Tender specifications

3.Subject and nature of the contract

This invitation to tender consists of a single lot. The specific context of this lot and the different tasks involved are as follows:

3.1.Specific context

In the framework of this project, the European Commission intends to conclude a contract for the design and provision of training and other related activities for the users of the internal financial information systems of the departments of the contracting authorities.

This training activity has been supplied for many years by outside contractors.

Annex 6 includes a brief description of the nature and scope of the applications in question (summarised in the diagram below).

Architecture ABAC

The Commission's financial systems are at present basically linked to the various ABAC applications. ABAC is the general name for the Commission's financial systems. In addition, the scope of the financial training also covers training in SAM and ABAC Assets (management of fixed assets), Datawarehouse, the Badgebud application (the information system for preparing the following year's budget) and the Commission's accounting system as specifically developed on the basis of the SAP software package.

In addition, a DVD with detailed information on the IT architecture of the Commission's financial information systems can be supplied to tenderers who request it by post or email to the mailbox [e-mail]

3.2.Specific objectives and nature of the work

The main overall objective of the work is to ensure the availability of appropriate training when required by the users of all the financial systems specific to the European Commission. The overall provision of training includes the following specific actions:

• 
  a preparatory stage;
  
• 
  delivery of the courses;
  
• 
  updating of the courses and of supporting materials if required;
  
• 
  designing new courses;
  
• 
  up-dating (or design) of user documentation.
  

The specific objectives and nature of each of these actions are as follows:

3.2.1.Preparatory phase

Before the future contractor provides the first training courses, a preparatory phase will take place to ensure the delivery of effective and well-organised courses. To this end, the Commission will make sure that the contractor and the trainers have all the necessary current and historical information for understanding and carrying out their tasks. The trainers and the project leader can also attend the courses already being provided by the Commission.

Annex 7 contains a list of relevant existing courses currently on offer. In addition, a DVD with detailed information on each course can be supplied to tenderers who request it by post or email to the mailbox [e-mail]

To carry out this preparation the contractor will, together with the competent Commission staff, who will make available all the necessary information:

• 
  examine all the existing training courses and the related training and development material;
  
• 
  confirm the trainers for each course;
  
• 
  instruct the trainers in the presentation of each course, including, where appropriate, adapting the course programme and/or the trainer manual;
  
• 
  prepare the support material for the presentations;
  
• 
  where appropriate, adapt the documentation and other material for the course participants;
  
• 
  establish the criteria and procedures for assessing each course.
  

The duration of this possible preparatory phase will be decided at the appropriate time bearing in mind that the new trainers will attend all the training courses and manual updates. The duration of this phase must not exceed 6 weeks after the contract has been signed. Once they have been authorised to deliver the training courses, the trainers will receive formal accreditation from the Commission departments concerned (see also 3.3.1 on the organisation of the accreditation sessions).

The contractor shall bear the costs of all the work relating to this preparatory phase.

3.2.2.Delivery of the courses

This section refers to the existing training courses (already designed and tested) for staff using the Commission's main internal financial information systems (chiefly ABAC, SAM and SAP).

The contractor will also check in advance the availability of the training rooms and reserve them, together with the relevant departments of the contracting authorities. The contractor will also prepare the rooms and PCs. He will provide the participants with the necessary course materials and ensure that the trainers' knowledge is updated and that the content of the courses to be delivered has been updated to take into account any developments in the application in question since the last training session.

With regard to delivery of the courses, the remuneration to the contractor will be on the basis of only one accredited trainer (see procedure in point 3.3.1) per training session. New trainers should at first be accompanied or supervised by more experienced trainers. This task will be the responsibility of the contractor and will be conducted at his expense, particularly in view of the fact that it forms part of the quality requirements for this contract. As a general rule, the training provided will be invoiced at a rate that will include all the necessary investments (including practical tasks) that must be made by the contractor in order to ensure high-quality training.

Training activities (and other development activities) will be provided in accordance with the arrangements decided on during the preparation phase, if any. The first presentation of each activity will be a pilot. The contracting authorities may request modifications based on the reactions to this pilot. All the documentation or material prepared for the participants accepted during the preparation phase will be provided by the contractor in electronic format.

Continuing assessment will be carried out throughout the contract term and the contractor must make any adaptations considered to be necessary by the contracting authorities. The latter will be responsible for assessing the overall achievement of the objectives.

The contractor will be responsible for the assessment of the way in which the courses are provided (content, process and methods), to which end he will provide periodic analyses (statistics concerning the number of participants, reactions to the courses, main questions and concerns) in a format specified by the contracting authorities. The main objective of this assessment is to improve the content and educational aspects of the courses, independently of any other type of assessment of training quality that may be conducted by the contracting authorities.

3.2.3.Updating of the courses and course materials

The contractor will also be responsible for updating the existing courses (see Annex 7) to take account both of developments in computer applications (releases, implementation of new modules, new functions, etc.) and of changes in financial regulations that may have an impact on the course content and the treatment of transactions. These updates may relate either to the content and nature of the course materials or to the methods used to deliver the courses. They may also be made in response to needs or to remedy shortcomings detected when delivering the courses.

To ensure that the contractor can carry out this task properly, he will be put in touch with the main contact persons designated in the contracting authorities. He will ensure that he is aware of planned developments, whether technical or regulatory, in order to update the courses as quickly as possible if required.

The updates may be either routine or in-depth, requiring complete revision and/or at least partial restructuring of the course content. Routine updates, except in duly substantiated exceptional cases, will not require work orders. For in-depth updates, contractual matters relating to any work orders will be analysed on a case-by-case basis taking account of the scope of the updates.

The contractor will be responsible for initiating and carrying out routine updates, which should be done as quickly as possible. Each time a course is updated, the modified version should be sent to the relevant Commission departments in electronic format, indicating in detail the changes made.

With regard to in-depth updates, the Commission will decide which updates or modifications are necessary. It will send the contractor a specific request specifying the changes to be made, to which the contractor will reply with an offer indicating the number of staff days needed to carry out this task. This offer should be submitted to the Commission for approval.

3.2.4.Design of new courses or new course materials

3.2.4.1.General principles

It may be necessary to create new courses or revise certain existing courses to meet specific needs in certain cases such as the launching of new financial applications, recasting of management procedures, changes in the financial regulation, the emergence of specific needs of certain target groups, or any other event with a significant impact on the management of financial, budgetary and/or accounting transactions.

In such cases the contractor may be asked to create new courses (i.e. prepare the training concept, prepare and deliver the new training courses and update the course materials).

Although, at this stage, the general training policy is to deliver the courses in the traditional manner in classrooms (for 10 people equipped with PCs), new training initiatives have been taken in order to enhance the impact of the training or make it more accessible or effective, in particular by developing e-learning modules (see details in 3.2.4.2 below). In addition, other activities (e.g. tele-training, production of interactive CDs, etc.) could be used in the future.

If necessary, the contractor may be asked to produce the new materials for these courses.

Should such new training methods or materials be requested, the phases of the procedure will be as follows:

Needs analysis

The contractor, in liaison with the staff responsible of the contracting authorities, will:

• 
  analyse specific needs as requested from time to time by the Commission and present the findings in the form of a brief written report;
  
• 
  propose training and development actions to meet the needs identified, in the form of brief written course descriptions (specifying, where necessary, types of course materials to be used, learning structure and/or course objectives and methods).
  

Preparation

For each new activity of this kind, the contractor, in liaison with the staff of the contracting authorities, will:

• 
  set out in writing the specific learning objectives;
  
• 
  define the appropriate learning methods;
  
• 
  draw up the course programme and the scope of the supporting materials;
  
• 
  prepare the course documentation and other material for the participants;
  
• 
  prepare the course documentation and other material for all end users;
  
• 
  identify specific trainers;
  
• 
  prepare all the training materials, including audiovisual (including, where necessary, graphic design and prototypes), if appropriate;
  
• 
  prepare evaluation forms.
  

Provision and evaluation of the new courses

The contractor will be remunerated on the basis of only one accredited trainer (see procedure in point 3.3.1) per training session. The procedure to be followed for this phase will be that described in point 3.2.2 above.

Subsequent updating of the new courses and course materials

The procedure to be followed for this phase will be that described in point 3.2.3 above.

3.2.4.2.E-learning

Since 2009 new financial training supports have been developed in the form of e-learning modules.

The current objective of these modules is not to replace the hands-on courses in classrooms but to offer the financial players the means of enhancing, perfecting or developing the training they have received in the classroom. At this stage, these modules are designed to:

• 
  cover specific aspects which cannot be covered in depth in the standard hands-on courses because of the small number of participants interested in these aspects and/or the need to adhere to the general timetable of the hands-on courses; or
  
• 
  or offer participants tools to refresh the knowledge acquired in the classroom, for example by developing sets of exercises.
  

Annex 7(3) contains a list of the modules which it is planned to make available by the end of 2011.

Other specific modules along these lines may be offered in the future in order to enhance the training available to more limited target groups, such as the staff of the agencies or delegations.

The success of these new tools will determine the extent to which they are developed in the future. On this basis, appropriate tailor made technical solutions enabling easy, structured and efficient access for users, as well as follow-up and evaluation, may be considered with the possible collaboration of the contractor.

3.2.5.Updating of the user documentation

In addition to delivering the courses and updating the training materials, the contractor may also be asked to develop and/or update the user documentation for all the financial applications to which the training relates. User documentation is understood to mean manuals, step-by-step guides and quick reference cards or any other aid that may be needed to help users of the application. Such updates will be needed, in particular, when the Commission implements new versions of computer applications.

For this type of work the contracting authorities will send the contractor a specific request specifying the changes to be made, to which the contractor will reply with an offer indicating the number of staff days needed to carry out this task. This offer should be submitted to the contracting authorities for approval.