Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2025-03-25
Buyer: HAUS kehittämiskeskus Oy
Country: FI
Region: FI1B1
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 80000000
Estimated value: 250000 EUR
Submission deadline: 2025-04-22
Award criteria: quality, price
EU fund: eu-funds

Technical requirements: The tenderer itself or any person who is a member of its administrative, management or supervisory body or has powers of representation, decision or control therein been the subject of a conviction by final judgment for participation in a criminal organisation, by a conviction rendered at the most five years ago or in which an exclusion period set out directly in the conviction continues to be applicable.
The tenderer itself or any person who is a member of its administrative, management or supervisory body or has powers of representation, decision or control therein has been the subject of a conviction by final judgment for, by a conviction rendered at the most five years ago or in which an exclusion period set out directly in the conviction continues to be applicable.
The tenderer itself or any person who is a member of its administrative, management or supervisory body or has powers of representation, decision or control therein been the subject of a conviction by final judgment for fraud, by a conviction rendered at the most five years ago or in which an exclusion period set out directly in the conviction continues to be applicable.
The tenderer itself or any person who is a member of its administrative, management or supervisory body or has powers of representation, decision or control therein has been the subject of a conviction by final judgment for terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, by a conviction rendered at the most five years ago or in which an exclusion period set out directly in the conviction continues to be applicable.
The tenderer itself or any person who is a member of its administrative, management or supervisory body or has powers of representation, decision or control therein has been the subject of a conviction by final judgment for money laundering or terrorist financing, by a conviction rendered at the most five years ago or in which an exclusion period set out directly in the conviction continues to be applicable.

Eligibility requirements: The selected consultant team/service provider should demonstrate the following:
1. Technical Expertise
- In-depth knowledge of cybersecurity standards and frameworks, including the EU 5G Toolbox 
- Experience in developing and implementing cybersecurity solutions for digital infrastructure like data centres.
2. Regional Experience 
- Proven track record of working in the Global South, preferably Sub-Saharan Africa, with a strong understanding of local contexts and regulatory environments.
3. Training and Capacity Building 
- Expertise in designing and delivering training programs for technical and non-technical audiences.
4. Stakeholder Engagement 
- Ability to collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholder groups,  including government agencies, private sector actors, and development partners.
Kindly refer to the Terms of Reference (Annex 1)

- Relevance and feasibility of the proposed methodology and approach – 20 points 
- Viability and comprehensiveness of project work plan – 20 points 
- Proven track record on similar assignments and experience and qualifications of the proposed team – 25 points
- Demonstrated understanding of local contexts and challenges – 10 points.
The tender with the lowest price receives 25 points. The comparison points for othertenders for the price sec􀆟on are calculated following the formula: price of the tendererwith the lowest price / price to be compared * 25.
HAUS Office Yliopistonkatu 5, 5.krs, Helsinki, Finland and Online Teams-meeting
The Digital Investment Facility (DIF) is supporting the development of secure and resilient data infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa as part of the broader Data Governance (DataGov) in Africa Action, a 3.5-year Team Europe initiative. DataGov program is aligned with the AU-EU strategic partnership, fostering a human-centric and development-oriented data economy in Africa. Secure digital infrastructure is critical to achieving the objectives of sustainable economic growth, operational resilience, and trusted data governance. DIF is executed jointly by HAUS Finnish Institute of Public Management Ltd and GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft for International Cooperation). 

In today's data-driven environment, secure and efficient data infrastructure is essential to support decision-making, operations, and long-term growth. There is an evident need for support in physical security and cybersecurity issues of data infrastructure. In many African countries facilities hosting data infrastructure have faced violence, crimes and cybersecurity breaches with severe consequences that led to reputational damage and financial loss. Capacity to ensure safety and cybersecurity of data infrastructure is a critical factor e.g. in the planning and operation of data centres. To support stakeholders’ capacities and project design, technical guidelines on secure data infrastructure needs to be developed. The guidelines and training material thereof aim to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted data flow and that in the facilities data is stored, processed, and retrieved within a framework that maintains confidentiality, integrity, and availability, aligned with best practices and regulatory requirements.

In the European Union securing these digital infrastructures is essential to protect both national security and individual privacy. Recognizing these challenges, the EU has introduced the 5G Toolbox as a framework to ensure secure, resilient, and trusted telecommunications and IT infrastructures. The toolbox emphasizes risk assessment, vendor trustworthiness, and cybersecurity measures that executors can apply to safeguard critical networks and data centres.

A robust and comprehensive knowledge package on secure data infrastructure management is vital to equip the organizations with the skills and insights needed to protect against vulnerabilities, optimize data workflows, and meet regulatory compliance standards. This initiative will provide a structured approach to managing and securing data assets, promoting organizational resilience and data governance maturity.

The objective of this procurement is to engage a qualified service provider to deliver practical guidelines and training material for secure data infrastructure  management for the DIF knowledge provision and dissemination. The knowledge package should support in creating more enabling environment via capacitating infrastructure (e.g. datacentre and IXP) developers and promoters to apply practices for the establishment and management of a secure and trusted data centre infrastructure. A special emphasis is on cybersecurity; in an era of increasing cyber threats, this framework aims to protect sensitive data, maintain operational integrity, and ensure compliance with applicable regulations. E.g. The EU toolbox for 5G security could be utilised as a source in designing the guidelines. 

DIF is commissioning a seasoned consultant team to execute the preparation of the knowledge package under the supervision of the DIF team.
The service provision can be executed mostly remotely from location(s) of the service provider(s). Location and venue for the on-site training(s) will be agreed jointly during the assignment execution.