Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2025-07-21
Buyer: 81317834-eLearning advisory for the service portfolio of the digital learning platform of GIZ - atingi
Country: DE
Region: DEA22
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated with prior call for competition
CPV classification: 79000000 | 80000000
Submission deadline: 2025-08-19

Technical requirements: According to Article 160, Section 3 of the German Act Against Restraint of Competition (GWB), application for review is not permissible insofar as
1. the applicant has identified the claimed infringement of the procurement rules before submitting the application for review and has not submitted a complaint to the contracting authority within a period of 10 calendar days; the expiry of the period pursuant to Article 134, Section 2 remains unaffected,
2. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that are evident in the tender notice are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for the application or by the deadline for the submission of bids, specified in the tender notice.
3. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that first become evident in the tender documents are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for application or by the deadline for the submission of bids,
4. more than 15 calendar days have expired since receipt of notification from the contracting authority that it is unwilling to redress the complaint.
Sentence 1 does not apply in the case of an application to determine the invalidity of the contract in accordance with Article 135, Section 1 (2). Article 134, Section 1, Sentence 2 remains unaffected.
On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), GIZ has been implementing the atingi learning platform ("atingi") from 2019 to 2025. The platform is established as a multilingual and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliant digital learning environment, offering an effective, scalable, and sustainable way to implement digital learning - free of charge for learners in GIZ partner countries. Target groups are learners aged 16 and above living in Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, or Eastern Europe.

The platform hosts over 300 public digital courses, covering topics such as Artificial Intelligence, digital skills, health, entrepreneurship, tourism, and more. GIZ projects can work with atingi to develop new learning content or use and adapt existing resources.
atingi"s technical foundation is a website with multiple subdomains, centered around a Moodle-based Learning Management System (LMS), currently Moodle Workplace 4.1. An upgrade to Moodle Workplace 4.5 is planned in 2025. The LMS is used for training, certifications, and knowledge sharing. It integrates various tools such as the webinar tool BigBlueButton, the authoring tool H5P, tenancies, communication tools, and has been extended with multiple plug-ins.

From 2026 onwards, atingi will be offered as a GIZ-wide internal standard product, accessible to all GIZ projects. While it will remain free of charge to learners, internal charges will apply for the services used by GIZ projects. The focus of the new phase is on simplifying and standardizing the atingi product and service portfolio, ensuring data protection and information security, and enabling smooth and transparent procurement and onboarding processes for all interested GIZ projects (referred to as "partners").

To support this transition, the atingi team is seeking external support through a contractor. Within the framework of this collaboration, the contractor will support the atingi team on a regular basis through a combination of planned and ad hoc work tasks, each defined with clear goals, deliverables, and methods. 

The contractor will be responsible for the following work packages:
A) Work package 1: Collaboration management and offboarding
Objective: Ensure effective coordination, strategic alignment, and quality assurance throughout the collaboration with the atingi team, supporting adaptive implementation, smooth team transitions, and sustainable knowledge transfer.
B) Work package 2: Service portfolio development and management
Objective: Provide expert guidance, research, and hands-on support to enhance atingi"s eLearning offerings by advising on eLearning best practices, scoping and implementing new platform features, maintaining atingi-owned courses, and developing multilingual support materials for partners and learners.
C) Work package 3: Quality assurance and partner and learner support
Objective: Conduct regular quality assurance testing for courses to be published on the atingi platform, and provide support to partners and learners upon demand.
EN-A1: Principles for the execution of orders (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): The eligbility criteria are not from the same category as stipulated above, as there is no suitable category. 

1. Self-declaration: name of company and address, tax ID, registration and commercial register number or equivalent register in accordance with the legal provisions of the country of origin.
2. No grounds for exclusion pursuant to § 123, § 124 GWB, § 22 LkSG, EU-Russia sanctions

3. Declaration of bidding consortium and/or declaration of subcontractors (if applicable)
EN-A2: Conditions for the reduction of candidates (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): If we receive more than 5 requests to participate from eligible participants, we will make a selection on the basis of the criteria laid out in the procurement documents and invite tenders only from the 5 candidates with the highest scores. We reserve the right to cancel the procurement procedure if we receive fewer than 3 requests to participate. If it is not possible to make a clear selection of up to five candidates for the tendering phase on the basis of the criteria listed in the procurement documents (e.g. if a number of candidates achieve the same overall eligibility score), we reserve the right to increase the maximum number of five

Weighted criteria for the selection of candidates:

I.Technical experience

a) Management and maintenance of moodle workplace based LMS (at least Moodle 4.1): 30 %       
b) Quality assurance (technical functionality and user-friendliness) of eLearning courses developed by third party: 10 %      
c) Learner support for a moodle based platform (at least Moodle 4.1): 10 %       
d) Development, adaptation and maintenance of elearning courses in H5P and Articulate: 20 %      
e) Advisory services and process support covering the full elearning lifecycle, from development to hosting: 10 %
    

II. Experience of development projects (ODA-financed)

Experience of development projects (at least 50% ODA-financed): 20 %
EN-B1: Technical and professional ability (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): 1. The technical assessment is only based on reference projects with a minimum commission value of 80,000.00 EUR.
2. At least 4 reference projects in the technical field

"1) advisory on moodle based learning management systems 
or 
2) eLearning content development and implementation on moodle based platforms"

thereof at least 2 in Africa in either of the above 
mentioned technical fields

each in the last 36 months (deadline: date of
publication of invitation to tender).

Eligibility requirements: EN-A1: Principles for the execution of orders (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): The eligbility criteria are not from the same category as stipulated above, as there is no suitable category. 

1. Self-declaration: name of company and address, tax ID, registration and commercial register number or equivalent register in accordance with the legal provisions of the country of origin.
2. No grounds for exclusion pursuant to § 123, § 124 GWB, § 22 LkSG, EU-Russia sanctions

3. Declaration of bidding consortium and/or declaration of subcontractors (if applicable)
EN-A2: Conditions for the reduction of candidates (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): If we receive more than 5 requests to participate from eligible participants, we will make a selection on the basis of the criteria laid out in the procurement documents and invite tenders only from the 5 candidates with the highest scores. We reserve the right to cancel the procurement procedure if we receive fewer than 3 requests to participate. If it is not possible to make a clear selection of up to five candidates for the tendering phase on the basis of the criteria listed in the procurement documents (e.g. if a number of candidates achieve the same overall eligibility score), we reserve the right to increase the maximum number of five

Weighted criteria for the selection of candidates:

I.Technical experience

a) Management and maintenance of moodle workplace based LMS (at least Moodle 4.1): 30 %       
b) Quality assurance (technical functionality and user-friendliness) of eLearning courses developed by third party: 10 %      
c) Learner support for a moodle based platform (at least Moodle 4.1): 10 %       
d) Development, adaptation and maintenance of elearning courses in H5P and Articulate: 20 %      
e) Advisory services and process support covering the full elearning lifecycle, from development to hosting: 10 %
    

II. Experience of development projects (ODA-financed)

Experience of development projects (at least 50% ODA-financed): 20 %
EN-B1: Technical and professional ability (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): 1. The technical assessment is only based on reference projects with a minimum commission value of 80,000.00 EUR.
2. At least 4 reference projects in the technical field

"1) advisory on moodle based learning management systems 
or 
2) eLearning content development and implementation on moodle based platforms"

thereof at least 2 in Africa in either of the above 
mentioned technical fields

each in the last 36 months (deadline: date of
publication of invitation to tender).
EN-B2:  Technical and professional ability (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): Average number of employees and managers in the last three calendar years, at least 5 persons.
EN-C1: Economic and financial standing (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): Average annual turnover for the last three years (last-but-four financial year can be included in case of tenders held within 6 months of end of last financial year), at least: 600,000 EUR.
Weighted criteria for the selection of candidates:

1. Technical experience (XX%)
2. Regional experience (XX%)
3. Experience of development projects (at least 50% ODA-financed) (XX%) - Assessment of technical eligibility / weighted criteria for the selection of candidates
An advance payment guarantee may be required.
GIZ asks the applicant or bidder to submit, complete or correct documents, within the framework laid down by law.
The execution conditions result from the information given in the contract notice and the tender documents.
According to Article 160, Section 3 of the German Act Against Restraint of Competition (GWB), application for review is not permissible insofar as
1. the applicant has identified the claimed infringement of the procurement rules before submitting the application for review and has not submitted a complaint to the contracting authority within a period of 10 calendar days; the expiry of the period pursuant to Article 134, Section 2 remains unaffected,
2. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that are evident in the tender notice are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for the application or by the deadline for the submission of bids, specified in the tender notice.
3. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that first become evident in the tender documents are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for application or by the deadline for the submission of bids,
4. more than 15 calendar days have expired since receipt of notification from the contracting authority that it is unwilling to redress the complaint.
Sentence 1 does not apply in the case of an application to determine the invalidity of the contract in accordance with Article 135, Section 1 (2). Article 134, Section 1, Sentence 2 remains unaffected.