Publications on EU Policy Initiatives and Methodological Assistance on Indicators

Eurostat (DG ESTAT) has published an open procedure tender (ref. EC-ESTAT/2026/OP/0020) for services to provide statistical data analysis, methodological assistance and drafting, editing and digital production of statistical publications including the annual EU SDG monitoring report and policy-related publications. The opportunity is a framework service contract with an estimated total value of €1,284,000 and a maximum duration of 48 months, divided into four 12‑month phases. Submission is electronic via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal with a deadline of 11 September 2026 at 16:00 Europe/Luxembourg, and the contract will be awarded on the best price-quality ratio (quality 70%, price 30%). Tenderers must meet selection and security requirements, comply with IP and confidentiality rules, and be able to deliver editorial, methodological and data-visualisation outputs to Eurostat specifications.

What the contract funds

A service contract to produce the annual EU SDG monitoring report and related outputs (key messages, country reports, Statistics Explained articles, (interactive) visualisations), publications supporting EU policy initiatives, and methodological assistance on indicators; includes data analysis, maintenance, editorial, layout and visualisation services.

Who may bid

Open tender for companies or consortia (sole tenderers or joint tenders). Bidders must satisfy exclusion and selection criteria (economic/financial capacity and technical expertise) and comply with Commission security, confidentiality and procurement rules.

Estimated contract value:€1,284,000 (estimated total for up to 48 months) ¹

1. 1Duration and structure: up to 48 months divided into four 12‑month phases
2. 2Workload estimate: ~1,605 person‑days over the contract
3. 3Main tasks: annual SDG monitoring report, press/web layouts, Statistics Explained articles, country reports, ad hoc policy publications and methodological support

Award method:best price‑quality ratio. Procurement documents (invitation, tender specifications, draft contract, financial form and annexes) specify mandatory technical and team requirements (examples: previous comparable publications, multi‑disciplinary team with statistical, editorial and design skills, English C2 for leads). Security screening and data confidentiality commitments apply where non‑public data are used.

Footnotes

1. 1Tender notice and full procurement documents available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Call details.

Tender type:Open procedure (call for tenders). Lead contracting authority: European Commission, DG ESTAT - Eurostat. Main CPV: 79330000 Statistical services. Nature of contract: services. Estimated total value: €1,284,000 for up to 48 months (maximum duration). The procedure will result in a direct service contract divided into four sequential 12-month phases. The award method is best price-quality ratio with quality weighted 70% and price 30%.

What is being purchased

Eurostat seeks a contractor to provide statistical data analysis and maintenance, methodological assistance, and drafting, editing and production of statistical publications and digital dissemination products. The contractor will produce the annual EU SDG monitoring report and associated products (key messages brochure, Statistics Explained articles, country assessments, interactive visualisations), produce one or two publications per year supporting EU policy initiatives (including maintenance of the digital publication Statistics on climate change mitigation), and provide methodological assistance on indicators and related methodological work.

Key contract facts

Eligible Applicant Types:Eligible applicants: legal persons (companies or organisations) established in countries with access to EU procurement (Member States, eligible third countries as per procurement rules and WTO GPA where applicable). Entities may apply as sole tenderer or as a joint tender (consortium). Subcontracting is permitted; identified subcontractors (those relied upon for selection criteria or above 15% share) must be declared and provide commitment letters. Typical eligible types: SMEs, large enterprises, research institutes, universities, non-profit organisations, consultancies, communication/design agencies, data visualisation specialists. Individuals are not appropriate as sole contractors for the full service contract (legal entity required).

Funding Type:This is a procurement (service contract) using public procurement funds from the EU (direct contract). The financial mechanism is a service contract (payment for services rendered) rather than a grant, loan or equity.

Consortium Requirement:Consortiums (joint tenders) are allowed but not mandatory. A single legal entity may tender on its own. If a joint tender is submitted by a group without separate legal personality, one member must be appointed group leader and all members are jointly and severally liable. The tender must specify roles and resource shares. Annex V in contract will assign shares for VAT purposes where the group has no legal personality.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):Eligibility is governed by EU procurement rules: open to natural and legal persons from EU Member States and other countries covered by procurement access rules (WTO GPA and any international agreements), as indicated in the tender documentation. Service delivery sites for remote work must be located in an EU Member State. Contracting authority will consider tenders from entities in eligible jurisdictions; verify national access rules in the Tender Specifications.

Target Sector:Sectoral focus: Statistics / data analysis / public sector dissemination. Cross-cutting policy sectors covered: sustainable development (SDGs), climate policy (mitigation/adaptation), environment, social and economic policy. Required skills include statistical methods, indicator methodology, data visualisation, editorial and design, web publishing, and familiarity with EU policy indicators.

Mentioned Countries:Explicitly mentioned region: European Union (EU) Member States; eligibility references include EU, candidate countries and third countries as per procurement access rules. Contract performance and some security rules reference Belgium and Luxembourg locations for Commission premises and procedures.

Project Stage:Stage expected: production and maintenance of mature products (monitoring, publication, dissemination) and methodological support. Required maturity of applicants: operational organisations with proven capacity to deliver published statistical reports, data processing, visualisations, web content and methodological work (development, validation and production stages).

Funding Amount:Estimated total procedure value: €1,284,000 over the maximum 48-month contract duration. The tender requires a financial offer using Annex 6 template; interim payments (50% of phase price) and balance payments are defined per phase in the draft contract.

Application Type:Application method: Open call for tenders (electronic submission only via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission). Deadline published in portal and TED notice. Questions must be submitted via the portal Q&A. No postal or email tender submissions will be accepted.

Nature of Support:Beneficiaries (the contractor) will receive monetary payments under a service contract in return for deliverables. The support is contractual payment for services (money). Non-monetary support includes access to Eurostat tools, templates and data (Vistool, IMAGE, Excel Add-in, InDesign templates), and access to Statistics Explained draft environment.

Application Stages:Single-stage tender submission (open procedure). Evaluation stages: administrative compliance, exclusion check, selection (capacity) assessment, technical evaluation (quality scoring with thresholds), financial evaluation, and final ranking by price-quality ratio. After selection, contractual negotiations are limited; the draft contract is published and will be signed by the winning tenderer(s).

Success Rates:No explicit historical success rate is published. As an open EU procurement with quality thresholds, the success probability depends on market competition and how well the tender meets the quality and selection criteria; quality carries 70% weight so strong technical offers are essential.

Co-funding Requirement:No co-funding from the contractor is required beyond delivering services for the fixed contract price. All costs for compliance with security and screening obligations are borne by the contractor (e.g. security screening fees). The financial offer must be all-inclusive (except VAT which is handled per contract rules).

Eligibility, Selection and Minimum Requirements (detailed)

Selection and minimum capacity requirements are set out in the Tender Specifications (Annex I). Tenderers must be registered in the Participant Register and have a Participant Identification Code (PIC). Declarations on honour and supporting evidence of non-exclusion must be available on request. Key selection minimums and required evidence are listed below.

1. 1Economic and financial capacity: Average yearly turnover over last two years > €642,000 (consolidated assessment permitted). Evidence: profit & loss and balance sheets or bank statements upon request.
2. 2Technical/professional capacity (mandatory evidence with tender):
3. 3T1: At least two similar projects in last five years (each min. €50,000) with published outputs; provide project list, dates, roles and copies of resulting publications.
4. 4T2: Team profile: at least three team members with university degree (Economics, Statistics, Social or Environmental Sciences) and practice experience (minimum two years full-time in relevant domains across economic, social and environmental statistics as stated); CVs, diplomas and references required.
5. 5T3: At least two team members with minimum two years’ experience on EU policy/indicator work for sustainable development.
6. 6T4: At least one team member with two years’ experience in professional layout/design (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) and three publications in last five years; CV and publication list required.
7. 7T5: Language proficiency: project manager and authors C2 in English; other team members minimum B2; evidence via CVs and/or prior publications in English.
8. 8Minimum format & bounds: Technical tender max 80 pages; prescribed page allocations per section; provide detailed workplan, staffing, quality arrangements, timelines and risk mitigation.

Tender structure and required deliverables

Tenders must include a technical proposal (methodology, workplan, management, quality control) and a financial offer using the Annex 6 financial template. Tenderers must upload declarations, commitment letters for subcontractors or relied-on entities, CVs, project lists and technical evidence in eSubmission as specified in Annex 1 of the Tender Specifications.

1. 1Deliverables per phase: detailed table of contents and work plan (M1), pilot chapters (M2), progress assessment calculations (M5), draft and final versions of publications (end of each phase M5-M6), press-optimised and web-optimised PDFs, Statistics Explained articles and country report data packages.
2. 2Task 2 deliverables: detailed table of contents, pilot chapter, final draft and updates to Statistics on climate change mitigation (annual updates using Vistool).
3. 3Task 3 deliverable: annual methodological report (D3) summarising input into indicator methodological work.

Payment schedule:the contract foresees interim payment equal to 50% of the phase price (upon delivery of specified interim deliverables and interim implementation report) and payment of the balance on approval of final deliverables for the phase. Payment terms: Commission pays within 60 days after approval of invoices unless suspended per contract rules.

Security, Confidentiality and Data Handling

Contractors and service providers must comply with Commission security requirements, including security background checks, screening and applicable Commission security baseline for external connections. Access to confidential statistical data will be restricted (on-site or per agreed secure arrangements), and each team member must sign a commitment on statistical confidentiality (Annex IV). Costs for security compliance are borne by the contractor. Remote work is permitted but remote service delivery sites must be located in an EU Member State and comply with the Commission Security Baseline (Appendix 3).

Templates and application forms:Tender documentation includes: Invitation to tender, Tender Specifications (Annex I) with Annexes 1-9, Draft Contract (including Special and General Conditions), Financial Offer form (Annex 6.xls/xlsx), Declaration on Honour (Annex 2), Agreement/Power of Attorney template for joint tenders (Annex 3), subcontractor commitment models (Annex 5.1 and 5.2). The tender must use the Annex 6 financial model for pricing and follow the eSubmission packaging rules. Guidance and eSubmission Quick Guide are available on the Funding & Tenders Portal F&T Portal.

1. 1Annex 1: List of documents to be submitted with the tender; use this checklist and upload in eSubmission.
2. 2Annex 2: Declaration on Honour on exclusion and selection criteria (mandatory).
3. 3Annex 3: Agreement / Power of attorney (for joint tenders).
4. 4Annex 4: List of identified subcontractors and proportion of subcontracting (if any).
5. 5Annex 5.1 / 5.2: Commitment letters for identified subcontractors or entities whose capacities are relied upon.
6. 6Annex 6: Compulsory financial tender form (xlsx).
7. 7Annex 7: Administrative information form.
8. 8Annex 8: Eurostat general guidelines for publications (technical specs).
9. 9Annex 9: Eurostat general guidelines for Statistics Explained (technical and editorial specs).

Tenderers should follow the tender specifications to the letter. The tender includes minimum capacity thresholds and technical scoring thresholds (each technical award sub-criterion has minimum passing points and the overall technical score must reach at least 50/100). Tenders failing these thresholds will be rejected.

How to apply and evaluation process

Submit electronically via EU Funding & Tenders Portal eSubmission. Registration in the Participant Register and obtaining a PIC is required. Upload all required annexes and use Q&A on the portal for clarifications. The contracting authority will evaluate administrative compliance, exclusion and selection criteria, then score technical and financial offers and rank tenders by price-quality ratio.

Risks, compliance and special clauses

The draft contract includes detailed provisions on IP (Union acquires ownership of results; pre-existing rights must be licensed to the Union), confidentiality, data protection (Regulation (EU) 2018/1725), security requirements (Appendices 2 & 3), AI usage rules (use of AI must be declared and authorised; AI-generated images of people forbidden; contractor remains liable for outputs), penalties for delays and poor quality (liquidated damages up to 100% of the value of the delayed publication for the specific order), and termination rules. Contractors must include a commitment on statistical confidentiality for each team member (Annex IV).

Footnotes

1. 1Official call and documents available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: Publications on EU Policy Initiatives and Methodological Assistance on Indicators F&T Portal - Tender details.

This is an open procedure service tender led by Eurostat for statistical data analysis and maintenance, methodological assistance, and drafting and editing of statistical publications. The notice was published on 4 August 2026 and the tender deadline is 11 September 2026 at 16:00 Luxembourg time.[1]

Key facts

What the contract is about

The contract covers two main service streams. First, the contractor must support the annual monitoring report on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in an EU context, together with related outputs such as key messages, Statistics Explained articles, country assessments, and interactive visualisations.[1] Second, the contractor must produce publications supporting key EU policy initiatives, also including interactive visualisations.[1] Eurostat expects the contractor to continue established publication series and to update and modernise them where needed.

In practical terms, this is a publication and methodological support contract rather than a grant. The work combines statistical analysis, editorial production, publication design, and digital presentation of statistical content.

Who can apply

The published extract does not indicate a reserved or restricted applicant category, so the opportunity is open to economic operators able to satisfy the selection criteria in the tender documents. Tendering can be done by a single bidder or by a consortium, provided the bidder can deliver the full scope and comply with the contractual, security, and rights management obligations.

• Organisations with proven capacity in statistical services, data analysis, and statistical publication production
• Bidders with editorial, methodological, data visualisation, and digital publication capabilities
• Consortia that can combine statistical, communication, design, and technical expertise
• Tenderers able to work within EU security and confidentiality requirements and manage pre-existing rights and intellectual property
• Operators able to submit electronically through the Funding and Tenders Portal and use EU Login for participation

Submission and procedural details

1. 1Submission is electronic through the EU Funding and Tenders Portal.
2. 2An EU Login account is required for submission and portal access.
3. 3The deadline for tenders is 11 September 2026 at 16:00 Luxembourg time.
4. 4The contracting authority is not bound to reply to questions submitted after 2 September 2026 at 23:59 Luxembourg time.
5. 5The public opening is scheduled for 14 September 2026 at 10:00 Luxembourg time.
6. 6The tender documents include the invitation letter, tender specifications, draft contract, and financial offer form.

The contract appears to be structured as a framework agreement, which means the contractor is expected to support recurring or follow-on publications over the life of the contract rather than deliver a one-off product.

Financial and contractual conditions

• Estimated total value: €1,284,000
• Maximum duration: 48 months
• The contract is divided into four phases of 12 months each
• Continuation into each new phase requires written consent from the contracting authority after assessment of results and subject to available funding
• The initial performance period is 12 months, with the duration calculation tied to the later of contract signature and 1 December 2026
• No pre-financing is provided
• An interim payment equal to 50 percent of the price for each phase may be claimed
• The balance is payable after each phase ends and the required deliverables are approved
• Payment is due within 60 days of receipt of a compliant invoice
• Price revision is not applicable
• Performance guarantee is not applicable
• Retention money guarantee is not applicable

The award basis is the best price-quality ratio, with quality weighted at 70 percent and price at 30 percent. This makes technical approach, publication quality, methodological soundness, and delivery capacity especially important.

Main deliverables and performance expectations

• Annual EU SDG monitoring report and related communication outputs
• Key messages and Statistics Explained articles
• Country assessments
• Interactive visualisations and publication-ready digital products
• Publications supporting key EU policy initiatives
• Follow-up or complementary publications during the contract period

Deadlines for deliverables will be set in a work plan agreed at the kick-off meeting. The Commission may request changes during implementation, and deliverables that do not meet quality expectations may be refused, corrected at the contractor's expense, re-executed without additional payment, or subject to price reduction.

Important obligations and risks for applicants

• The Union acquires ownership of the results, and broad exploitation rights apply to the contracting authority
• Pre-existing rights must be identified and documented
• Any use of generative artificial intelligence must be disclosed in the rights declaration and, where feasible, in the results themselves
• Remote service delivery sites must be located in an EU Member State unless specifically authorised otherwise for a mission
• Non-public Commission information must not be stored or processed on non-Commission devices or services
• All subcontractors and personnel involved must comply with the security baseline and acceptable use rules
• The contractor must cooperate with security checks, audits, incident reporting, and compliance verification

The contract is governed by Union law, supplemented where necessary by Luxembourg law, and disputes fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Luxembourg courts. The tender documentation also places strong emphasis on confidentiality, IP rights clearance, data handling, and adherence to Commission security requirements.

Practical applicant profile

The strongest candidates are likely to be established service providers or consortia with experience in official statistics, editorial production for public institutions, methodological support, and digital publication workflows. Applicants should be able to show credible capacity for recurring high quality publication work, tight deadlines, rights management, and secure handling of sensitive non-public material.