Type of document: Invitation to tender
Country: United Kingdom
OJEU Ref: (2021/S 107-283522/EN)
Nature of contract: Service contract
Procedure: Open procedure
Type of bid required: Global bid
Contract notice
Services
Section I: Contracting authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Official name: European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Postal address: Shinfield Park
Town: Reading
Postal code: RG2 9AX
Country: United Kingdom
Contact Person: Procurement at ECMWF
Email: procurement@ecmwf.int
Internet address(es):
Main address:
Address of the buyer profile:
I.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge,at:
Additional information can be obtained from:
the above mentioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted:
to the above mentioned address
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
European institution/agency or international organisation
I.5) Main activity
Other activity: Meteorological Services
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title: CJS2_211 Copernicus Data Stores Modernisation
Reference number: CJS2_211
II.1.2) Main CPV code: 72000000
II.1.3) Type of contract: Services
II.1.4) Short Description: ECMWF, as the Entrusted Entity for the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) invites tenders for the modernisation of the software infrastructure supporting the implementation of the services and for the evolutive maintenance of the current Climate Data Store infrastructure and toolbox.
II.1.6) Information about lots:
The contract is divided into lots: no
II.2) Description
II.2.3) Place of performance
Nuts code: UK
Main site or place of performance:On Contractor’s premises.
II.2.4) Description of the procurement:
Climate (CDS) and Atmosphere (ADS) Data Stores are the core infrastructures supporting the implementation of Copernicus Climate Change (C3S) and Atmosphere Monitoring (CAMS) Services, providing access to essential state-of-the-art data, tools, applications and other digital information. Currently in operation but looking forward to cope with new challenges, evolving demand and a changing technological environment, the underlaying infrastructure requires further modernisation taking onboard operational experience, user feedback, lessons learned, know-how and more advanced technologies. The improved version will be made more accessible to embrace open-source scientific software and ensure compatibility with state-of-the-art solutions, such as machine learning, data cubes and interactive notebooks. In summary, the goal of the tendered work is to evolve the current Data Store and Toolbox infrastructure into a modern, more usable and interoperable infrastructure that will engage with a wider user community and will facilitate a stronger integration with related platforms, such as WEkEO, maximising shared capabilities and resources. The Data Store will be hosted in an in-house cloud infrastructure and shall be re-engineered as to maximise its capabilities by moving into a hyper-scalable container-based application. To reinforce usability and interoperability the portal will implement discovery, view and download services following standards as mandated by the European INSPIRE directive. The selected contractor will be required to guarantee a smooth transition to the new infrastructure, supporting the migration and adaptation of current catalogue content and applications. The tender includes a dedicated work package for taking over the maintenance of the current Data Store infrastructure until replaced by the new infrastructure. ECMWF will facilitate the conditions and required actions to assure a smooth transition of responsibilities and knowledge from the current contractor. The modernized data store will also integrate the supporting infrastructure for a Content Integration Management (CIM) tool and the implementation of the Evaluation and Quality Control (EQC) function. It will also host a dedicated, centrally managed repository for observations data with the aim to facilitate the integration and accessibility of this data by the different system functionalities. Work at all stages in the project will be done in close collaboration with ECMWF. Development will follow an agile methodology or equivalent, implementing a CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Development) approach. Technological choices will be based on existing open-source software, Python being the preferable programming language. The result of the work tendered will itself be released under an open-source licence. The architecture of the system will have to be open and extendable both in terms of the number of concurrent users, handled data volumes and number of workflows and tools. The ECMWF Copernicus Data Stores infrastructure will provide an operational service supporting heavy workload and will have to be closely monitored. Usage statistics will have to be collected to support informed decision making, reporting obligations and carry out capacity planning.
II.2.5) Award criteria
II.2.7) Duration of the contract,framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 48
This contract is subject to renewal: no
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: no
II.2.11) Information about options
Options: no
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:yes
Identification of the project:Copernicus — The European Earth Observation Programme ().
II.2.14) Additional information: Please note the important additional information in Section VI.3) regarding funding and eligibility.
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Conditions for participation
III.1.2) Economic and financial standing
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
III.1.3) Technical and professional ability
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
III.2.3) Information about staff responsible for the performance of the contract
Obligation to indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff assigned to performing the contract
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure:
Open procedure
IV.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement(GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: no
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number in the OJ S:2021/S 053-134919
IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date: 2021-07-14 Local time: 15:00
IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted:EN
IV.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tender must maintain the tender
Duration in months:9(from the date stated for receipt of tender)
IV.2.7) Conditions for opening tenders
Date: 2021-07-14 Local time: 15:00 Place:Reading, UK
Information about authorised persons and opening procedure:Not applicable.
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) Information about recurrence:
This is a recurrent procurement: no
VI.2) Information about electronic workflows
VI.3) Additional information:
Procedure to be applied:
The procurement for the contract will be conducted in accordance with ECMWF’s procedures as set out in Invitation to Tender documents, which will be available on ECMWF’s eProcurement Portal () and no other procedures will apply. In submitting this notice ECMWF does not waive the privileges and immunities granted to it by virtue of its status as an intergovernmental organisation or submit itself to any jurisdiction. Tenders must be submitted using ECMWF’s eProcurement Portal. Hard copy (paper) submissions will not be accepted.
Due to the need to include performance and compliance obligations in the contract, ECMWF will contract only with a single legal person or entity which is competent to undertake and commit to these obligations. ECMWF recognises that some bids will involve a number of organisations which may wish to work together to deliver the contract requirements. In such cases, these organisations must identify a lead contractor who will sign the contract with ECMWF and who will be responsible for putting in place legal arrangements to ensure that it can guarantee that all other organisations will also meet the contract obligations. ECMWF will not enter into multiple contracts with individual members of consortia or groups of service providers.
Availability of funds:
The basis for ECMWF’s ability to implement the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring and Climate Change Monitoring Services on behalf of the European Commission is the conclusion of a ‘Contribution Agreement’ between the European Union and ECMWF. The negotiations are currently ongoing. They can only be concluded following the EU Space Regulation is enacted by the European Union. Suppliers should note that the award of a contract as a result of this procurement procedure will therefore be conditional on the availability of funds following the signature and subsequent formal approval of the “Contribution Agreement” by the ECMWF Council. This approval is currently expected for Q2 2021.
General eligibility:
According to the prospective Contribution Agreement between the European Union and ECMWF, participation in calls for tenders shall preferably be open to entities established in Member States of the European Union and to entities established in Copernicus participating states in accordance with the conditions laid down in the EU’s Space Programme Regulation. The Regulation can be found at
It is currently ECMWF’s expectation that, in practice, entities established in other States may therefore be eligible exceptionally and subject to specific scientific or other requirements as well as express prior approval by an EU Procurement Board. This applies to both prime and sub-contractors. Accordingly, ECMWF is required to reserve the right to exclude ineligible persons or entities from tenders at any point in time. All tenderers as well as their sub-contractors must meet all eligibility criteria throughout the whole duration of the procurement exercise as well as their prospective contracts.
Eligibility of United Kingdom (UK) entities:
The above applies also to entities based in the UK. At present, the UK is neither an EU Member State nor participating in the EU Space Programme. However, the UK and the European Union agreed — in principle — that the UK may continue participating in, among others, the Copernicus component of the EU Space Programme as a third country for the period of 2021-2027. Detailed conditions for such a participation will require further negotiations between the UK and the European Union. Further information may be found in the following link of the UK Government, for the accuracy of which ECMWF will not assume any liability:
ECMWF will publish relevant updates in this regard once they are available.
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Official name: European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Postal address: Shinfield Park
Town: Reading
Postal code: RG2 9AX
Country: United Kingdom
Internet address:
VI.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:
See instructions on ECMWF’s Suppliers web page:
VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
Official name: European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Postal address: Shinfield Park
Town: Reading
Postal code: RG2 9AX
Country: United Kingdom
Internet address:
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice:2021-06-01
