TENDER FILE / TERMS OF REFERENCE
(Competitive bidding procedure / One-off contract)
Purchase of IT equipmentand software with delivery for the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights
Contract № 9214/2026/32
The Council of Europe is currently implementing the Project “Rights of Veterans and Personnel of Armed Forces in Ukraine” (hereinafter – the Project) with the duration of 35 months (1 February 2024 – 31 December 2026). The Project objective is to assist the Ukrainian authorities in promoting and protecting the human rights, including the social rights, of military personnel, veterans, and their family members through the efficient functioning of human rightsinstitutions and mechanisms both during and/orafter the war period.
One of the key Project’s partners is the Ombudsperson Office in Ukraine and the main goal of such a cooperation is strengthening the state institutions’ capacity to better protect the rights of military servicepersons, veterans,and their family members in linewith the Councilof Europe and other European standards, monitoring human rightsviolations in militarysphere and providerecommendations to improve procedures of human rights protection.
To attain such objectives, the Project is going to provide technical support to the Ombudsperson Office in Ukraine, aimed at equippingthe institution with essential IT items and a software. This support is designed to enhance the Office’s capacityfor conducting monitoring visits, ultimately strengthening its capacity and ability to assist and protect the rights of the primary Project’s beneficiaries such as military personnel, veterans, and their family members.
In that context, the Council of Europe is looking for a Provider with a comprehensive expertise for the provision of IT equipment and software. This tender procedure aims to conclude a one-time contract for the delivery of the products described in more detail in the TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR IT EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE (Appendix III of the tripartite contract).
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 Europe1, the Organisation shall invite to tender at least three potential providers for any purchase between €2,000 (or €6,000 for intellectual services) and €184,000 tax exclusive.
This specific tender procedure aims at concluding a one-off contract for the provision of deliverables described in the TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR IT EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE (Appendix III of the tripartite contract). A tender is considered valid for 180 calendar days as from the closing date for submission. The selectionof tenderers will be made in the light of the criteriaindicated below. All tenderers will be informed in writing of the outcome of the procedure.
The tenderer must be eithera natural person,a legal person or consortiaof legal and/or natural persons.
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 - 9214/2026/32_ Name of your company. Tenders addressed to another email address will 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, in English,at least 5 (five) workingdays 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: Questions - 9214/2026/32
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1 The activities of the Councilof Europe are governed by its Statute and its internalRegulations. Procurement is governed by the Financial Regulations of the Organisation and by Rule 1395 of 20 June 2019 on the procurement procedures of the Council of Europe.
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Type of contract ► |
One-off Contract |
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Duration ► |
Until complete execution of the obligations of the parties |
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Deadline for submission of tenders/offers ► |
6 July 2026 14h00 (Kyiv time) |
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Email for submission of tenders/offers ► |
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Email for questions ► |
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Expected starting date of execution ► |
20 July 2026 |
B. EXPECTED DELIVERABLES
The expecteddeliverables are described in the TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR IT EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE (See Appendix III of the tripartite contract).
C. FEES
All tenderers are invited to submit a financial offer(see Appendix IV of the tripartite contract)
Tenderers subject to VATshallalso indicate:
- the ServiceProvider’s name and address;
- its VATnumber;
- the full list of services;
- the fee per type of deliverables (in Euros, tax exclusive);
- the total amount per type of deliverables (in Euros, tax exclusive);
- the total amount (in Euros), tax exclusive, the applicable VAT rate, the amount of VAT and the amount VAT inclusive.
The bidder understands and agrees that the fees proposed shallinclude the transferof all rights, title, and interest in the deliverables in accordance with the tripartite contract to be entered into between the bidder, the Council of Europe and the Recipient (as defined therein).
D. ASSESSMENT
Exclusion criteria and absence of conflict of interests
(by submitting a tender, you declare on your honournot being in any of the below situations).2
Tenderers shall be excludedfrom participating in the tenderprocedure if they:
· have been sentenced by final judgment on one or more of the following charges: participation in a criminalorganisation, 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 receiveda judgment with res judicataforce, finding an offence that affects their professional integrity or serious professional misconduct;
· do not comply with their obligations as regards paymentof social securitycontributions, 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 Councilof Europe funds or public funds;
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2 The Council of Europe reserves the right to ask tenderers, at a later stage, to supply the following supporting documents:
- An extractfrom the recordof convictions or failing that an equivalent document issued by the competent judicial or administrative authority of the country of incorporation, indicating that the first three and sixth above listed exclusion criteria are met;
- A certificate issued by the competent authority of the country of incorporation indicating that the fourth criterion is met;
- For legal persons, an extract from the companies register or other official document proving ownership and control of the Tenderer;
- For natural persons (including owners and executive officers of legal persons), a scanned copy of a valid photographic proof of identity (e.g. passport).
· are or appear to be in a situation of an actual, potential or perceivedconflict of interest; a conflict of interestsarises where any person has a personalinterest which is such as to influence, or appear to influence, the impartial and objective exercise of their responsibilities under this procedure. A personal interest includes any advantage to themselves, their relatives or personal relationships (includingbased on politicalor national affinity), business or financial interests or any other interest shared with another party.If tenderers have any personalinterests that are relevant to this tender procedure, they must fully disclose these in a separate document submitted with the tender;
· are retiredCouncil of Europestaff members or are staffmembers 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 previousthree years, their contractual obligations in the performance of a contract concludedwith the Councilof Europe leadingto a total or partialrefusal of paymentand/or termination of the contract by the Council of Europe;
· are subjectto restrictive measuresapplied by the United NationsSecurity 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
Tenderers should demonstrate that they fulfil the followingcriteria:
· are registered as a legal entity or a private entrepreneur which is authorised to supply IT equipment and software;
· have at least 2 years of experience in the supplyand installation of IT equipment and software, to be evidenced by references to previous contracts and/or a declaration included in Appendix IV of the tripartite contract;
· Compliance of the proposedIT equipment and software with the technical specifications set out in Appendix III of the tripartite contract;
· Capability to respect the mandatory latest delivery timeframe: at least one month after contract signature
The above eligibility criteria will be assessed on the basis of the documents listed in the table and, where relevant, on the basis of other supporting documents listed in Section F.
For consortia only: each consortium member will be assessed against the eligibility criteria above. For a consortium to be validly constituted, at least two consortium members must satisfy the eligibility criteria.
Award criteria
· Quality of the offer (20 points), including:
Assessment of the additional on-sitesupport/service offering (intervention at the place of delivery), as detailed in Appendix IV of the tripartite contract (Financial Offer), in particular the proposed service period (covering on-site technical assistance and intervention when required).
· Financial offer (80 points).
The above award criteria will be assessed based on the bidder’s capacity, as outlined in the supporting document, or on the basis of a consolidated assessment of the combinedcapacity of all eligible profilesor consortium members if the bid is submitted by a legal person or a consortium.
Additional rules applicable to the submission and assessment of the bids
The bidders’ attention is drawn to the followingadditional rules governing the assessment of the bids:
§ For a consortium to be validly constituted, at least two consortium members must satisfy the eligibility criteria;
§ Unless expresslyprovided otherwise in the tender documents, a bidder may not submit more than onebid for the same procurement procedure. Biddingfor more than one lot – where a contract is divided into lots – is allowed;
§ In the same procurement procedure, natural person may not submit a bid on his/her own behalf and, at the same time, be included in a bid submitted by a legal person or a consortium. In such
cases, the Councilof Europe reservesthe right to exclude the bid submittedby the natural person from the procurement procedure;
§ In the same procurement procedure, a legal person may not submit a bid and, at the same time, be a member of a consortium also bidding underthe same procurement procedure. In such cases, the Council of Europe reservesthe right to exclude the bid submitted by the legal person from the procurement procedure;
§ The Council reserves the right to reject any bid if, in its sole judgment, the financial offer is abnormally low or high. The Council may request clarification from the bidder before making its determination.
E. NEGOTIATIONS
The Councilreserves the right to hold negotiations with the bidders in accordance with Article20 of Rule 1395.
F. DOCUMENTS TO BE PROVIDED
Tenderers are invited to submit:
· A completedcopy of the Tripartite Contract(see document attached)– and in particular:
o The bidder’sdetails on page 2;
o The bidder’sfinancial offer in Appendix IV
· A list of all owners and executive officers, for legal personsonly (see Appendix IV of the tripartite contract – Applicant’s Profile and Financial Offer);
Ø Registration documents for legal persons;
· When relevant, a document disclosing the provider’s personal interests that are relevant for this procedure, in compliance with the instructions laid down aboveunder the ‘Exclusion Criteria’ above (Section ‘Assessment’);
· A description demonstrating that the provider has relevant experience in supplying similar equipment and software (for at least the past two years: 2024–2025), including references to previous contracts (see Appendix IV of the tripartite contract – Applicant’s Profile and Financial Offer);
All documents shallbe submitted in English, failureto do so will resultin 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 reservesthe right to reject a tender if the scanneddocuments are of such a quality that the documents cannot be read.