Call for Tender – National Support towards Zero Carbon Cement & Concrete

This tender complies with the ECOS Procurement and Purchase Policy adopted by the ECOS Executive Committee, and last updated October 2021. This policy covers general principles relating to transparency and fairness, value for money, and non-discrimination. It specifies thresholds relating to a competitive negotiated procedure with at least a specified number of candidates either with tender or selection, and sets out the procedure to be followed by ECOS. 

About ECOS

ECOS is an international NGO with a network of members and experts advocating for environmentally friendly technical standards, policies and laws, with a strong focus and expertise on circular economy policies. We ensure the environmental voice is heard when they are developed and drive change by providing expertise to policymakers and industry players, leading to the implementation of strong environmental principles. More at www.ecostandard.org.

Background

This project is a part of a wider ECOS project on cement and concrete (C&C) decarbonisation. Its primary objective is to build the case, advocate for, and help secure an ambitious and effective decarbonisation pathway for the cement and concrete (C&C) value chain, targeting (nearly) zero-carbon by 2040. This project plays a key part in the overall strategy as it seeks to accelerate the decarbonisation of C&C through promoting the uptake of already existing low carbon solutions. This will be achieved through primarily standardisation work.

Building upon successful work throughout 2022 and 2023, the project will focus on two streams of actions:

• Securing a performance-based standardisation system for cement and concrete
• Building a transformative zero carbon policy framework

The proposed standardisation activities aim to address market entrance barriers for low-carbon cement and concrete products. To achieve this, activities will target:

• Development of framework for performance-based approaches, both at the level of cement and concrete. This by successful advocacy work at political level, and engagement with work of CEN TC 51 and CEN TC 104.
• Strengthening the acceptance and use of SCMs and other alternative materials at the level of cement, concrete and testing standards

The policy strategy will seek to ensure:

• Material innovation and creation of markets for low-carbon cement and concrete products, supported by green public procurement. The conclusion of an ambitious ESPR/CPR for cement will be important to push worst performing products from the market

Importantly, the bulk of the work is situated at the level of standardisation (c. +/- 80%) – driving change at national level through both advocacy and expert work on relevant cement and concrete standards; whereas the work on policies (c. +/- 20%) is about complementing and contributing to advocacy work of the wider project.

Objective of this tender

ECOS seeks to subcontract national support to ECOS standardisation and policy work on zero carbon cement & concrete to environmental organisations active in a selection of the following countries: France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Portugal or the Netherlands.

Tasks & outputs

Subcontractors are expected to work in their Member State to influence the national position on standardisation (and to a limited extend policy) developments that have an impact on the cement and concrete value chain.

Overall, ECOS will provide strategic coordination and support from the EU perspective, with national partners being in charge of planning and delivering all relevant activities to influence their Member State position on the objectives developed by ECOS.

To do so, national partners will:

• Influence technical discussions in national standardisation bodies, including:
  • Participation in national committees work by national partner and/or nominated experts.
  • Development of written contributions & networking to reach national standardisation objectives.

Priority files include, but are not limited to prEN197-6 ; CEN TC104/WG20 (report new constituents for concrete)

• Implement advocacy strategies to successfully influence the position of the national standardisation body on performance-based approaches to cement and concrete standards, targeting key stakeholders (incl. industry, academia) and beyond.
• Help secure the conclusion of an ambitious ESPR/CPR for cement and concrete. National partners will help raise support at national level for the identified policy objectives.
• Regularly coordinate with ECOS on standardisation and policy objectives and adjust national activities as necessary,

The project will involve active contribution from and regular coordination with ECOS, including through as a minimum a kick-off meeting, an interim meeting, and a final meeting. Activity & financial reports should also be delivered prior to the interim and final meetings.

Timeline

ECOS seeks to subcontract national environmental NGOs for a period of 12 months in a selection of the following countries: France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Portugal and the Netherlands.

Budget

The budget available for this work is maximum €30.000 (including VAT) per national partner, and all other costs will be incurred by the subcontractor. Note that sub-contracting is accepted in cases where a delivery team involves individuals from different institutions or organisations. In this case, the lead tenderer retains responsibility for legal and financial arrangements for any sub-contracting.

Tender preparation

Tenderers are requested to submit a proposal by 23:59 CET 20 March 2023 to info@ecostandard.org outlining:

• Their motivation and commitment to support the delivery of this project
• A brief description of the tenderer’s understanding of the tasks to be delivered and outline of their national engagement plan, including a list of deliverables, timeline, and expected impacts
• Budgeting for each element of the work and proposed payment schedule
• A description of the anticipated activities to achieve the desired policy and standards objectives at national level (including deliverables)
• A detailed timeline on milestones, work streams and proposed deliverables
• Examples of previous work with a similar scope and main achievements
• Biographies and time commitment of the key staff delivering the work

Required qualifications

Essential

• Demonstrated experience in influencing national positions relating to the policy files mentioned in the Objectives section
• Demonstrated technical expertise relating to cement and concrete (and underlying standards)
• Experience with supporting EU organisations during co-decision processes, including EU level representatives from your Member State
• An ability to influence national policy and standardisation positions
• Strong network of contacts at national level, including key decision makers within standardisation
• Organisational ambition and environmental values that go far beyond current industry commitments

Desirable

• Prior experience influencing the cement/concrete or construction sector
• Prior engagement with national standards bodies or participation standardisation committees

Tender Assessment

Assessment of the tenders will be made using a weighted multi-criteria approach.

The award criteria are:

• 70% quality (qualifications, relevance of the application, quality of the deliverables) and
• 30% price

Only shortlisted tenderers will be contacted.

• The fact of publishing a procurement procedure does not oblige ECOS to award the contract to a tenderer simply because its tender fulfils those criteria. It also reserves the right to decide not to award the contract to any tenderer and to cancel the procedure at any time before award.