Public Buyers Community support

The contract has a maximum total duration of 48 months, starting from the date the last party signs it. The initial duration of the contract is 24 months, and it includes an automatic renewal for an additional 24 months, unless a party provides formal notification against it at least three months before the current duration ends.

Key milestones and phases include:

• M+0 (Kick-off Meeting): To confirm mutual understanding of objectives and deliverables, with an updated work plan due one week after.
• M+6 (Mid-term Meeting Review 1): Involves a review of preliminary results and submission of an Interim Report.
• M+12 (Mid-term Meeting Review 2): Involves an Interim Report submission.
• M+18 (Mid-term Meeting Review 3): Involves an Interim Report submission.
• M+24 (Final Meeting & Handover): Includes the presentation of all final deliverables and submission of a Final Report. This also serves as a final report for the initial contract duration if renewed. This meeting schedule applies to both the initial 24-month period and any subsequent 24-month renewal.

The core scope of work for this tender involves establishing and managing Communities of Practice (CoP) on the Public Buyers Community digital platform.

Key tasks and deliverables include:

• Establishment of new Communities of Practice (Task 1): This requires providing the Community's name, preparing a logo, completing an information form for the platform's technical operator, and nominating one main and one backup Community moderator. These deliverables must be submitted within 31 calendar days (or one month) of the request to establish a community.
• Management of the Community of Practice (Task 2): The contractor is responsible for managing and moderating the established Communities under the Commission's supervision, including providing necessary manpower and support. A Project Manager and a backup must be nominated to ensure work execution, quality checks, and overall contract completion. Management and moderation activities involve adhering to a Platform Posting Guide (for written content, visuals, and registration links), contributing news items to the monthly newsletter by the 18th of each month, and coordinating with the platform contractor.
• Mobilising Experts (Task 3): This involves hiring experts during the contract's implementation for tasks such as scientific analysis and technical verification. Expertise may include lawyers, policy analysts, sectoral experts (e.g., procurement, green transition, supply chains, digitalisation), economists, and academics, depending on the specific Community of Practice roadmap.
• Engagement and Promotion: Designing and implementing campaigns to attract members and foster collaboration, focusing on reflecting initiatives on the Public Buyers Community, engaging public authorities from EU-13 Member States, exploring multilingual targeted campaigns, and various modalities like workshops/webinars/interviews. This also includes providing a quarterly detailed forward communication planner and delivering expert speakers for up to two "Buying into the Future" podcast series annually.
• Reporting: Submission of interim reports every six months detailing the work performed, due within 7 days after each period. A final report detailing the state of play on managed Communities and, if the contract is not renewed, a handover report outlining completed tasks, outstanding issues, and relevant documents/data.
• Communities of Practice Playbook: To be delivered upon request, based on lessons learned from working with communities of practice.