Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2024-08-16
Region: DEA22
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 72000000 | 79416000 | 80400000
Estimated value:  EUR
Award criteria: price, quality

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.
The Government of the Republic of Benin aims to "transform Benin into West Africa's digital services platform for accelerated growth and social inclusion". To do so, the government has developed a solid administrative framework to underpin its ambitious development objectives. A Ministry for Digitalization was set up in 2016, followed by the establishment of specialized technical agencies for information security, infrastructure development, information systems and services, etc. The "Digital Code" was adopted in 2017, followed by the strategies on cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence. 
Among the government"s flagship projects is the "Smart Government" programme which aims to contribute to the establishment of a modern administration with the help of the Agency for Information and Digital Systems  (ASIN). ASIN"s objectives include the widespread use of ICT in public administration and in Benin's social and economic sectors.
Over the past three years, Benin has made remarkable progress in digital transformation, designing national e-government frameworks and developing e-services for citizens and businesses. A data exchange solution for public authorities was implemented based on X-Road, the open-source technology used in Estonia. A public key infrastructure has already been put in place; an e-payment system will follow shortly. Benin championed the Smart Africa Digital ID Blueprint to enhance cross-border eID interoperability and the Government successfully conducted a large census for the purpose of identifying people, resulting in nearly 10 million Beninese listed in the National Register of Persons (NPR). Next to civil status data and biometric data, the NPR contains the Personal Identification Number (NPI) that identifies every Beninese citizen. Therefore, NPR is one of the foundations for digital identity and a key element for public e-services provided through a national e-services portal. The latter will serves as a single point of entry to all public services - increasing accountability and accessibility. While still nascent, the portal currently makes some 250 public services accessible and will ultimately be the place where most public services can be accessed digitally. 
The German Development Cooperation supports the ambitious reform agenda of the Ministry of Digitalization through the Digital Transformation Center approach. The concept of the Digital Transformation Centers is linked to a political initiative of the Federal Republic of Germany to support the governments of partner countries in creating mechanisms and instruments for the development, implementation and dissemination of digital solutions. 
In Benin, the Digital Transformation Center has worked on three topics: digital administration, digital entrepreneurship and digital learning.
On behalf of the German Government, GIZ aims at promoting the collaboration between the public  and the local private sector on the digitalisation of public services in Benin. The project "Beninnovation - Strengthening digital transformation in Benin" wants to unlock the creative and innovative potential of the private sector for the digitalisation of public services by implementing a series of activities. Among those activities are the development of a methodological and technical framework (toolkit) and the preparation of a project pipeline for the digitalisation of services or the establishment of a co-creation space that will enable stakeholders to successfully co-create new ideas and services. These and other activities are complemented by a series of tailor-made training offers for both, the public and the private sector.
1. option up to 36 months (see above), 
2 extensions of contract duration without substantial changes
Zur Ermittlung des wirtschaftlichsten Bieters wird hier von der Vergabestelle die erreichte Gesamtpunktzahl nach fachlicher Wertung eingetragen. Es werden nur Angebote mit einer fachlichen Bewertung von über 500 Punkten gewertet. Fachliche Angebote mit weniger Punkten scheiden als fachlich ungeeignet aus.
The "Beninnovation" project enhances cooperation between public administration and local private companies in the field of digital transformation in the public sector, especially as regards the digitalisation of public services. So far, the main achievements in the digitalisation of public services in Benin have been realised by the Agency for Information and Digital Systems (ASIN) with the help of Estonia"s E-Governance Academy and advisory services provided by Cybernetica (an Estonian ICT company). As a result, several e-services are available to the citizens. However, as the Government"s objective is to digitalise all administrative services (referred to "industrialization of e-services"), this exceeds by far ASIN"s capacities. Consequently, the private sector is needed to fill the gap.
As of today, only a few local companies seem to have the necessary skills and expertise to effectively contribute to the digitalisation of public services. Several additional companies are working in similar fields (finance sector) or show interest to enter this potential market. 
The Beninnovation project is building the capacities of two stakeholder groups: first, civil servants and sector experts working in the Directorates for Information Systems (DSI) at different ministries and government agencies overseeing the digitalization of their own institutions. Second, technical staff and managers of local private service providers who are willing to contribute to an innovative and inclusive digital transformation of the Beninese public administration, especially as regards administrative services.
The project aims to consolidate its capacity building approach by contributing to the establishment of a community of practice (CoP). The primary objective of the CoP established under this tender is to foster a collaborative and dynamic environment where members collectively enhance their knowledge, skills, and expertise in the field of digital solutions for the public sector. Anchored within a local organisation, the CoP will serve as a key element for capacity building activities as well as the sharing, distribution and application of training materials, best practices and innovative strategies. In this sense, the CoP will contribute to the sustainability of the project"s achievements.
Alongside activities supporting the development of this CoP, the contractor will design and provide several trainings in the fields of:
- User experience and Design Thinking,
- e-government architecture,
- Data Management and Introduction to new technologies.
These trainings are part of a comprehensive training programme that Beninnovation is providing to the beneficiaries of the public and private sector. The content of the trainings and the experience drawn from the training sessions shall be incorporated into the work of the CoP. 
Finally, the consultancy will facilitate the digitalisation of several public services in collaboration with local companies in order to create practical and hands-on experiences that can be shared as lessons within the CoP. These project scenarios shall focus on the digitalisation of a new service or on the improvement of an existing e-service and shall be designed and carried out with the use of innovative methods putting user centricity and inclusiveness in their center.
The learning activities could, amongst others, include learning exchanges at the start of the project phases (design, implementation, testing, etc), retrospective activities after key milestones, the identification and sharing of lessons learnt, etc. The contractor will make sure that local companies are able to apply what they learned and share the learnings (within the CoP).


Winner: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Award value: 361665
Number of bids: 2