Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2024-11-22
Region: BE100
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 64200000
Award criteria: quality, price
EU fund: eu-funds

Technical requirements: CCN-WAN is a complex wide area network that interconnects taxation and customs authorities of EU Member States, EFTA countries and Common Transit Countries (CTC). At the same time, it interconnects the data centres of DG TAXUD located in Luxembourg where core IT systems are installed (136 central IT systems dealing with taxation and customs) with the Member States, EFTA and CTC countries and certain EU agencies such as OLAF, EUIPO and ESTAT.
CCN-WAN is a core component for the functioning of Customs Union and exchange of Taxation information for all EU Member States as it provides a secure telecommunication network between national administrations and the European Commission. On those telecommunication lines, the complete data exchange in the area of Customs and Taxation is handled, day-to-day – 365/24/7.
Criterion 1 Networking technology (min 50, max 100 points)
In their answer, tenderers must: The proposed technology should respond to the availability and the quality requirements expressed for the network services (e.g. availability of high-speed line bandwidths); the technology should be scalable and facilitating seamless and effective communications in case of technology upgrade or migration while keeping the costs sustainable. 
The award criterion will assess: The flexibility and adaptability of the tender to understand and implement future challenges for example: overlay services, SDWAN, etc.
Criterion 2: Quality of service (min 100, max 200 points)
In their answer, tenderers must: Describe how the tenderer will ensure high quality of the delivered products and services considering: 
-The need to deliver a full site resiliency (full path redundancy) configuration. 
-The network availability level and business continuity as depicted in the OLA included in the technical specifications. 
How the tender will be conducting network upgrades, and subscribing to necessary network services to keep the large-scale infrastructure and multiple components that constitute a WAN reliable in a timely manner. 
The award criterion will assess: 
- The effectiveness of the proposal including the tools available for qualitative and quantitative on-line monitoring and reporting on the services that continuously accessible to DG TAXUD. 
- The quality of the services delivered by support and helpdesk teams as well as consulting services, which must be delivered from within EU soil as described in the technical annex. 
- The quality and the reliability of the network upgrades plans and the proposed speed of execution within the large-scale CCN WAN infrastructure 
- How the contractor will achieve the lowest possible transit delays for every site.
Criterion 3: Availability and business continuity  (min 50, max 100 points)
Describe how the tender will ensure a thorough monitoring/reporting/maintenance of the services toward the: 
- service security, intrusion detection, encryption methods, pre-emptive security measures in case of a tempting target for cyber threats, 
- the system availability, change management, resiliency, crisis management, Helpdesk offices resiliency, 
- disaster recovery plan in case of major failure (locally in the National administration or on the WAN managed by the contractor), 
- efficient asset management and proactive migration plans for outdated software and hardware components. 
The award criterion will assess the: effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed solution with a particular focus of the feasibility and appropriateness of the proposed measures.
Criterion 4: Geographic coverage  (min 750, max 350 points)
In their answer, tenderer must: Describe how he will ensure a full coverage of the CCN sites listed in the ToR. 
The Wide Area Network services must not be confined within the bounds of a state or countries currently covered. It should extend over a large geographical area covering future needs in the MSs and third part countries. In case the tender cannot deliver standard services, he is invited to describe any fail-over or backup solutions (Satellite, network towers...) to deliver these sites with the expected quality of services. 
The award criterion will assess the: The underneath technology that could be implemented for these sites (automation, reliability, new features, cost reduction, Expandability, improvement of monitoring, robustness, resiliency, etc..) that cannot benefit from a standard network setup.
Criterion 5: Hand-over (min 125, max 250 points)
In their answer, tenderers must: 
-Describe the process and the methods the contractor intends to put into place for an efficient hand-over of the systems; tools; knowledge and the related documentation at the end of the Framework contract. 
-Describe the approach the contractor intends to put into place to support DG TAXUD to lower the impact of business discontinuity during the handover of the CCN WAN services 
-Planning: to set up the list of all activities, resources, deliverables, and milestones required to successfully perform the Hand-Over to DG TAXUD. Planning will include: 1) Preparation: to identify, collect, update and store all artefacts required to allow a smooth and complete transfer of knowledge and training from the incumbent contractor to DG TAXUD; 2) Implementation: to effectively perform the transfer of the services deliverables and tools (if any) from the incumbent contractor to DG TAXUD; 3) Follow-up: if needed, to help DG TAXUD during the Hand-Over process. 
The award criterion will assess the: Quality and the completeness and timeliness production of the proposed hand-over (& provisional planning)
700 points is the minimum cumulative score to be achieved to award the contract.
A complete financial tender, including the breakdown of the price, needs to be submitted. For this purpose, the Financial Model in Annex 6 shall be used.
The financial tender shall be:
• expressed in euros. Tenderers from countries outside the euro zone must quote their prices in euro. The price quoted may not be revised in line with exchange rate movements. It is for the tenderer to bear the risks or the benefits deriving from any variation.
• quoted free of all duties, taxes and other charges, i.e. also free of VAT.


Number of bids: 1