The objective of this Call for Tenders is to award a Framework Agreement to a maximum of five (5) Service Providers for the supply of specific hardware and software Products (including renewals) used in the IT Security domain (manufactured or published by various third-party vendors), and for the provision of associated services related to such Products.

Disclaimer: The European Investment Bank is not subject to the Regulation 2018/1046. EIB procurements are governed by EIB’s Corporate & Technical Assistance Procurement Guide. For this reason, the following deviations to Section 5.1.12 of this contract notice shall apply: (i) Unless otherwise provided in the `Terms of Reference` tenders must be submitted in either in English or in French, since both are working languages of EIB (point 4.1 of EIB’s General Administrative and Submission Clauses). (ii) Tenders are opened in a non-public opening session by an opening board, whose members are appointed by EIB under guarantee of impartiality and confidentiality (point 5.1 of EIB’s General Administrative and Submission Clauses). Tenderers may request a copy of the opening record by email to [email protected]. Tenderers may in the first instance submit any concerns regarding the procurement to the Bank using the contact details under section 8.1 ORG-0001 of this contract notice. If tenderers or other interested parties, believe that the EIB committed an instance of maladministration, (e.g. it has failed to act in accordance with its established policies, standards and procedures or to respect the principles of good administration), they may lodge a complaint to the EIB Group Complaints Mechanism (see https://www.eib.org/en/about/accountability/complaints/index.htm) within 1 year from the date when the alleged action, decision or omission by the Bank could be reasonably known by the complainant. If unhappy with the outcome, tenderers can seek a review of the EIB Group’s reply to the complaint by the European Ombudsman (see https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu). Within 2 months of notification of the outcome of the procedure (award decision), tenderers may launch an action for its annulment and/or damages. Any request tenderers may make and any reply from the Bank or any complaint of maladministration, will have neither the purpose nor the effect of suspending the time-limit for launching an action for annulment nor open a new period for launching an action for annulment. The body responsible for hearing annulment procedures is indicated under section 8.1 ORG-0002 of this contract notice. Reasons for the framework agreement duration exceeding four years: These framework agreements cover a critical business activity for which the maximum possible stability is needed. For the aforementioned reasons, the EIB considers that a 6-year maximum duration of the framework agreement is necessary.In case of unavailability or disruptions in the functioning of the electronic means of communication provided in Section 5.1.11 in the last 5 calendar days before the time limit for receipt indicated in Section 5.1.12, the contracting authority reserves the right to extend this time limit and publish the extension at the Internet address provided in Section 5.1.11, without a preceding publication of a corrigendum to this notice. Economic operators interested in this procurement are invited to subscribe to the call for tenders at the address in Section 5.1.11 in order to get notified when new information or documents are published.