European Liberal Forum - Call for Tender: IT Service Providers

Date of publication: 10 September 2025
Deadline for submission: 10 October 2025
Contact email: tender@liberalforum.eu

The European Liberal Forum (ELF) is the political foundation and think tank of the European liberals, affiliated with the ALDE Party. ELF operates a network of 56 member organizations throughout Europe and organises over 60–80 events annually. Funded primarily by a grant from the European Parliament, ELF’s procurement and business processes are subject to EU financial regulation.

Description of Services

The purpose of this call for tenders is to conclude a framework contract for comprehensive IT services, including daily IT infrastructure management, user support, proactive maintenance, incident management, and project support. The selected provider(s) will ensure the availability, security, and performance of ELF’s IT environment as specified herein.

Scope of Services

The contract will cover the following core service areas:

Daily Management of IT Infrastructure: Management of all hardware (servers, desktops, laptops, printers, network devices) and software (operating systems, business applications, cloud services).

Management of all licenses of the organisation included but not limited to: Microsoft, Adobe, Eye Security.

User Service Desk: Multilingual support (FR/NL/EN) available every working day (09:00 to 18:00), including remote and on-site assistance for all users.

Incident Management: Guaranteed intervention remotely and on-site during business hours (09:00–18:00).

Proactive Maintenance: Regular preventive maintenance, monitoring, firmware and software updates, security management, morning checks.

Innovation: advice on optimization and early adoption of new technologies.

Project Support: Support for infrastructure upgrades, migrations, new deployments, and major change requests.

Security & Compliance: Data protection in line with GDPR (EU) 2016/679, including technical and organisational controls.

Procurement Support: Coordination with hardware/software vendors.

ELF currently employes 14 internal users at its headquarters in Brussels, with a managed infrastructure comprising laptops, printers, and network devices. The organisation works entirely on Microsoft 365, with all the employees using Premium accounts in the full capacity of the software. All of the Full Member Organisations of ELF (currently 47) are provided with a basic Microsoft license in the scope of using Outlook, SharePoint and Forms. The contract may expand to cover additional users and devices as required.

Type of Contract and Duration

Contract Type: Service contract for IT services.

Duration: 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

Payment exclusively via invoice, minimum 30 calendar days after issuance and on annual basis.

Provider must be able to ensure on-site visits to the ELF Office at Rue d’Idalie 11-13 without extra charge.

Provider must respond to requests within a maximum of 2 working hours.

Provider must comply with GDPR and ensure data protection as outlined above.

Provider must not disclose confidential ELF data and must implement appropriate security measures.

Selection Criteria

Price: Competitive pricing for fixed and variable services, clear breakdown of rates per service type.

Service Quality: Demonstrable capacity to meet targets for response time, infrastructure uptime, and user satisfaction.

Technical Capacity: Proven experience and expertise in managing similar IT environments, including references.

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

Cover letter with information about the company’s legal status, capacity to deliver services at the required scale, company name, legal address, form of association, company structure, VAT number, and status.

Detailed service and pricing offer: Indicate agency/service fee or rate in absolute number or percentage (VAT included, if applicable) per service (monthly, yearly, or per intervention), and separately for each service area. Specify expected payment methods and due dates.

Signed application (PDF) by an authorised person.

Applications must be submitted via email to tender@liberalforum.eu no later than 10 October 2025

For questions, contact: Ola Rymaszewska, Project and Digital Transformation Officer via orymaszewska@liberalforum.eu

ELF reserves the right to amend, suspend, or cancel the tender process at any stage, and to reject any or all offers received. All procurement is subject to EU financial regulation and ELF internal policies.