The EEA and Norway Grants are Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway’s contribution to reducing economic and social disparities in Europe and to strengthening bilateral relations with 15 Beneficiary States in Northern, Central and Southern Europe.
For the period 2021-2028, EUR 3.268 billion will be allocated to 15 programme areas and three dedicated funds structured around three overarching priorities:
European green transition,
Democracy, rule of law and human rights
Social inclusion and resilience.
More information on thematic priorities and programme areas can be found in the Blue Book.
This framework agreement aims to support the assessment of programs and funds under the EEA and Norway Grants ensuring transparency, efficiency and evidenced-based decision making in line with FMO’s commitment to results based management. The services to be provided under this framework may include appraisals, monitoring, evaluations and studies.
The FMO is looking for a maximum of 8 framework contractors with a particular expertise in one or more of the programme areas and/or funds managed by EEA & Norway Grants, experience working in its Beneficiary States and proven methodological expertise in conducting assignments of similar nature.
The maximum contract value is EUR 4,5 million and it will run for 2 years initially with possibilities of renewal.
Deadline for submission is: 28/04/2025 at 12:00 Brussels Time
Questions as to the procurement or documents must be e-mailed to fmo-procurement@efta.int. The questions and answers will be shared in this article (see below), without disclosing names or other confidential information regarding the persons or companies raising the question. Questions asked less than 10 working days before the tender deadline will not be answered before the tender deadline.
You can find more detailed information in the Terms of Reference and Tender instruction documents below:
- Terms of Reference for Framework Agreement on Appraisals, Monitoring, Evaluations and Studies
- Annex 1 - Draft Framework Agreement on Appraisals, Monitoring, Evaluations and Studies
- Annex 2 - Organisation track record template
- Annex 3 - Evaluation methods questionnaire
- Annex 4 - Country-Sector Matrix
- Annex 5: Price matrix
- Annex 6 - Instructions on Invoicing of travel related expenses 2021
- Annex 7 - DSA rates 2024
Download all the documents in .zip
Questions and answers related to the invitation to tender
Q: Is it possible to submit a proposal focusing only on some sectors and countries instead of trying to cover all sectors and countries (I am referring to the table in Annex 4)?
A:Yes, this is possible.
Q: Based on the instructions in Annex 5 - Price Matrix can you please elaborate with regards to the years of experience, what will be considered as highly qualified for each role?
A:The term 'highly qualified' in annex 5 is intended to ensure that the price paid by the FMO is reflected in the work performed by the Contractor during assignments under the framework agreement. In practice this will be ensured through the selection of contractors for detailed contracts, where the quality of the team offered will be one of the award criteria.
Q: Are the members of the core team supposed to cover some of the languages of the beneficiary countries?
A: There is no language requirement for the core team. The bidders shall provide the best profile in line with the envisaged responsibilities and division of tasks among the core team.
If members of the core team are also included in Annex 4, then they are subject to the language requirements applied to this specific annex.
Q: For specific assignments, should all team members cover specific background and language expertise in the country where it is taking place, or may teams include a single expert with country/language expertise in addition to other individuals with appropriate methodological expertise?
A: For specific assignments under the framework agreement, the importance of experience in the Beneficiary State and the relevant language skills as selection criteria will be specificied on a case-by-case basis in the Terms of reference.
Q: Could you kindly confirm that the consultants listed in the matrix in Annex 4 are required to confirm their availability, but are not obliged to confirm exclusivity to only one tenderer?
A: Yes, this understanding is correct.
Q: How much of the total value of the Framework agreement was consumed in the previous contract?
A: The information requested will not be disclosed during the bidding process as it is not indicative of future budget consumption for the upcoming framework contract.
Q: Can you please clarify whether the 5 references requested in the Annex 2 should cover specific or all the programme areas?
A: The selection of the references should fulfil to the fullest extent possible the conditions described in section 3.5.1 of the ToR.
Q: If a country has more than one official languages, is it sufficient to cover only one of them?
A: Yes, this is sufficient.
Q: Could you kindly provide details on the criteria and methodology that will be used for the assessment of the financial offer? As the financial offer does not include the total price, we would appreciate further information on how the best price criterion will be determined.
A: As we will be entering into framework agreements with the selected contractors, the amount and precise nature of the services to be performed under the contract is uncertain. Hence the total price of the contract cannot be established ex ante with any degree of certainty. The assessment of the offered prices from each bidder will therefore be made based on an estimated total price, calculated based on a pre-determined and equally applied "scenario" of unit amounts, intended to represent an estimation of the proportion of hours required from the different categories of staff and countries. This scenario will not be shared with tenderers.
Q: Regarding Annex 4 (Country-Sector Matrix), is there a possible way to place experts who have one or several components of the desired expertise yet do not fit precisely into the table? For example, would it be possible to include somewhere in offer experts with relevant sectoral and geographic expertise yet who do not have a C1-level knowledge of the country's language?
A: In line with the requirement described in section 3.5.2 of the Terms of Reference, experts need to have a C1 knowledge of the language of the country. This means that experts that do not meet this requirement cannot be listed as having geographic knowledge of that country for the purposes of the bid assessment.
Q: Are there any page limits apart from 5 pages per CV maximum and 5 pages per company presentation?
A: No, there is no page limit apart from the ones set for the CVs and company presentation.
Q: Is there a maximum number of CVs that should be shared for experts?
A: As indicated in section 3, the proposed core team should consist of a maximum of 10 persons. Therefore, no more than 10 CVs should be provided at this stage.
As defined under section 3.5, CVs of beneficiary States' sector experts (not part of the core team) could be requested at a later stage during the assessment of tenders.
Q: Could you please let us know whether the submission deadline could be extended?
A: Due to our internal timeline, no extension of the deadline is foreseen.
Q: Are organisations based outside Belgium/the EEA eligible to apply?
A: There are no limitations in the Terms of Reference regarding the geographic location of the bidder. However please note that the bidders will be evaluated on their knowledge, understanding of and presence in the Beneficiary States, and that this may set some practical limitations regarding where a Contractor under the framework agreement can be based.
Q: Can a bidder apply as a consortium/partnership of several entities, or including subcontractors? And can references for consortium partners/subcontractors be submitted to fulfil the relevant criteria? How does the use of subcontractors/consortium partners affect the submission requirements for the Annexes?
A: The FMO expects to sign framework agreements with individual entities, acting as Contractors under the Framework Agreements and taking on all the responsibilities described in the contract. However, a Contractor can assign parts of its responsibilities under the contracts to subcontractors. The qualifications and tasks assigned to such subcontractors will be taken into account when bids are assessed.
Q: Can bidders/contractors use external experts to 1) document their geographical and sectoral expertise under that award criteria, and 2) fulfil their obligations under the contract?
A: The FMO expects to sign framework agreements with individual legal entities, acting as Contractors under the Framework Agreements and taking on all the responsibilities described in the contract. However, we understand that all bidders/contractors will need to rely on external expertise to a varying degree in order to provide coverage of the sectors and countries required. This can be achieved through formal relationships through partnerships/consortia/use of subcontractors, and/or through the use of external experts on a less formal basis. For the former, please refer to the separate question regarding subcontracting/partnerships.
Q: The documents and the EEA grants website indicate the deadline as 28/04/2025 at 12:00 Brussels Time. However, on the Ted website we see deadline listed as 25/04/2025 12:00:00 (UTC+2). Could you please confirm the correct submission deadline?
A: The correct deadline is 28/04/2025. A change notice has been published to TED accordingly.