OSMOS Call for tenders to
Subcontract external research expertise on Baltic labour markets’ talents needs,
absorption capacities and Baltic involvement in Talent Partnerships
ICMPD/2023/MPF-357-461-001 — Digital Explorers II
Vilnius, 19 May 2025
This call for tender is open to applications from 19 May to 6 June 2025 (midnight, Vilnius time).
1. Concepts and requirements for submission
1.1 Contracting authority - VšI “OSMOS Global Partnerships” (hereinafter - OSMOS or contracting authority) is a non-governmental organisation, legal entity code - 304031067, registered address - Antakalnio st. 17, Vilnius, LT-10312.
1.2 Project and its context: VšI “OSMOS Global Partnerships” is currently implementing European Commission supported and endorsed project “Digital Explorers II”, project No. ICMPD/2023/MPF-357-461-001. Digital Explorers is an ICT focused knowledge and talent exchange initiative between the Baltics and partner countries, striving to lead the digital revolution in their respective parts of the world. Built on the know-how gained during the first pilot project, Digital Explorers II aims to select, train and match up to 153 ICT specialists from Nigeria, Kenya and Armenia with employment, internship, and knowledge exchange opportunities in the Baltics and locally through 3 corresponding tracks - Professional, Trainee and Ambassador. The project also aims to understand Baltic workforce gaps and absorption capacities, facilitate institutional learning and exchanges between Baltic and Partner Countries’ (Nigerian, Kenyan, Armenian) institutions (private and public sector) in creating a favourable environment for closing them.
1.3 Supplier – service provider of any legal form, that is interested and able to render services described in this call.
1.4 Bid - written offer prepared according to the requirements stipulated in paragraph 7 of this call and received from supplier before the deadline, where supplier presents his offer and price for services. Bid shall be valid for 60 days or upon signing of the agreement, whichever occur first.
1.5 Deadline – June 6th, 2025, 23:59 h (UTC +2:00) Helsinki, Kyiv, Riga, Sofia, Tallin, Vilnius time zone, when Bids shall be received by contracting authority via email: egle@osmos.lt. Contracting authority is not responsible for any delays or errors that may occur during the submission process; therefore Supplier shall use proper time window for submission of bid and shall make sure bid is received in due time. Any late bids will not be accepted and evaluated. The call for tenders is accessible on DevNetJobs.org “Requests for Proposals and Tenders” section: https://devnetjobs.org/rfp_assignments.aspx
General information
2.1. General objective of the Action - To build mutually beneficial and sustainable digital talent development and mobility partnership(s) between the Baltic States (the EU) and partner countries.
2.2. Specific objectives
PREPARATION:
2.2.1. To design a multi-country and multi-track digital talent development and mobility scheme addressing the needs of participating countries.
IMPLEMENTATION:
2.2.2. To successfully operationalise a digital talent development and mobility scheme between Nigeria, Kenya, Armenia and the Baltics (through employment, internship and knowledge exchange tracks).
CULTIVATION:
2.2.3. To facilitate Action-informed & future oriented knowledge production and exchange in the areas of digital talent development and mobility / attraction among the participating countries.
2.3. The objectives represent the three main pillars of the Action:
2.3.1. Preparation and stakeholder engagement: In order to execute a multi-country and multi-track scheme, it is necessary to dedicate enough time and effort to formalising partnerships, designing processes, selecting and developing tools, templates, etc., that can be reused during and beyond the Action. While agility and flexibility remain key organisational values, a more structured approach is applied with an aim to scale and transfer the knowledge from the Action design team to partners involved in the Action and establish a suitable workflow that can function after the end of the Action.
2.3.2. Implementation: This objective represents the executional pillar of the Action, where all the efforts go to the implementation of the multi-country and multi-track digital talent development and mobility scheme through 3 different tracks. Digital Explorers II aims to have 153 beneficiaries out of whom up to 87 would be part of three mobility tracks in the Baltic countries. Three different tracks will address different types of project objectives – attracting talent to the EU (Professional track + Trainee track), developing young talents in partner countries (Trainee track), building relations and facilitating knowledge exchange between Baltic and partner countries tech ecosystems (Ambassador track). 62 beneficiaries will be part of the training program(s) and placed for internships in local companies with an aim to increase benefits for local tech ecosystems in partner countries. As part of the Trainees track 115 young ICT specialists will be selected for specialised training programs and internships in the Baltic countries, remotely and locally. In all cases, the trainees receive a monthly allowance that could be shared by the project and the private sector.
2.3.3. Cultivation: This objective represents the future-oriented pillar of the Action aiming to further contribute to knowledge production in this area based on the experiences of implementation but also including various additional analytical and knowledge exchange activities between the countries involved. It is important to note that this pillar will not serve the immediate needs of the Action and will be informed by its implementation rather than vice versa. The experience of Digital Explorers I showcased that analytical activities are more relevant in the later stages of mobility projects, drawing lessons learned rather than preceding the implementation phase. Having such a pillar increases the ownership of the Action among the public sector stakeholders, given their usual limited interest in operational activities.
2.4. A more detailed specification of services is given in Annex B to this call, which will be an integral part of the awarded services agreement.
2.5. Digital Explorers II is implemented by a Lithuanian think-&-do tank OSMOS,
Latvian Startup Association Startin.LV and the Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV). Project is running between March 2023 and September 2026.
2.6. More information on the Digital Explorers II is available at:
General rules for Selection of the bids
3.1. The evaluation and selection of the bids will be made by the OSMOS Procurement Commission in accordance with the OSMOS internal procurement rules, ICMPD procurement rules and requirements set out in this call by the end of June 2025.
3.2. OSMOS procurement commission will first verify if the Supplier’s bid was presented on time, via electronic means and signed according to clauses 7.2.1 - 7.2.2. of this Call. In case of failure to pass this verification, Supplier's bid will be evaluated as “not submitted”, will be returned to Supplier via email explaining the reason for evaluation and will be excluded from further evaluation procedures. Suppliers, whose bid was evaluated as duly submitted, will not receive any separate notification from the Commision and bids will be proceeded to the next evaluation stage.
3.3. Once the Commission has verified and established that the supplier’s bid was duly submitted, the absence of any grounds for exclusion of the supplier will be verified according to Chapter 4 and Annex C of this call.
3.4. Once the Commission has verified and established that the supplier does not meet any grounds of exclusion stipulated in Annex C, the Commision will check the supplier’s conformity with the qualification requirements enlisted in Chapter 5 of this Call.
3.5. Finally, once the Commission has verified and established that the bid and the supplier meets the requirements listed in clauses 3.2. - 3.4., Chapters 4 and 5 and Annex C of this Call, the Commision will evaluate the Bid (proposed Price and Services provision plan/ Research project proposal) against the requirements of the specification, price and other qualitative criteria.
3.6. If OSMOS finds that the price quoted exceeds the maximum value of the contract, the Bid will be rejected without giving any points for Price and other qualitative criteria and will not be evaluated further. If OSMOS finds that Services provision plan/ Research project proposal does not meet all or some of the specification requirements it will be evaluated according to the evaluation grid given in Annex A.
3.7. Supplier shall indicate in his bid the subcontractors intended to use in the performance of the contract. If the supplier does not indicate subcontractors in the bid, it is considered that the supplier will not use them.
3.8. OSMOS procurement commission will exclude a supplier from the tender procedure if one or more grounds for exclusion of the supplier or its’ subcontractor’s, are established.
3.9. The abovementioned evaluation stages are for reference only. OSMOS procurement commission may decide to combine evaluation stages of each supplier’s bid into less stages if it finds this necessary to save human or time resources.
Presentation of the bids:
Supplier’s bid (at least written documents with Services provision plan / Research project proposal and price proposal) shall be signed by a duly authorised Supplier’s representative and signed with qualified electronic signature meeting requirements laid out in article 28 of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014.
Supplier’s bid must be presented electronically via email before the Deadline to contact person for the tender:
Ms. Egle Dmukauskaite +370 699 24624
Subject:External research expertise for ICMPD/2023/MPF-357-461-001 — Digital Explorers II
For detailed information, please check the complete version of the RFP attached below.