Call for tenders: Intermediate company or association for the procurement of creative and artistic services

About the Green European Foundation

The Green European Foundation (GEF) is a European-level political foundation funded by the European Parliament. GEF is affiliated to but independent from the European Green Party and Green movement in Europe. Our mission is to encourage European citizens to participate in European political discussions and in particular when it comes to envisioning what a Green Europe would look like. As a forum for cooperation at the European level, we work closely with our national member foundations and thereby aim to strengthen the Green political movement and green ideas in Europe.

 

Purpose of Tender

The Green European Foundation frequently collaborates with artists, creators, and different kinds of professionals in the artistic and research sphere in the framework of its projects, events and publications. 

In many cases, this kind of professionals in Belgium and other European countries contract employment via an intermediate company or association, the latter executing the functions of payroll and invoicing entity. 

Considering this, GEF seeks to contract for a period of one year, renewable up to 4 years, one of such intermediate company or association, in order to ensure lawful and mutually beneficial collaboration with such professionals based in Europe. 

 

Mission

The intermediate company or association shall provide the professionals using its services and the Green European Foundation with smooth invoicing and payroll services. 

 

Technical Specifications

The collaboration with such intermediate company or association is defined as follows:  

The Green European Foundation selects a professional affiliated to the intermediate company or association to carry out a mission; 

The renumeration is agreed between the GEF and the professional in writing, along with the payment modalities; 

The professional carries out the mission agreed with the Green European Foundation; 

The intermediate company or association invoices the agreed amount to the Green European Foundation, pays the renumeration to the contracted professional, and takes care of the accounting and the payment of taxes on this latter behalf; 

The  intermediate company or association performs these invoicing and payroll services in exchange for a fee on the performance of the worker, most commonly on each invoice. 

The Green European Foundation offers an agreement of preferential use to the tenderer(s) selected, meaning that when deciding to contract a professional among the ones described in the text of the tender, would prioritise contracting one that partners with the intermediary company or association in question. 

The yearly estimated budget allocated to contract such professionals is 15.000 (fifteen thousand) euros VAT excluded. 

This figure is not definitive and does not represent a commitment from the Green European Foundation. 

 

Exclusion Criteria

Please find as follows criteria to fulfill in order to not be excluded by the tendering procedure. 

• The tender and tenderer do not incur in any exclusion criteria as per art 136 FR 2018/1046, and any kind of conflict of interest. 

• Only offers submitted via the application form will be evaluated. 

• Minimum requirements that all tenderers shall meet in order to be considered for evaluation include compliance with applicable environmental, social and labour law obligations established by Union law, national law, collective agreements or the applicable international social and environmental conventions listed in Annex X to Directive 2014/24/EU. 

 

Selection and Award Criteria

Selection Criteria: 

The selection criteria are assessed with comply or fail questions. The tenderers that comply with the criteria are going to be further examined and considered for award. The tenders that do not shall be rejected. 

The selection criteria for this tender are: 

• The size and scope of the roaster of professionals using its services. GEF is looking for an intermediary company or association that employs at least 10 professionals in total. Their areas of expertise and work should be writing and copywriting, content creation, visual arts, digital arts, graphic design, research. 

• Only complete offers, that are tailored to the technical specifications of the tender and are not a generic price listing will be evaluated. 

• The tenderer(s) is based in Europe and willing to travel to Brussels in the framework of contractual needs and deliverables. 

 

Award Criteria: 

The award criteria for this tender is the one of the best value for money. The following criteria will be evaluated. There are ranked in order of importance, with a high focus on the first criterion: 

• The price or percentage of management fees on the invoices of the workers. The price offer presented with the application, along with the information on the company or association and the functioning of the invoice system will be used to assess this criterion. 

• Any environmental, social and governance policies implemented in the organisation. Documentation relating such as environmental and social action plan, and good governance practices will be used to assess this criterion. 

The methodology for ranking the tenderers is numerical scoring system, with weights.  

Each criterion will be evaluated with a score ranging from 0 (lowest score for the criteria) to 3 (highest score for the criteria).  

The tenderer ranking the highest after the evaluation shall be selected for the award. 

 

Practical Information

All tenders should be submitted by Monday, 8th July, at 09h00  via the application form.  

The selection committee reserves the right to schedule short exchanges to clarify unclear information. 

Tender(s) selection: 10 working days after the closing date. 

Start of the service provision agreement: as soon as possible once selected. 

Please submit your application by providing a detailed proposal in English, encompassing the following elements: 

• General information on the intermediate company or association; 

• Price or percentage of management fees on the invoices of the workers; 

• Roaster of the professional figures affiliated/ employed; 

• Environmental statement or any sustainability action plan implemented, along with good governance practices. 

 

We actively encourage tenderers from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented and marginalised communities, to apply. 

Please ensure that your proposal addresses each of these elements comprehensively. Incomplete submissions affect the evaluation of your proposal. Thank you for your interest in providing services to The Green European Foundation (GEF). 

A rolling Q&A document is available at this link. Please, make sure to write anonymous questions and to not write above other questions. 

 

Confidentiality

Tenderers accept to not disclose nor communicate in any way and at any time confidential information regarding their relationship and work with GEF. This commitment remains valid after the termination of the service, permanently. 

The winning tenderer will commit to sign a declaration to certify the absence of conflict of interest in relation to the tasks and mission contracted by GEF and will make sure to inform the organization of any changes in this status. 

 

Terms and Conditions

The collection of the tenders, the first screening, selection, and award procedures shall be conducted by distinct members of the GEF team and an appointed selection committee, with the aim of guaranteeing adherence to standards concerning conflicts of interest. 

GEF retains the right to reject any or all proposals, either wholly or partially, initiate a new call for proposals if deemed necessary, cease the requirement for services, or amend or terminate this call for tender before the written contract is finalized. Moreover, GEF maintains the discretion to waive certain formalities in the tender process. 

GEF is not bound to reply to requests for additional information made less than 6 working days before the deadline for receipt of tenders. 

The completion of the tendering process does not oblige GEF to grant the contract.  

If the tender encompasses multiple items or lots, GEF maintains the right to award a contract for only a portion of them. GEF will not be held responsible for compensating tenderers whose proposals have not been accepted, nor will it be liable if it chooses not to award the contract. 

By submitting an offer, the tenderers authorize GEF to safely and privately archive the offers received for auditing purposes and agrees to not advance any claim or cause of action against GEF based on any misunderstanding on the information provided relatively to the tender, or any eventual failure to provide pertinent information as intended by this call for tender. 

The tenders will remain confidential until opening and archived accordingly to GDPR. 

Submission of a tender implies acceptance of the terms and conditions set out in the procurement documents and that such submission binds the contractor to whom the contract is awarded, if any, during the performance of the contract. 

Submission of a tender implies acceptance of receiving notification of the outcome of the procedure by electronic means. 

 

Contracting Party

Green European Foundation (GEF) 

Legal and billing address: Rue du Fossé 3, 1536 Luxembourg, Luxembourg. 

VAT: LU24419770 

Headquarters: Avenue des Arts 7-8, 1210 Brussels, Belgium. 

 

Contacts

For any questions regarding this call for tender, please refer to giovanna.lamarca@gef.eu .