Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2024-12-11
Buyer: GÉANT Association
Country: NL
Region: NL329
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 72700000
Estimated value: 25000000 EUR
Submission deadline: 2025-01-27
EU fund: eu-funds

Technical requirements: This tender is divided in 2 Lots. 

Lot 1 – Network Flow Analysis Software – GÉANT Network only
The first lot is for the procurement of network flow analysis software by the GÉANT Association.

GÉANT aims to procure the use of software for network analysis, provided on servers maintained by the Supplier (i.e. Software as a Service (SaaS)), that can continuously receive, analyse and store the sampled traffic flow information, i.e. an ‘IPFIX’ network flow feed, sent from GÉANT’s packet network, providing real time and retrospective network utilisation information to GÉANT and NREN teams.
Such a system is required to carry out in-depth analysis of backbone network traffic flows, allowing improved capacity planning and helping to advise member NRENs regarding their own use of the GÉANT network, such as the top talkers to/from their own networks.


Lot 2 – Framework agreements Network Flow Analysis Software – NRENs in the GÉANT Community
In the second lot, GÉANT Association will award framework agreements, facilitating the procurement of network flow analysis software by its members. 

The GÉANT Association is a membership organisation with its registered office in the Netherlands. GÉANT Association (GÉANT) is owned by 36 national members, which are European national research and education network (NREN) organisations, and one representative member (NORDUnet) which participates on behalf of five Nordics members. 
Most of these members are contracting authorities bound by (European) public procurement legislation.

This unique set-up makes it possible for GÉANT to procure on behalf of its members as a CPB. 

For more information about GÉANT members see: https://about.geant.org/membership/
In lot 2 GÉANT will award framework agreements for the procurement of software for network analysis that can be used by the GÉANT members. These are the National members, Representative members and Associates. 

A full list of members can be found here (https://about.geant.org/membership/members-associates-general-assembly-representatives/)
The GN5-2  project is the latest phase of the long-running and highly successful GÉANT Project that, in close collaboration with the European Commission, has supported Europe’s research and education communities for over 20 years. The project’s mission is to provide scientists, researchers, and students secure access to the world’s most advanced connectivity and collaboration services, enabling effective and secure collaboration within virtual research communities around the world.

Vast research initiatives often involving hundreds of participants across multiple countries utilising advanced computing facilities, continue to rely on the infrastructure provided by GÉANT and its NREN partners, in areas as diverse as climate change, medicine, and energy research.
GÉANT aims to procure the use of software for network analysis, provided on servers maintained by the Supplier (i.e. Software as a Service (SaaS)), that can continuously receive, analyse and store the sampled traffic flow information, i.e. a ‘NetFlow’ feed, sent from GÉANT’s packet network, providing real time and retrospective network utilisation information to the Network Operations, CCRO and NREN teams.

Such a system is required to carry out in-depth analysis of backbone network traffic flows, allowing improved capacity planning and helping to advise member NRENs regarding their own use of the GÉANT network, such as the top talkers to/from their own networks.
For lot 2 GÉANT Association acts as a Centralised Purchasing Body (CPB) on behalf of members. 
In this lot 2 GÉANT Association will award framework agreements under which members of GÉANT can procure framework software for network analysis without further involvement of GÉANT Association.

The organisations to whom the framework agreements are awarded to, can be selected by the GÉANT members to deliver network analysis software and/or services on their respective networks. The differences between requirements between Lot 1 and Lot 2 will be clearly identified in this tender.

As many of the GÉANT members are contracting authorities ‘Easy access’ needs to seen in the light of the obligation for a member to run a public tender. Making these framework agreements available to the members via GÉANT as a CPB will remove that obligation, resulting in significant reduced administrative efforts for both the potential suppliers as the members.

Eligibility requirements: other