TENDER FILE / TERMS OF REFERENCE

(Competitive bidding procedure / Framework Contract)

Purchase of national consultancy services

Contract N° FC/9264/2025/02

 

The Council of Europe is currently implementing the Project “Phase II: Support to the Implementation of the European Human Rights Standards in Ukraine”. The Project’s general aim is to assist the Ukrainian authorities in implementation of the European human rights standards with a specific focus on strengthening the Ombudspersons’ Office operational capacity to protect human rights, aligning its legal and regulatory framework with the European standards, including in the field of data protection; to enhance the Ombudsperson’s Office capacity to respond to the challenges related to the reporting of gross human rights violations and strengthening the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to efficiently prevent and combat ill-treatment, as well as to enhance the Ombudsperson’s Office external communication with the stakeholders and public.

In that context, it is looking for Providers for the provision of the national consultancy services to be requested by the Council on an as needed basis.

A.    TENDER RULES

This tender procedure is a competitive bidding procedure. In accordance with Rule 1395 of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the procurement procedures of the Council of Europe[1], the Organisation shall invite to tender at least three potential providers for any purchase between €2,000 (or €6,000 for intellectual services) and €171,000 tax exclusive.

This specific tender procedure aims at concluding a framework contract for the provision of deliverables described in the Act of Engagement (See attached). A tender is considered valid for 180 calendar days as from the closing date for submission. The selection of tenderers will be made in the light of the criteria indicated below. All tenderers will be informed in writing of the outcome of the procedure.

The tenderer must be either a natural person, or a legal person or consortium of natural and/or legal person.

Tenders shall be submitted by email only (with attachments) to the email address indicated in the table below, with the following reference in subject: Tender FC/9264/2025/02_Expert’s name. Tenders addressed to another email addresswill be rejected.

The general information and contact details for this procedure are indicated on this page. You are invited to use the CoE Contact details indicated below for any question you may have. All questions shall be submitted at least 5 (five) working days before the deadline for submission of the tenders and shall be exclusively addressed to the email address indicated below with the following reference in subject: Tender FC/9264/2025/02_Question

Type of contract ►	Framework contract
Duration ►	Until 31 December 2026, renewable until 31 December 2027
Deadline for submission of tenders/offers ►	26 April 2025 23h59 CET
Email for submission of tenders/offers ►	[email protected]
Email for questions ►	[email protected]
Expected starting date of execution ►	05 May 2025

B.    EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

Background of the Project

The Council of Europe under the Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026 is implementing the Project “Phase II: Support to the Implementation of the European Human Rights Standards in Ukraine”. The Project’s general aim is to support the Ukrainian authorities in implementation of the European human rights standards on the national level with a specific focus made on the following areas:

-    Strengthening the Ombudsperson’s Office institutional capacity to protect human rights, respond to the needs and challenges related to the reporting of the gross human rights violations and human rights monitoring of the war-affected people;

-    Alignment of the national policy, legislative framework and practice related to combatting ill-treatment with the international and European standards;

-    Harmonisation of the data protection policy, legal framework and practice with the Council of Europe and other Europeanstandards, primarily Convention 108+ and its Protocols, as well as GDPR;

-    Support in creation of the specialised training programmes and courses in the area of national and international human rights mechanisms, raising awareness among the national authorities, legal professionals, and public on human rights standards, including through the enhanced external communication of the Ombudsperson’s Office.

The Council of Europe is looking for a maximum of 55 Providers (provided enough tenders meet the criteria indicated below) in order to support the implementation of the Project with a particular expertise on organisation of the Ombudsperson’s Office work and its internal procedures, prevention of ill-treatment via implementation of the NPM, protection of personal data, etc.

This Contract is currently estimated to cover up activities to be held by 31 December 2026. This estimate is for information only and shall not constitute any sort of contractual commitment on the part of the Council of Europe. The Contract may potentially represent a higher or lower number of activities, depending on the evolving needs of the Organisation.

For information purposes only, the total budget of the Project amounts to 1 200 000 Euros with a total amount of the tender object shall not exceed 171,000 Euros tax exclusive for the whole duration of the Framework Contract. This information does not constitute any sort of contractual commitment or obligation on the part of the Council of Europe.

Lots

The present tendering procedure aims to select Provider(s) to support the implementation of the project and is divided into the following lots:

Lots	Maximum number of Providers to be selected
LOT 1: Alignment of the legal and regulatory framework of the Ombudsperson’s Office work, its institutional structure and internal procedures with the European human rights standards and best practices	15
LOT 2: Combatting ill-treatment through efficient realisation of the mandate of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) and implementation of the European human rights standards into the work of various places of deprivation of liberty	15
LOT 3: Alignment of the data protection policy, legal framework and practice with the European standards and the Council of Europe Convention 108+	15
LOT 4: Enhancement of the Ombudsperson’s Office external communication and promotion of human rights knowledge among the stakeholders about the Ombudsperson’s mandate and human rights standards	10

The Council will select the abovementioned number of Providers per lot, provided enough tenders meet the criteria indicated below. Tenderers are invited to indicate which lot(s) they are tendering for (see Section A of the Act of Engagement).

Scope of the Framework Contract

Throughout the duration of the Framework Contract, pre-selected Providers may be asked to:

Lots	Maximum number of Providers to be selected
LOT 1: Alignment of the legal and regulatory framework of the Ombudsperson’s Office work, its institutional structure and internal procedures with the European human rights standards and best practices The pre-selected Providers may be asked to advise on the topics within the thematic area of Lot 1. The list of expected deliverables is as follows, but not exhaustive: •  Provision of the expertise through assessment, legal opinions of the legal acts and policy documents (both drafts and in force) and/or practice of their implementation; provision of advice (oral and/or written), research, analytical notes, reports, comments etc. including on the issues of efficient functioning of the national human rights institutions in compliance with the Council of Europe and other international standards; ·  Contribution to preparation of the internal guidance, regulatory documents, methodologies in line with the mandate and operational work of the Ombudsperson’s Office, national legal framework and political context, as well as international standards; ·  Participation and contribution to the thematic working group meetings, expert meetings with the national stakeholders, including through moderating/facilitating expert exchange and delivering presentations; ·  Participation and contribution to the conferences, roundtables, seminars, trainings and other relevant events, including through moderating/facilitating discussions and delivering presentations; ·  Conduction of the mapping analysis of the Ombudsperson’s Office staff training needs; ·  Contribution to preparation and delivery of the special trainings on analytical thinking and analysis delivery, leadership and management for the Ombudsperson’s Office staff (both at the central and regional level); ·  Cooperation and coordination with the Council of Europe consultants (national and international) and contribution to the working meetings/professional exchange with them. The thematic areas under Lot 1 will include inter alia the following: ·  Expert support in amending the current Law of Ukraine on the 'Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights' and other Ombudsperson-related legislation, assistance in implementing new provisions related to the Ombudsperson's appointment and dismissal procedure, immunity and social guarantees, accountability, implementation of the Ombudsperson’s recommendations and other related matters. ·  Expert assistance in establishing the organisational framework for the Ombudsperson’s Office (both at the national and regional level), focusing on enhancing its operational and analytical capacities in specific areas such as the individual complaint handling procedure, case management, realisation of the procedural rights, constitutional appeals, European integration and human rights compliance of the EU-accession draft laws, leadership and management and other matters.	15
LOT 2: Combatting ill-treatment through efficient realisation of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) and implementation of the European human rights standards into the work of various places of deprivation of liberty The pre-selected Providers may be asked to advise on the topics within the thematic area of the Lot 2. The list of expected deliverables is as follows, but not exhaustive: ·  Provision of expertise through assessment, legal opinions/reviews of the legal acts and policy documents (both drafts and in force) and/or practice of their implementation, provision of advice (oral and/or written), comments, recommendations, reports etc. based on profound knowledge of the national legislation, strategic policy documents (e.g. National Human Rights Strategy, National Antitorture Strategy etc.), international legal mechanisms and instruments of il-treatment prevention, as well as domestic context of the NPM mechanism realisation; ·  Participation and contribution to the working group meetings, expert consultations, meetings with the national stakeholders, conferences, seminars and other relevant events, including through moderating/facilitating discussions and delivering presentations/training initiative on various issues related to the human rights protection, and prevention of torture and ill-treatment in places of deprivation of liberty; ·  Contribution to the development of guiding materials on standards of ill-treatment prevention, monitoring methodology application, analysis and reporting techniques, NPM recommendations’ development highlighting the challenging issues of human rights protection in places of deprivation of liberty and those raised by the Ombudsperson in the Annual reports, as well as identified by the national and international human rights NGOs; ·  Provision of recommendations related to the development of efficient modalities of cooperation between the Ombudsperson’s Office, namely the NPM, law enforcement bodies, state authorities and local self-government bodies, as well as public monitors to efficiently combat and investigate cases of torture and ill-treatment in line with the international standards on combatting torture and ill-treatment; ·  Conduction of the performance assessment report of the NPM activity; ·  Contribution to the development of the comprehensive practically focused training framework covering various thematic areas of the NPM’s operation, including on human rights-based outreach standards in the context of the ongoing military aggression, specifics of the NPM work, basic principles of the International Human Rights law and International Humanitarian Law, ECHR case law and other issues for the NPM staff (both at the central and regional level) and independent NPM monitors; ·  Contribution to preparation and delivery of the specific training on methodology of adult learning with a further series of ToTs under the training course on specific of the NPM’s mandate and operation for the NPM newcomers and other stakeholders; ·  Development or update of the tailored on-line and off-line educational content, video-lecturing on standards of human rights protection and ill-treatment prevention in places of deprivation of liberty for the NPM staff and monitors, public authorities and various professional groups; ·  Cooperation and coordination with the Council of Europe consultants (national and international) and contribution to the working meetings/professional exchange with them. The providers can be asked to undertake missions to provide the expected deliverables. The costs of the missions will be covered by the Council of Europe Project.	15
LOT 3: Alignment of the Data Protection policy, legal framework and practice with the European standards and the Council of Europe Convention 108+ The pre-selected Providers may be asked to advise on the topics within the thematic area of the Lot 3. The list of expected deliverables is as follows (not exhaustive): ·  Provision of the expertise in the form of assessment, legal opinions of the legal acts and policy documents (drafts and in force) and/or practice of their implementation; provision of advice (oral and/or written), research, analytical notes, reports, comments etc. related to modernization of the national data protection legal framework in line with the Council of Europe and other international standards of data protection, ECtHR and EU case law; ·  Participation and contribution to the working group meetings, workshops, expert meetings with the national stakeholders, conferences, roundtables, seminars, trainings including through moderating/facilitating discussions and delivering presentations/trainings on the issues covering, Convention 108+ and the European legal regulations in the field of data protection, including on specific and interrelated thematic fields (special data processing, video surveillance, data processing in the military context, artificial intelligence etc.) for various professional groups; ·  Contribution to the development of the information and guiding materials, instructions for the public authorities on the latest amendments of the Council of Europe and EU data protection legal framework, including on specific practice of their implementation and application at the national level (public governance, law-enforcement activities etc.); ·  Contribution to the development of the information and guiding materials, instructions related to establishment of an independent oversight authority in the field of data protection and access to public information both from the national perspective and compliance with the Council of Europe and other international standards on the issue; ·  Contribution to the development and revision of the internal guidance, instructions regulating the Ombudsperson’s Office data protection activity including monitoring methodologies and techniques, reporting and recommendations’ provision etc.; ·  Preparation of the capacity needs assessment of the Ombudsperson’s Office data protection staff and its regional representatives; ·  Contribution to the development of the comprehensive practically focused training framework covering various thematic aspects of data protection for Ombudsperson’s Office staff, state authorities and local self-government bodies; ·  Development or revision of the tailored on-line and off-line educational content, video-lecturing on data protection for general public and professional groups (law enforcement, legal professionals, staff of social care and education systems); ·  Contribution to preparation and delivery of the training on methodology of adult learning with a further series of ToTs on the training course on Personal Data Protection for the Ombudsperson’s Office staff; ·  Contribution to the thematically focused proofreading of the various documents on data protection including the latest European regulations, recommendations and decisions issued by the EU and Council of Europe regulatory and monitoring bodies, relevant ECtHR and EU case-law, information, and educational/training materials; ·  Cooperation and coordination with the Council of Europe consultants (national and international) and contribution to the exchange meetings with them. The providers can be asked to undertake missions to provide the expected deliverables. The costs of the missions will be covered by the Council of Europe Project.	15
LOT 4: Enhancement of the Ombudsperson’s Office external communication and promotion of human rights knowledge among the stakeholders related to the Ombudsperson’s mandate and human rights standards The pre-selected Providers may be asked to advise on the topics within the thematic area of the Lot 4. The list of expected deliverables is as follows (not exhaustive): ·  Provision of expertise in development and realisation of the Ombudsperson’s Office communication policy (both internal and external); ·  Provision of expertise in development/revision of the Ombudsperson’s Office communication strategies (both for central ad regional offices) to enhance awareness of the public authorities and general public about the Ombudsperson’s mandate, role of the Ombudsperson’s institution in human rights protection at the national level; ·  Contribution to conceptualisation, creation and design of the communication products, including news items, informative materials, articles, press announcements and press releases and other communication vehicles such as graphics, imageries, infographics, videos to be posted at the websites and social media platforms; ·  Provision of guidance on identification of the appropriate communication channels and efficient methods of the news/information dissemination to achieve the communication goals; ·  Contribution to development of the social media campaigns tailored to targeted audience within the areas of the Ombudsperson’s mandate; ·  Development and provision of communication trainings of different thematic to enhance skills of the Ombudsperson’s Office staff (both in central and regional offices) to easy and professionally communicate with different target groups, public authorities and public in general; ·  Cooperation and coordination with the Council of Europe consultants (national and international) and contribution to the working meetings/professional exchange with them.	10

The above list is not considered exhaustive. The Council reserves the right to request deliverables not explicitly mentioned in the above list of expected services, but related to the field of expertise object of the present Framework Contract for the lot concerned.

In terms of quality requirements, the pre-selected Service Providers must ensure, inter alia, that:

·         The services are provided to the highest professional/academic standard;

·         Any specific instructions given by the Council – whenever this is the case – are followed.

If contracted by the Council of Europe, the deliverables shall be provided personally by the persons identified in the offer of the Provider whose CVs have been presented to the Council of Europe (See section E. below), in accordance with the terms as provided in the present Tender File and Act of Engagement.

In addition to the orders requested on an as needed basis, the Provider shall keep regular communication with the Council to ensure continuing exchange of information relevant to the project implementation. This involves, among others, to inform the Council as soon as it becomes aware, during the execution of the Contract, of any initiatives and/or adopted laws and regulations, policies, strategies or action plans or any other development related to the object of the Contract (see more on general obligations of the Provider in Article 3.1.2 of the Legal Conditions in the Act of Engagement).

Unless otherwise agreed with the Council, written documents produced by the Provider shall be in English (see more on requirements for written documents in Articles 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 of the Legal Conditions in the Act of Engagement).

C.    FEES

Tenderers are invited to indicate their fees, by completing and sending the table of fees, as attached in Section A to the Act of Engagement. These fees are final and not subject to review. Tenders proposing fees above the exclusion level indicated in the Table of fees will be entirely and automatically excluded from the tender procedure.

The Council will indicate on each Order Form (see Section Dbelow) the global fee corresponding to each deliverable, calculated on the basis of the unit fees, as agreed by this Contract.

D.    HOW WILL THIS FRAMEWORK CONTRACT WORK? (Ordering PROCEDURE)

Once the selection procedure is completed, you will be informed accordingly. Deliverables will then be delivered on the basis of Order Forms submitted by the Council to the selected Provider (s), by post or electronically, on an as needed basis (there is therefore no obligation to order on the part of the Council).

Pooling

For each Order, the Council will choose from the pool of pre-selected tenderers for the relevant lot the Provider who demonstrably offers best value for money for its requirement when assessed – for the Order concerned – against the criteria of:

-          quality (including as appropriate: capability, expertise, past performance, availability of resources and proposed methods of undertaking the work);

-          availability (including, without limitation, capacity to meet required deadlines and, where relevant, geographical location); and

-          price.

Each time an Order Form is sent, the selected Provider undertakes to take all the necessary measures to send it signed to the Council within 2 (two) working days after its reception. If a Provider is unable to take an Order or if no reply is given on his behalf within that deadline, the Council may call on another Provider using the same criteria, and so on until a suitable Provider is contracted.]

Providers subject to VAT

The Provider, if subject to VAT, shall also send, together with each signed Form, a quote[2] (Pro Forma invoice) in line with the indications specified on each Order Form, and including:

-     the Service Provider’s name and address;

-     its VAT number;

-     the full list of services;

-     the fee per type of deliverables (in the currency indicated on the Act of Engagement, tax exclusive);

-     the total amount per type of deliverables (in the currency indicated on the Act of Engagement, tax exclusive);

-     the total amount (in the currency indicated on the Act of Engagement), tax exclusive, the applicable VAT rate, the amount of VAT and the amount VAT inclusive.

Signature of orders

An Order Form is considered to be legally binding when the Order, signed by the Provider, is approved by the Council, by displaying a Council’s Purchase Order number on the Order, as well as by signing and stamping the Order concerned. Copy of each approved Order Form shall be sent to the Provider, to the extent possible on the day of its signature.

E.     ASSESSMENT

Exclusion criteria and absence of conflict of interests

(by signing the Act of Engagement, you declare on your honour not being in any of the below situations)^[3]

Tenderers shall be excluded from participating in the tender procedure if they:

• have been sentenced by final judgment on one or more of the following charges: participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, child labour or trafficking in human beings;
• are in a situation of bankruptcy, liquidation, termination of activity, insolvency or arrangement with creditors or any like situation arising from a procedure of the same kind, or are subject to a procedure of the same kind;
• have received a judgment with res judicata force, finding an offence that affects their professional integrity or serious professional misconduct;
• do not comply with their obligations as regards payment of social security contributions, taxes and dues, according to the statutory provisions of their country of incorporation, establishment or residence;

·         are an entity created to circumvent tax, social or other legal obligations (empty shell company), have ever created or are in the process of creation of such an entity;

·         have been involved in mismanagement of the Council of Europe funds or public funds;

·         are or appear to be in a situation of conflict of interest;

·         are retired Council of Europe staff members or are staff members having benefitted from an early departure scheme;

·         are currently employed by the Council of Europe or were employed by the Council of Europe on the date of the launch of the procurement procedure;

·         have not fulfilled, in the previous three years, their contractual obligations in the performance of a contract concluded with the Council of Europe leading to a total or partial refusal of payment and/or termination of the contract by the Council of Europe;

·         are subject to restrictive measures applied by the United Nations Security Council or the European Union. In the case of legal persons, the restrictive measures imposed on the tenderer’s owner(s) or executives will also exclude the tenderer from participating in this tender procedure.

Eligibility criteria

·           University degree in law / political sciences / social sciences / international relations / public administration or related fields, medicine and medical science or journalism / communication / public relations / IT.

·           At least 5 years of professional experience in the areas mentioned as topics of Lots 1-5 (consulting, academic research, analytical work, expert assessments, working as trainer, contribution to the events as speaker, development and implementation of the communication campaigns, design etc.);

·           For legal persons and private entrepreneurs, being authorized to carry out the respective economic activities.

Award criteria

·           Quality of the offer (80 points) that means relevance of the experience and level of expertise of the tenderer, knowledge of regional and national context in the areas covered by the specific Lots, including previous assignments with the international organisations that would be regarded as an asset.

·           Financial offer (20 points).

The Council reserves the right to hold interviews with tenderers.

Multiple tendering is not authorised.

F.     NEGOTIATIONS

The Council reserves the right to hold negotiations with the bidders in accordance with Article 20 of Rule 1395.

G.    DOCUMENTS TO BE PROVIDED

·         A completed and signed copy of the Act of Engagement^[4] (See attached);

·         A detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format, demonstrating clearly that the tenderer fulfils the eligibility criteria (e.g. education and professional experience); For legal persons only: a detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format, of each natural person allocated to the execution of the contract demonstrating clearly that they fulfil the eligibility criteria; for consortia only: a detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format, of all consortium members clearly demonstrating that they satisfy the eligibility criteria;

·         A list of all owners and executive officers, for legal persons only;

·         Registration documents for legal persons and private entrepreneurs (including those that prove the ability to carry out the respective types of economic activities);

·         A list of drafted expert opinions, legislation assessments, reports, training curriculum and materials and other relevant documents with active links to them to the extent possible on the topics covered by the Lots 1-5 above produced in the last 5 years;

·         Three references’ contact details (including phone number and e-mail address).

Act of Engagement, CV, list of owners should be submitted in English, other documents can be submitted in Ukrainian, failure to do so will result in the exclusion of the tender.

If any of the documents listed above are missing, the Council of Europe reserves the right to reject the tender.

The Council reserves the right to reject a tender if the scanned documents are of such a quality that the documents cannot be read once printed.

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