Call for tenders - Linguistic Editing - The European Liberal Forum

Services: Linguistic editing
Date of publication: 16.07.2025.
The deadline for submitting tenders is 24.08.2025.

The European Liberal Forum is looking for a provider that provides Linguistic editing services. ELF uses the term linguistic editing to refer to both the copy-editing of the text and the proofreading of the files. We work with design templates, so our designers will take over some of the more technical proofing work relating to paragraph positioning, margins, etc.

The European Liberal Forum is a political foundation and think tank, producing approximately 200 written outputs per year. These intellectual outputs range from extensive studies with original data and analysis, to policy recommendations, policy briefs, book reviews, etc.

We require two separate quotes for different types of editing below, with a quotation of your price per word/page and any other fees incurred. The chosen supplier must be able to invoice within the EU.

The European Liberal Forum (ELF) is the political foundation and think tank of the European liberals, the ALDE Party. It has a network of 56 member organizations across Europe and organizes over 60-80 events each year. ELF is primarily funded by a grant from the European Parliament, and its business processes are subject to EU financial regulation.

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES:

Our publications range from extensive studies and journals with a more academic tone (over 5,000 words) to shorter policy briefs and policy papers (between 1000 and 4,000 words) that have some specialised vocabulary but are usually addressed to a broader audience of policymakers, journalists, analysts, etc.

Please find an impression of our publications here (papers and studies): Publications Archive – The European Liberal Forum. For editions of the Future Europe Journal, please consult the separate website: FEU Issues – Future Europe Journal. Our research areas are the following: Research Areas – The European Liberal Forum

ELF has developed an in-house style guide which should be used when editing our publications. We can share this document upon request.

Two scenarios (price per 1000 words)

We need editing services for the following two scenarios:

Standard editing

Correction of spelling, grammar, punctuation and word usage errors (proofreading). Footnotes and bibliography will need to be reviewed; contents pages and list of abbreviations also need to be reviewed if they are included in the publication.

Substantive editing

All the above plus improvement of the logical flow, clarity, overall readability and structure of the text. When it comes to substantive editing, more elaborate suggestions are being made by the editor to enhance the quality of the publication.

TYPE OF CONTRACT AND CONTRACT DURATION

Framework contract for services. One month notice period for both sides.

Five (5) years as the maximum allowed by our financial regulations before needing to redo the tender.

Fees charged are based on the offer, able to be amended up by 10% with prior notice as the maximum allowed by our financial regulations before needing to redo the tender.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

Provider accepts payment condition: exclusively via invoice, minimum 14 days after being issued an invoice and only after the service is provided. The provider must be able to encode invoices or separate expense lines with ELF’s internal analytical codes.

Legal entity able to provide services within the European Union and issue invoices with prices indicated in EURO or local currency and EURO.

Be able to respond to requests in a maximum of 3 working days with an estimate of the delivery date.

Willingness to use our in-house style guide for editors.

SELECTION CRITERIA:

1. Quality to price ratio

The tender application, to be submitted in English, should consist of the following components:

Please indicate a quote for the price per 1000 words (VAT included, if applicable) separately for scenario 1 (‘standard editing’) and separately for scenario 2 (‘substantive editing’). If there are any additional fees besides this, please mention them as well.

Description of the company including the information about the company’s legal status and capacities to provide services on the scale mentioned above: name of the company, legal address and form of association, structure of the company, VAT number and status. Please indicate your working methods, expected payment methods and due dates for invoice payment.

Samples of prior editing work that is relevant to the work of ELF. Ideally you can show both how you work when it comes to lighter editing (such as proofreading) versus the scenario of more substantive editing.

If you are interested in providing these services, you are requested to submit your application in PDF and signed by an authorized person by email no later than  24.08.2025.

Contact email: tender@liberalforum.eu

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Maartje Schulz, Policy and Research Manager, European Liberal Forum – mschulz@liberalforum.eu.