Translation and post-editing services of standardised technical texts in the field of Intellectual Property Rights (European Union Trade Marks (EUTM))...

Tender CDT/2026/OP/0002 issued by the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT) seeks multiple framework contracts for translation and full post-editing of standardised EUTM technical texts from official EU source languages into Maltese, with electronic submission via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal and a tender deadline of 04/05/2026 14:00 (Europe/Luxembourg). The estimated total framework value is €1,448,000 and the maximum contract duration is 48 months starting 01/09/2026, renewable up to 31/08/2030. Award is by best price-quality ratio (Quality 70%, Price 30%) and candidates must meet exclusion/selection rules including an average turnover threshold of €350,000 and documented IP/legal translation experience. Full tender specifications, annexes and eSubmission instructions are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal tender page referenced in the notice.

Work funded

What the contract buys

Provision of translation and post-editing services of standardised technical texts in the field of Intellectual Property Rights (European Union Trade Marks EUTM) from the 22 source EU languages into Maltese. Work includes translation, full post-editing of machine translation output, use of CAT tools and adherence to classification and terminology (Nice Classification, TM assets and contractor glossaries).

Estimated value and duration:Estimated total value approximately €1,448,000 (framework ceiling). Maximum contract duration 48 months from start; initial FWC entry 1 September 2026 with possible renewals ¹.

1. 1Who may apply: natural or legal persons, freelancers, or consortia (joint tenders). Subcontracting allowed; entities on whose capacity you rely must provide commitments.
2. 2Submission: electronic only via eSubmission on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal; PIC registration required.
3. 3Minimum technical requirements: proven IP/legal translation experience, CAT tool competence, ability to cover language combinations into Maltese and proposed linguistic team (CVs, Annex forms).

Key administrative facts

What you must provide in the tender

Complete technical and financial tenders using the published tender specifications and annexes (linguistic team form, CVs, professional experience certificates, financial offer per language combination). Signed Declaration on Honour, legal and financial forms and any requested supporting evidence must be uploaded in the appropriate eSubmission folders.

Assessment and fees:Award = quality (70%) + price (30%). Financial evaluation uses the price-per-standard-page grid (Annex 6) and a weighted virtual average. Payment rules apply per framework contract; CAT TM/MT matches are weighted for invoicing (detailed in tender specifications) ¹.

1. 1Minimum documents: Annex 2 Declaration on Honour, Annex 6 Financial Offer, Annex 7 Experience, Annex 8 Linguistic team (online), Annex 9 CVs, Annex 10 Technical tender.
2. 2Security and confidentiality: no cloud processing of assignment content unless fully self-hosted; strict confidentiality clauses apply.
3. 3Compliance: candidates must meet exclusion/selection criteria and may be subject to checks and audits by the Centre, OLAF, Court of Auditors or EPPO.

Where to get full documents

All procurement documents, templates and annexes are published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal at the tender reference page. Tenderers must subscribe and submit via eSubmission on that portal.

Footnotes

1. 1See the tender specifications and draft framework contract for detailed rules on pricing, TM/MT weighting, confidentiality, eligible applicants, submission folders and required annexes: all documents available on the Funding & Tenders Portal tender page referenced above Full dossier.

Title:Translation and post-editing services of standardised technical texts in the field of Intellectual Property Rights (European Union Trade Marks (EUTM)) from official EU languages into Maltese. Procedure ID: CDT/2026/OP/0002. Procedure type: Open procedure. Contract type: Services. CPV: 79530000 - Translation services. Award method: Best price-quality ratio. Framework agreement: Yes, without reopening of competition, multiple framework contracts in cascade (up to three contractors). Maximum contract duration: 48 months (framework runs initially for 12 months from 1 September 2026, with up to three renewals not beyond 31 August 2030). Estimated total value: €1,448,000. Lead contracting authority: Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT), Luxembourg.

Scope of Work:Provision of translation and post-editing services for standardised technical texts concerning European Union Trade Marks (EUTM), specifically lists of goods and services and product indications aligned with the WIPO Nice Classification. Source languages: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Estonian, Finnish, French, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish. Target language: Maltese. Tasks include translation with or without full post-editing, following client terminology and style, using CAT tools compatible with SDLXLIFF. Machine translation (customised MT) may be provided where fit for full post-editing. Work is issued in several batches per week with set deadlines; delivery is electronic via CdT portals/systems.

Key Dates:TED publication date: 16/03/2026. Deadline for receipt of tenders: 04/05/2026 14:00 Europe/Luxembourg. Date and time of public opening: 05/05/2026 14:00 Europe/Luxembourg. Last date for questions: 23/04/2026 23:59 Europe/Luxembourg. Submission method: Electronic only via eSubmission on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

Where to Apply and Documents:Opportunity page and eSubmission access: EU Funding & Tenders Portal listing. Published documents include: Tender Specifications, Draft Framework Contract, Invitation to Tender, Annex 2 Declaration on Honour, Annex 3 Agreement/Power of Attorney, Annex 4 Subcontractors, Annex 5.1 Subcontractor Commitment, Annex 5.2 Reliance Entity Commitment, Annex 6 Financial Tender Form, Annex 7 Professional Experience, Annex 8 Linguistic Team (online form output), Annex 9 CV template, Annex 10 Technical Tender, Annex 11 Nice Classification Headings.

Eligibility and Participation

Participation is open on equal terms to natural and legal persons within the scope of the EU Treaties and to international organisations. It is also open to entities established in certain third countries if a specific agreement with the EU on public procurement applies. The WTO GPA does not apply. UK entities are not eligible under this call. Economic operators must be registered in the EU Participant Register (PIC required) and additionally in CdT’s Call for Tenders Portal to complete the online Linguistic Team form (Annex 8). Tenders may be submitted by a sole tenderer or a group (joint tender). Subcontracting is permitted. Multiple framework contracts in cascade will be awarded to up to three contractors, ranked and used in sequence for orders.

• Eligible forms: companies, universities, research or translation institutes, nonprofit organisations, government entities, NGOs, and individual freelance translators, provided all selection criteria are met.
• Legal and regulatory capacity: evidence of professional registration or authorisation to provide the services; VAT details; authorised signatory proof. Freelance translators may submit a photocopy of ID/passport as legal capacity proof.
• Exclusion: completion of the Declaration on Honour (Annex 2) and provision of supporting evidence on request.

Technical Requirements and Service Delivery

• Tools and formats: Assignments provided mainly as SDLXLIFF bilingual files, pre-processed with translation memories and potentially customised MT. Contractors must use CAT tools fully compatible with SDLXLIFF and adhere to file handling instructions. Possession and familiarity with a CAT tool is mandatory.
• Security and confidentiality: All documents are confidential. Third-party cloud tools, including generative AI, may not be used unless fully self-hosted. Data processing locations must be within the EU/EEA unless explicitly authorised. Compliance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 is required.
• Quality: Deliverables must be publication-ready, with accurate, consistent terminology (notably Nice Classification terms), correct references, and attention to style and register. CdT assesses quality using its Standard Assessment Sheet. Repeated poor quality may trigger negative evaluations, price reductions, liquidated damages, substitution in cascade, and contract termination.
• Deadlines: Weekly batches with firm deadlines indicated in order forms; bank and national holidays count as working days.
• Place of performance: Contractor premises.
• Volume indications (non-binding): Average file length about 500 characters; forecast 700–1,200 files per week; 2025 source language share for outsourced volume (indicative): EN 45%, DE 17%, FR 9%, ES 5%, IT 4%, NL 5%, PL 5%, CS/DA/PT/RO/SV total 6%, BG/EL/ET/FI/HR/HU/LT/LV/SK/SL total 4%.

Pricing, Invoicing and Payment

Financial offer is per standard page of 1,500 characters (source, excluding spaces), in EUR, exclusive of taxes and duties (EU privilege). Pricing is submitted for each of the 22 source-into-Maltese combinations using Annex 6.

• Match-weighted remuneration: Payment is weighted by translation memory (TM) match and customised MT presence per segment:
• TM <50% or no customised MT: 100% of source character count.
• TM 50–74% or customised MT provided: 65%.
• TM 75–84%: 30%.
• TM 85–94%: 20%.
• TM 95–99%: 5%.
• TM 100%: locked, not editable, 0% pay.
• Customised MT segments: 65%.
• Framework pricing and award evaluation: Virtual average price computed from Annex 6 by weighting each language combination’s price by its volume share to derive an average used for evaluation only; contract remuneration uses the per-combination prices and match-weighting.
• Payments: Electronic invoicing may be required; payment of balance within 30 days after approval; no pre-financing or interim payments. Price revision may apply annually based on HICP (2015=100).

Evaluation and Award

• Administrative and access checks, exclusion verification, and selection criteria assessment precede quality-price evaluation.
• Award criteria: Quality 70 points, Price 30 points. Minimum 60/100 quality required to be considered for price-quality ranking.
• Ranking: Formula R = (70 × Q/Qmax) + (30 × Pmin/P).
• Multiple FWCs in cascade: up to three contractors. Orders are offered to the first-ranked contractor; refusal, conflict, or failure can trigger substitution to next in cascade.

Selection Criteria (Eligibility Thresholds and Evidence)

Economic and Financial Capacity (F1):Minimum average yearly turnover over the last three closed financial years: above €350,000. Evidence: profit and loss accounts and balance sheets or a turnover statement for the last three closed financial years; the most recent year must have closed within the last 18 months. Applies on a consolidated basis across involved entities contributing to capacity.

Technical and Professional Capacity (T1 and T2):T1 Experience: Ability to provide translation and/or full post-editing in all 22 language combinations into Maltese. Minimum experience requirement: at least 350 standard pages per language combination in at least 8 distinct combinations, in the field of intellectual property rights and/or other legal fields, performed within the last 12 years. Evidence: Annex 7 Professional Experience table plus signed third-party client certificates per reference stating task(s), volume in standard pages, years, language combinations, and IP/legal field. Purchase orders alone are not accepted unless accompanied by invoices and complete details; self-declarations are not accepted.

• T2 Capacity and team: Sufficient number of linguists to cover all EU language combinations into Maltese (directly or via pivot) and to meet minimum daily capacities:
• EN source: 28 pages/day total minimum capacity.
• ES, FR, IT, NL, PL, DE sources: 8 pages/day each.
• BG, CS, DA, EL, ET, FI, HR, HU, LT, LV, PT, RO, SK, SL, SV sources: 4 pages/day each.
• For evaluation, a linguist is assumed to produce at least 6 standard pages per day per language combination.
• Evidence: Complete the CdT online Linguistic Team form; include validated form(s) as Annex 8 and submit individual CVs (Annex 9) for each proposed linguist. Annex 10 requires tabular details of qualifications, IP specialisation, language combinations (direct or via pivot), and professional IP experience. Substitution of approved linguists is forbidden unless authorised in writing by the Translation Centre.

Legal and Regulatory Capacity:Proof of registration and authorisation to provide services; VAT information; authorised signatory evidence. For freelancers, a photocopy of ID/passport suffices for legal capacity. Legal entity and Financial Identification forms must be completed and uploaded. Entities must be registered in the Participant Register (PIC) and CdT’s Call for Tenders Portal.

Award-Stage Quality Criteria (70 points total)

• Academic qualifications, direct language coverage and professional profile of proposed linguists (max 40): University-level degrees in translation, linguistics, law, or technical disciplines; specialised IP training (e.g., WIPO, EUIPO, EPO programmes); documented IP translation/post-editing experience; capacity to work in direct language combinations without a pivot.
• Team organisation, continuity of service, and quality control (max 45): Robust continuity under absences and peaks; flexibility and responsiveness; terminology and style consistency measures; review and revision workflows; integration of client feedback; terminology databases and interactive tools; post-editing QA; risk mitigation and error prevention; workflow traceability; relevant quality certifications; added value of linguists beyond minimum capacity.
• Technical assistance, tools and expertise (max 15): Adequate hardware, software, backup and recovery systems; certified CAT tools; data security and confidentiality controls.

What You Must Submit (eSubmission structure)

• Technical tender: Completed Annex 10 with all requested narratives and tables; validated Annex 8 Linguistic Team form(s); Annex 7 experience table with matching signed client certificates; CVs using Annex 9 for each linguist; any data processing location disclosures if outside EU/EEA.
• Financial tender: Annex 6 Financial Tender Form with per-combination prices and declared minimum daily capacity (not lower than T2 table).
• Declarations and legal forms: Annex 2 Declaration on Honour; Legal Entity and Financial Identification forms; proof of signatory authorisation.
• Consortium/subcontracting (if applicable): Annex 3 Agreement/Power of Attorney; Annex 4 List of identified subcontractors; Annex 5.1 Subcontractor commitment letters; Annex 5.2 Reliance entities’ commitment letters.
• Portal registrations: PIC in the Participant Register and registration in CdT’s Call for Tenders Portal for Annex 8.

Key Contractual Provisions

• Multiple framework contracts in cascade: refusal to accept a service request may entail termination, liquidated damages, price reduction, and substitution by next-ranked contractor.
• Intellectual property: CdT acquires ownership of results and extensive exploitation rights; pre-existing rights are licensed royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable to the EU for required uses; identification and evidence obligations apply.
• Confidentiality and data: strict confidentiality; no third-party cloud or generative AI tools unless fully self-hosted; personal data processing confined to EU/EEA unless explicitly authorised; compliance with EU data protection regulations is mandatory.
• Performance management: Quality assessments; up to five confirmed negative evaluations may lead to termination; late delivery may incur liquidated damages; poor quality may trigger price reductions.
• Checks and audits: Possible audits and inspections by CdT, Court of Auditors, OLAF, EPPO; record-keeping requirement up to five years after the last specific contract balance payment.

Answers to Categorisation Questions

Eligible Applicant Types:Translation companies, language service providers, SMEs, large enterprises, universities and research/translation institutes, nonprofit organisations, government or public bodies, NGOs, and individual freelance translators. Joint tenders and reliance on other entities are allowed subject to criteria.

Funding Type:Procurement service contract under an open procedure resulting in a multi-supplier framework agreement in cascade. Beneficiaries are paid fees for services rendered; this is not a grant.

Consortium Requirement:Single applicant or consortium (joint tender) permitted. Subcontracting and reliance on third-party capacities allowed with required commitments. Up to three framework contractors are awarded; orders follow a cascade mechanism.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):Open to natural and legal persons within the EU Treaties and to international organisations; open to certain third countries only where a specific EU procurement agreement applies; WTO GPA does not apply. UK operators are not eligible for this call.

Target Sector:Translation and language services for intellectual property and legal domains, with strong use of ICT/CAT tools, terminology management, and post-editing of MT. Relevant to IP law, trademarks, legal-technical translation, and digital localisation workflows.

Mentioned Countries:EU context with contracting authority in Luxembourg. Source languages reflect EU official languages: Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland/UK for English, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden. United Kingdom is explicitly excluded regarding eligibility.

Project Stage:Commercial service delivery under a framework agreement, including translation, full post-editing, quality assurance, and continuous terminology management.

Funding Amount:Estimated total value: €1,448,000 for the framework. Individual orders remunerated per standard page at tendered rates adjusted by TM/MT weighting. No minimum volume guaranteed.

Application Type:Open call under an open procedure. Electronic submission only via eSubmission on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

Nature of Support:Money in exchange for services delivered under specific contracts. No co-funding or grants; no non-monetary services provided to the contractor.

Application Stages:Single-stage submission and evaluation (administrative, exclusion, selection, technical/financial award). Public opening session follows the submission deadline.

Success Rates:Not specified. Up to three contractors will be awarded framework contracts in cascade, subject to quality-price ranking and satisfaction of all requirements.

Co-funding Requirement:No co-funding required. Prices are exclusive of taxes and duties applicable to the EU; payments are per specific contract based on approved deliverables.

Templates and Application Structure (Guidance)

• Annex 6 Financial Tender Form: Table per source language into Maltese with price per standard page and minimum daily capacity for each language pair; signature by legal representative.
• Annex 2 Declaration on Honour: Exclusion, selection, restrictive measures, and indebtedness declarations; includes sections for legal and natural persons, evidence requirements, conflicts of interest, and remedial measures.
• Annex 3 Agreement/Power of Attorney: For joint tenders; identifies group members and leader, joint and several liability, communication arrangements, signature authority, and payment flows.
• Annex 4 List of Identified Subcontractors: Identification, tasks/roles, and proportion of subcontracting; total subcontracting percentage declared.
• Annex 5.1 Subcontractor Commitment Letter: Confirms participation, resources, non-conflict, acceptance of procurement terms, checks/audits.
• Annex 5.2 Reliance Entity Commitment Letter: Confirms reliance for financial or technical/professional capacity, resources availability, non-conflict, acceptance of procurement terms, checks/audits.
• Annex 7 Professional Experience: Tabular fields per reference (client, subject fields, tasks translation/full post-editing, volume in pages, language combinations, years). Must align with signed client certificates.
• Annex 8 Linguistic Team: Complete online in CdT Call for Tenders Portal; validate and include generated form(s) in tender; list linguists per language combination meeting minimum capacities; substitutions require prior authorisation.
• Annex 9 CV Template: Personal data, languages (reading/writing/speaking levels), university qualifications, specialised trainings, professional experience in IP translation/post-editing (totals and for current tenderer), technical skills, CAT tools and terminology capabilities, language combinations with direct or pivot coverage.
• Annex 10 Technical Tender: Three parts. 1) Table on academic qualifications, specialised IP training, language combinations (direct/pivot), and IP translation/post-editing experience for each linguist; attach degree and training certificates. 2) Team organisation and continuity of service questionnaire (max 1200 words): continuity, flexibility, terminology/style consistency, added value of additional qualified linguists. 3) Quality control and working methods questionnaire (max 1200 words): reference adherence, review workflows, client feedback integration, terminology tools and consistency checks, post-editing and QA across workflow stages, certifications, risk mitigation. Plus Technical assistance and tools inventory: hardware, servers, network, backup/disaster recovery; CAT tools (versions, file types, licences, volumes, certifications), compression tools, security (antivirus/firewall), backup schedule and restoring systems.
• Annex 11 Nice Classification Headings: Sample target-language texts for testing and reference in the IP domain.

Submission and Contact

• Submission: Via eSubmission on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal; one complete technical and one financial tender. Only electronic submissions are accepted.
• Participant Register: PIC required for each participant (and each group member).
• Q&A: Use the portal’s Questions & Answers section; the contracting authority is not bound to reply after the stated Q&A deadline.
• Opening session attendance: Up to two representatives may attend virtually upon timely request to tenders@cdt.europa.eu with details and submission receipt.

Comprehensive Summary

This is a pan-EU procurement for establishing up to three framework contractors in cascade to translate and post-edit standardised EUTM-related texts from 22 official EU languages into Maltese. The work focuses on trademark goods and services descriptions aligned with the Nice Classification and requires strong terminological control, IP/legal domain expertise, and rigorous quality assurance. Contractors must operate securely with CAT tools fully compatible with SDLXLIFF, accept match-weighted remuneration based on TM and customised MT usage, and deliver publication-ready outputs under tight and regular deadlines. The framework runs up to four years from 1 September 2026, with an estimated total value of €1.448 million. Applicants can be companies or individuals, as sole bidders or in joint tenders with subcontracting and reliance on third-party capacities. Selection thresholds are demanding: economic turnover above €350,000, substantial documented IP/legal translation or full post-editing experience across at least eight language pairs to Maltese, and the operational capacity to meet minimum daily volumes per source language. Quality is paramount in award scoring, with a detailed technical tender (Annex 10) assessing the team’s qualifications, direct language coverage, continuity mechanisms, QA processes, terminology management, and technical infrastructure. Applications are fully electronic via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, using the standard annexes for financial offers, declarations, experience, team composition, CVs, and technical narratives. Successful contractors will receive orders in cascade sequence; failure to accept orders, deliver on time, or meet quality standards can cause substitution, deductions, damages, or termination. This opportunity is best suited to translation providers and expert linguist teams with proven IP/legal capabilities, robust CAT-based workflows, secure data handling within the EU/EEA, and the scale to ensure continuous, consistent, and compliant service delivery to the Translation Centre.

This open procedure tender seeks multiple framework contracts for translation and full post-editing services of standardised technical texts related to European Union Trade Marks (EUTM) from 21 official EU source languages into Maltese. The Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT) is the contracting authority.

Key Dates and Deadlines

Tenders must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Late submissions will be rejected.

Contract Details

Estimated Total Value:€1,448,000

Contract Duration:Maximum 48 months, starting 01/09/2026, renewable up to 31/08/2030

Framework Agreement Type:Multiple framework contracts in cascade (up to 3 contractors), without reopening of competition

Award Criteria:Best price-quality ratio (Price: 30%, Quality: 70%)

Services involve translating/post-editing lists of goods/services based on Nice Classification, disclaimers, colours, and logo descriptions. Files provided in SDLXLIFF format with TM matches and MT proposals where applicable. Pivot language translation permitted if quality/deadlines maintained.

Eligibility and Who Can Apply

Open to natural/legal persons within EU Treaties scope or with special agreements. UK entities ineligible post-Brexit. No GPA applicability. Joint tenders allowed; subcontracting permitted with conditions. Must register in Participant Register (PIC) and CdT Call for Tenders Portal.

Exclusion Criteria

• Bankruptcy/insolvency
• Tax/social security payment breaches
• Grave professional misconduct
• Fraud/corruption/criminal offences
• Significant deficiencies in prior EU contracts
• Irregularities, shell companies, resistance to audits

Declaration on Honour (Annex 2) required; supporting evidence mandatory with tender.

Selection Criteria

Economic/Financial (F1):Average turnover >= €350,000 last 3 years (consolidated)

Technical/Professional (T1):Experience: 350 standard pages (1,500 chars/page) per combination in IP/legal fields, last 12 years, min 8/22 combinations. Client certificates required (Annex 7).

Technical/Professional (T2):Min daily capacity across all 22 combinations (EN-MT: 28 pages/day; ES/FR/IT/NL/PL/DE-MT: 8; others: 4). Linguistic team via CdT Portal (Annex 8), CVs (Annex 9). Direct/pivot coverage OK.

Pricing and Payment

Fixed price per standard page per combination (Annex 6). Weighted by TM match/MT:100% (<50%), 65% (50-74%/custom MT), 30% (75-84%), 20% (85-94%), 5% (95-99%), 0% (100%). VAT exempt. Electronic invoicing planned.

Award Criteria (Quality 70%, Price 30%)

• Academic quals, direct coverage, IP experience (40 pts)
• Team org/continuity, quality control (45 pts)
• Technical tools/expertise (15 pts)

Min 60/100 quality score required. Virtual average price calculation for evaluation.

Required Documents (eSubmission)

1. 1Legal Entity/Financial ID forms
2. 2Declaration on Honour (Annex 2)
3. 3Agreement/PoA (joints, Annex 3)
4. 4Subcontractor list/commitments (Annexes 4-5)
5. 5Turnover evidence (Econ-Fin)
6. 6Experience certs (Annex 7, Tech-Prof)
7. 7Linguistic team (CdT Portal, Annex 8)
8. 8CVs (Annex 9)
9. 9Technical tender (Annex 10)
10. 10Financial offer (Annex 6)

Key Obligations and Risks

• Strict confidentiality; no 3rd-party cloud/AI without self-hosting
• Quality must match native human translation; 5 poor assessments = termination
• No linguist substitution without approval
• Cascade: refusal leads to substitution + damages
• Cascade ranking; must accept all requests

Primary source:EU F&T Portal. Documents: Tender Specs, Annexes 2-11, Draft FWC. Questions via portal by 23/04/2026¹.

Footnotes

1. 1CdT Portal registration mandatory for linguistic team: CdT Call for Tenders Portal.