Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2025-09-22
Buyer: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Country: DK
Region: DK011
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Restricted procedure
CPV classification: 75211200 | 79313000 | 79314000 | 79419000
Estimated value: 4520000 DKK
Submission deadline: 2025-10-21
Award criteria: price, quality

Technical requirements: The contracting authority shall exclude an economic operator from participation in the procurement procedure if the economic operator has been convicted by a final judgment or has accepted a fine for bribery as defined in Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union, and Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA of 22 July 2003 on combating corruption in the private sector (OJ 2003, L 192, p. 54) and bribery as defined in the national law of the economic operator’s Member State or home country or the country in which the economic operator is established, cf. section 135(1)(2) of the Danish Public Procurement Act. The contracting authority shall also exclude an economic operator when a person who has been convicted by a final judgment or has accepted a fine for such acts is a member of the economic operator’s board of directors, executive board, or supervisory board. The contracting authority shall also exclude an economic operator if the convicted person has the authority to represent, control, or make decisions in the economic operator’s board of directors, executive board, or supervisory board, cf. section 135(2) of the Danish Public Procurement Act. When the exclusion period is not determined by a final judgment, the contracting authority shall exclude an economic operator from participating in the procurement procedure for 5 years from the date of the final judgment or accepted fine, cf. section 138(6) of the Danish Public Procurement Act.
The contracting authority shall exclude an economic operator from participation in the procurement procedure if the economic operator has been convicted by a final judgment or has accepted a fine for fraud as referred to in Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests, cf. section 135(1)(3) of the Danish Public Procurement Act. The contracting authority shall also exclude an economic operator when a person who has been convicted by a final judgment or has accepted a fine for such acts is a member of the economic operator’s board of directors, executive board, or supervisory board. The contracting authority shall also exclude an economic operator if the convicted person has the authority to represent, control, or make decisions in the economic operator’s board of directors, executive board, or supervisory board, cf. section 135(2) of the Danish Public Procurement Act. When the exclusion period is not determined by a final judgment, the contracting authority shall exclude an economic operator from participating in the procurement procedure for 5 years from the date of the final judgment or accepted fine, cf. section 138(6) of the Danish Public Procurement Act.
The contracting authority shall exclude an economic operator from participation in the procurement procedure if the economic operator has been convicted by a final judgment or has accepted a fine for money laundering or terrorist financing as defined in Article 1 of Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing (OJ 2005, L 309, p. 15), cf. section 135(1)(5) of the Danish Public Procurement Act. The contracting authority shall also exclude an economic operator when a person who has been convicted by a final judgment or has accepted a fine for such acts is a member of the economic operator’s board of directors, executive board, or supervisory board. The contracting authority shall also exclude an economic operator if the convicted person has the authority to represent, control, or make decisions in the economic operator’s board of directors, executive board, or supervisory board, cf. section 135(2) of the Danish Public Procurement Act. When the exclusion period is not determined by a final judgment, the contracting authority shall exclude an economic operator from participating in the procurement procedure for 5 years from the date of the final judgment or accepted fine, cf. section 138(6) of the Danish Public Procurement Act.
The contracting authority shall exclude an economic operator from participation in the procurement procedure if the economic operator has been convicted by a final judgment or has accepted a fine for acts committed as part of a criminal organization as defined in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA of 24 October 2008 (OJ 2008, L 300, p. 42), cf. section 135(1)(1) of the Danish Public Procurement Act. The contracting authority shall also exclude an economic operator when a person who has been convicted by a final judgment or has accepted a fine for such acts is a member of the economic operator’s board of directors, executive board, or supervisory board. The contracting authority shall also exclude an economic operator if the convicted person has the authority to represent, control, or make decisions in the economic operator’s board of directors, executive board, or supervisory board, cf. section 135(2) of the Danish Public Procurement Act. When the exclusion period is not determined by a final judgment, the contracting authority shall exclude an economic operator from participating in the procurement procedure for 5 years from the date of the final judgment or accepted fine, cf. section 138(6) of the Danish Public Procurement Act.
The contracting authority shall exclude an economic operator from participation in the procurement procedure if the economic operator has been convicted by a final judgment or has accepted a fine for terrorist acts or offenses related to terrorist activities as defined in Articles 1, 3, and 4 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA of 13 June 2002 on combating terrorism (OJ 2002, L 164, p. 3) as amended by Council Framework Decision 2008/919/JHA of 28 November 2008 amending Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA on combating terrorism (OJ 2008, L 330, p. 21), cf. section 135(1)(4) of the Danish Public Procurement Act. The contracting authority shall also exclude an economic operator when a person who has been convicted by a final judgment or has accepted a fine for such acts is a member of the economic operator’s board of directors, executive board, or supervisory board. The contracting authority shall also exclude an economic operator if the convicted person has the authority to represent, control, or make decisions in the economic operator’s board of directors, executive board, or supervisory board, cf. section 135(2) of the Danish Public Procurement Act. When the exclusion period is not determined by a final judgment, the contracting authority shall exclude an economic operator from participating in the procurement procedure for 5 years from the date of the final judgment or accepted fine, cf. section 138(6) of the Danish Public Procurement Act.

Eligibility requirements: The economic operator is required to have an average yearly turnover of minimum DKK 5,000,000 for the last 2 financial years available (where the economic operator can present annual reports).
When the economic operator is participating in the procurement procedure together with others (e.g a consortia or joint venture) or if the economic operator relies on the capacity of other entities, it is required that the participating economic operators or the economic operator and the entities referred to altogether meet the selection criteria.
Each involved economic operator or entity must submit a completed ESPD and the participating economic operators or the entities referred to are subject to joint and several liability for the performance of the contract.
The contracting authority can accept annual reports or excerpts hereof or relevant statements from a bank or certified accountant as documentation in relation to the economic and financial standing.
When an economic operator is participating in the procurement procedure together with others or when an economic operator relies on the economic and financial standing of other entities, the economic operator must also provide statements of support or other documentation proving that the economic operator has access to the necessary economic and financial standing. The statements of support must establish a legal obligation for the party concerned and state that the involved economic operators or entities are subject to joint and several liability for the performance of the contract.
The economic operator is required to have performed (entered into, ongoing or finalized) minimum three contracts within the fields of monitoring and evaluation in developing countries, where at least one contract is performed in West Africa within the last 5 years.
‘Monitoring and evaluation’ means a long-term performance review and evaluation of the implementation and results of a development programme.
A reference related to an ‘independent evaluation’ carried out for an evaluation unit of a development organisation will not be considered as a ‘monitoring and evaluation’ reference. Neither will an award of a framework agreement be (but the economic operator may refer to the contracts awarded under the framework agreement).
When the economic operator is participating in the procurement procedure together with others (e.g. a consortia or joint venture) or if the economic operator relies on the capacity of other entities, it is required that the participating economic operators or the economic operator and the entities referred to altogether meet the selection criteria, that each involved economic operator or entity submits a completed ESPD and that the specific parts of the contract must be performed by the economic operators or entities with the required technical and professional abilities.
The economic operator must fill in a list of maximum 5 contracts  (i.e. from all involved economic operators in a group of economic operators and/or other supporting entities). 
If an economic operator has listed more than 5 contracts, the contracting authority will only read and assess the 5 most recent contracts listed (first based on end date, and then based on start date).
Each listed contract should include the following information:
(1) a description of the contract (nature and quantity of services from the economic operator and how they compare to the description of this procurement),
(2) amount (remuneration received by the economic operator for the performance of the services),
(3) start date (date of conclusion of the contract),
(4) end date (date of completion of services), and
(5) recipient (name and contact information).
The contracting authority reserves the right to contact the recipients of services or require statements from the recipients, confirming that the economic operator has performed the listed contracts, as documentation in relation to the technical and professional ability.
When an economic operator is formed by a group of economic operators or relies on the technical and professional abilities of other entities, the economic operator must also provide statements of support or other documentation proving that the economic operator has access to the necessary technical and professional abilities. The statements of support must establish a legal obligation for the party concerned and state the parts of the contract to be performed by the party concerned.
Objective criteria for choosing the limited number of candidates (performance of services of the specified type)
The contracting authority will select 5 candidates to be invited to submit tenders. If more than 5 candidates fulfill the minimum requirements to economic and financial standing and/or technical and professional standing, the candidates will be selected on the basis of the information concerning technical and professional standing, in relation to the object of this contract.
In the selection, the contracting authority will specifically emphasise:
- The number of relevant contracts within the fields of monitoring and evaluation in developing countries and West Africa 
- The extent to which the performed contracts compare to the description of this procurement, in particular within peace and stabilization
- The extent to which the contracts are performed for clients comparable to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (e.g. a European institution/agency or international organisation, a Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local subdivisions, or a national or federal agency/office)
The winning tenderer is to perform the contract in compliance with the Danida Anti-Corruption Policy (https://um.dk/en/danida/anti-corruption) and the principles of the UN Global Compact (https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/mission/principles).
The contract includes a labour clause concerning conditions on pay and work for the staff assigned for the performance of the contract.
Actions regarding requests to participate and selection must be submitted within 20 calendar days from the day after the contracting authority has notified the economic operators of the decisions regarding selection.
Other actions regarding the procedure (e.g. decisions regarding award of contract) must be submitted within:
45 calendar days from the day after the publication of a contract award notice in the Official Journal of the EU.
Complaint guidelines (in English) can be found at: https://naevneneshus.dk/media/9802/complaint-guidelines.pdf
Within the framework of the Danish Peace and Stabilization Fund (PSF), the Danish Government has developed the Peace and Stabilization Programme for West Africa (PSP WA), 2025-2028, with the strategic objective of ensuring that instability in key border areas in West Africa is mitigated through local and regional capacity development. The programme builds on past Danish peace and stabilization efforts in the Sahel by expanding its programmatic focus to include Coastal West African (CWA) countries, including Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, and Togo. The border areas between Burkina Faso and these CWA countries are of particular interest to this programme, as this is the area where the spill-over of instability from the Sahel towards the coastal countries of West Africa is currently most pronounced. 

The PSP WA implements Denmark’s Whole-of-Government (WoG) approach as required in the Strategic Framework for the Peace and Stabilisation Fund (2023-2027) and the Guidelines for the Peace and Stabilisation Fund (2023). It comprises of six projects that contribute to three pillars. The first pillar consists of three projects implemented by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with civil society organisations (CSOs) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The pillar aims to support at-risk communities in prioritised border areas to manage natural resource conflicts through dialogue, stabilisation facilities, and mitigate threats from violent extreme organisations. The second pillar focuses on strengthening regional law enforcement training capacities of CWA countries towards more strategic and coherent law enforcement in the region, as well as applying these in border areas at risk. The implementing partners for this pillar include the UNODC, Danish National Police, and Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR). The third pillar will be implemented by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Defence Command Denmark (DCD), where the focus is on military training and strengthening the response capacities of prioritised regional and national institutions in counter-terrorism and IEDs. Whereas the first and second pillars are ODA-financed, the third pillar is financed by non-ODA contributions. The MEAL contract entails monitoring of the first and second pillar, and evaluation and learning across all three pillars.

Considering the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous nature of the programme’s context, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (MFA), represented by the Royal Danish Embassy (RDE) in Accra, Ghana (hereinafter referred to as the “Client”), intends to engage a Consultant to provide monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) services at both the programme and project levels for the stated programme duration. 
  
In line with the adaptive management principles underpinning the Danish Peace and Stabilization Programmes, the Consultant will support the Client in the further development and implementation of a robust MEAL system. This system must effectively capture, assess, and communicate reliable and relevant data to inform programme management, ensure accountability, and show achieved results. The Consultant's approach should be responsive to the complex and volatile security context in the region and align with the principles of the “Doing Development Differently” (DDD) approach, emphasizing adaptability and continuous learning.

Strategic oversight and coordination of the Consultant’s role will be anchored at the Royal Danish Embassy in Accra, in close collaboration with the Department of Migration, Peace, and Stabilization (MIGSTAB) and other relevant departments within the MFA in Copenhagen, and external stakeholders.

The objective of the Agreement is to support the Client in responding to its MEAL responsibilities including strengthening its monitoring and reporting capacities.

The purpose of the Assignment of the external Consultant is to support and quality assure that the programme and its projects, the Client and implementing partners achieve and document results in an evidence-based manner. The Consultant will in particular help the Client to quality assure partner results through assessing the data collected and validating the results a.o. through selective field visits, including by supporting communication by programme stakeholders of selected documented strategic results.
The contract can be renewed for 12 months after the first 36 months. Thus, a total duration of 4 years.

Winner: Mercell Holding ASA