, sports/facility operations, medical support and testing services. Thematic sectors: recruitment services for law enforcement-type roles, sports/physical testing and medical emergency services.
6. 6Mentioned Countries: Poland (performance location Warsaw) explicitly mentioned. Eligible applicants: EU, EEA and specified third countries per procurement documents (e.g., North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) as explained in the tender documents (access conditions differ by agreement).
7. 7Project Stage: Implementation/delivery stage — operational testing service delivery at demonstration/operational level (service delivery and logistics).
8. 8Funding Amount: Estimated total procedure value €560 000 (excluding VAT) for the entire framework; unit pricing expected per working half-day. Framework ceiling may be increased up to 50% under Financial Regulation conditions in case of repeat needs.
9. 9Application Type: Open call for tenders (electronic submission via Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission). Not invitation-only; public open procedure.
10. 10Nature of Support: Monetary — the contractor will receive payments for services rendered; also non-monetary support in the form of candidate flows, scheduling and operational coordination by Frontex (operational inputs).
11. 11Application Stages: Single-stage submission with evaluation phases (administrative/exclusion check, selection verification, technical evaluation, financial evaluation, final ranking). In practice applicants pass through 4 logical steps in evaluation.
12. 12Success Rates: Not specified in documents. As a single-award open tender, success depends on meeting selection criteria and ranking under award formula; historical success rates depend on number of bidders — Frontex does not publish a fixed success probability in documents.
13. 13Co-funding Requirement: No co-funding required. Tenderers quote unit prices and bear their own costs of preparation; Frontex pays per unit delivered under Order Forms. No matching funding is requested in procurement documents.

Application preparation checklist

1. 1Register organisation in Participant Register and obtain PIC; ensure EU Login account active and eSubmission access ¹.
2. 2Read Invitation to Tender and all annexes (I–VII) carefully; download Annex IV Financial template and Annex VI Tender Submission Form and complete them exactly as requested.
3. 3Prepare Declaration on Honour (Annex V) for tenderer and for each involved entity (subcontractor or relied-upon entity).
4. 4Prepare evidence for legal capacity (company registration or equivalent), economic capacity (last 3 years turnover statements / balance sheets), technical capacity (portfolio, at least 1 similar contract in last 3 years, reference letter(s)), CVs and qualifications for proposed examiners and medical personnel, facility description and contingency venue proof, and proof of defibrillator availability.
5. 5If joint tender: prepare Power of Attorney (Annex VII) appointing group leader and joint & several liability statement; if subcontracting: prepare commitment letters (Annex VII) and include subcontractor Declaration on Honour and evidence.
6. 6Complete Annex IV financial offer template with unit prices per working half-day for the three service lines and total net price (EUR, excluding VAT).
7. 7Assemble tender in eSubmission, name attachments per system requirements, ensure each file < 50 MB (system limit) and < 200 attachments per submission, validate and submit before the deadline. Keep submission receipt timestamp for proof of timely submission.

How Frontex manages execution and ordering

Orders under the framework are issued by means of Order Forms signed by the Contracting Authority and the contractor (model included in Annex III). The Order Form defines type of services, implementation dates and modalities. The contractor must return signed Order Form within 5 working days or justify refusal. Repeated failure to sign/order may be considered breach. Order Forms can be issued up to 6 months after the framework expiry to cover deliveries, and measures for price revision are included in the contract. Invoices are monthly and must be sent to invoices@frontex.europa.eu with a monthly summary of delivered working half-days.

Frontex may carry out checks and audits and request documentary evidence for exclusion and selection criteria at short notice. The contractor must keep original supporting documents for five years after final payment and cooperate with audits (EDES, OLAF, European Court of Auditors, EPPO, etc.).

What this opportunity is about — Executive summary

This is an open EU procurement carried out by Frontex to contract a service provider to organise and deliver structured swimming assessments for candidates applying to Frontex Standing Corps Category 1. The assignment is operational and logistical: provide an appropriate pool venue in Warsaw, qualified swimming examiners, certified first-aid on-site support (including defibrillator) and the administrative capability to run repeated half-day sessions assessing up to 7 200 candidates across the framework period. Award will be based on best price-quality ratio with strong weighting to technical quality (70%). Tenderers must demonstrate legal, financial and technical capacity and provide specific documents and declarations (Annexes I–VII). Submission is electronic only via the Funding & Tenders Portal and the procurement documents and templates must be used as provided. The contract awarded will be a framework service contract implemented via Order Forms and paid by unit prices per working half-day. Frontex expects high standards of health and safety, medical readiness and examiner qualifications and requires clarity on contingency arrangements, venue accessibility and candidate throughput planning.

Footnotes

1. 1Official call and procurement documents including Invitation to Tender, Terms of Reference, Draft contract and templates are published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: ec.europa.eu

This is a Frontex services tender for the provision of swimming tests in Warsaw, Poland, for up to 7200 candidates in the Standing Corps Category 1 recruitment process. It is a procurement contract, not a grant, so there is no funding rate; bidders compete on price and quality under the contract terms.

What the contract is about

The contract covers the delivery of pre defined swimming tests at a venue in Warsaw for candidates taking part in Standing Corps Category 1 recruitment. Frontex recruitment information confirms that swimming tests are part of the Warsaw based Stage II assessment for candidates[1].

The contract is classified as services under CPV 79600000 Recruitment services, with an additional classification of 92610000. The estimated total value is €560000.

Who can apply

This is an open procedure, so any economic operator that meets the selection and tender conditions in the procurement documents may submit a tender. The portal requires electronic submission, and EU Login access is needed for portal use and submission; a PIC is also typically required for participating organisations.

The opportunity is aimed at providers that can organise and deliver structured candidate testing in Warsaw, handle operational logistics at scale, and comply with the detailed technical, contractual, and privacy conditions in the tender pack.

Key terms and deadlines

Duration and contract structure

The framework contract is planned for an initial period of 12 months and may be renewed once, with a maximum total duration of 24 months. Because it is a framework agreement without reopening of competition, successful suppliers may be asked to deliver services under the framework without a new competition for each call off.

What applicants should prepare for

• Ability to host and operate swimming tests in Warsaw on the required schedule
• Experience in recruitment related testing or comparable service delivery
• Capacity to handle candidate volumes of up to 7200 over the contract period
• Compliance with the technical, contractual, and privacy requirements in the documents
• A complete financial proposal using the prescribed template
• Electronic submission before the deadline through the portal

The tender documents listed on the portal include the invitation letter, tender specifications, terms of reference, draft contract, financial proposal template, declaration on honour, submission form, privacy notice, declaration on pre existing rights, and model order form. Applicants should review all annexes carefully because the technical requirements, eligibility conditions, and award details are defined there.

Practical bidder view

1. 1Treat this as a procurement competition rather than a grant call.
2. 2Build a service model that can deliver repeated swimming test sessions in Warsaw.
3. 3Plan for a quality driven evaluation, since quality carries 70 percent of the score.
4. 4Check the clarification deadline of 24 September 2026 before sending questions.
5. 5Submit well before 2 October 2026 11:00 Europe Warsaw.
6. 6Verify that the organisation has the necessary portal access and registration details for submission.

The provided metadata includes an additional January 2026 deadline timestamp, but the portal notice identifies 2 October 2026 11:00 Europe Warsaw as the operative deadline and should be treated as the controlling date.