The Council of Europe is currently implementing the Component 1 “EU and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine” (hereinafter – the Project) within the Joint Project of the European Union and the Council of Europe "European Union and Council of Europe working together to strengthening the protection of human rights in Ukraine" and is launching the tender procedure for procurement of international consultants’ servcies.

The deadline for submission of tender proposals is 23:59, 8 January 2020 (Kyiv time)

Tender proposals shall be submitted by email only (with attachments in pdf format) to the e-mail address [email protected], with the following reference in subject:  4756/2019/01FC. Tenders addressed to another email address will be rejected.

All questions shall be submitted at least 5 (five) working days before the deadline for submission of the tenders and shall be exclusively addressed to the [email protected], e-mail address with the following reference in subject: 4756/2019/01FC_Questions.

The topics for consultants are divided into the following six Lots. Tenderers may submit a tender offer for one, several or all Lots subject to the fulfilment of the criteria listed in the Tender Rules below. The Council of Europe is looking for: up to 15 Provider(s) per Lot 1; up to 7 Provider(s) per Lot 2; up to 10 Provider(s) per Lot 3; up to 15 Provider(s) per Lot 4; up to 10 Provider(s) per Lot 5, up to 15 Provider(s) per Lot 6  (provided enough tenders meet the criteria indicated below) in order to support the implementation of the Project with a particular expertise in the fields of expertise listed below.

• Lot 1 – Public Service Broadcasting

Topics within this Lot 1 will include but are not limited to:

• Council of Europe and European standards on Public broadcasting, relevant legislation and practices of other Council of Europe member-states including operation of Public broadcasters (strategy development, corporate relations etc.);
• models of financing of Public broadcasters in Europe;
• standards and practices of elections coverage by Public broadcasters in Europe;
• content for minorities, children and on gender issues on European public service broadcasters;
• standards and formats on European Public broadcasters for covering the activities of public authorities;
• editorial standards on European public service broadcasters etc.
  
  Lot 2 –Local Print Media

Topics within this Lot 2 will include but are not limited to:

• practices and legal framework for successful operation of local print media in the Council of Europe member-states;
• models of effective management structures of local print media;
• innovative formats of covering current affairs and elections;
• journalistic standards and other issues for privatized and reformed local print media.
  
  Lot 3 – Safety of journalists and fight against impunity

Topics within this Lot 3 will include but are not limited to:

• Council of Europe standards and the European Court of Human Rights case-law on freedom of expression and safety of journalists; 
• investigations of crimes against media actors in European jurisdictions – approaches, methodology of law enforcement bodies, measures to ensure safety of journalists in the European countries;
• best European practices of ensuring physical and digital safety of journalists;
• early warning and rapid response  mechanisms for safety of journalists protection in the European counties.
  
  Lot 4 – EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive, regulation of the media sphere

Topics within this Lot 4 will include but are not limited to:

• EU AVMS Directive and the Council of Europe standards in the sphere of audiovisual regulation; 
• European practices in audiovisual sphere; 
• Council of Europe and European standards on regulators in the sphere of media;
• effective models of co-regulation in the Council of Europe member states;
• policies in media sphere on gender equality and prevention of sexism in media and advertising.
  
  Lot 5 – Access to public information

Topics within this Lot 5 will include but are not limited to:

• Council of Europe standards and practices of the European countries in the sphere of access to public information;
• the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents (Tromso Convention);
• establishment and operation of Information Commissioners/Commissions (authority, legislation, etc.) in Europe and the world.
  
  
  Lot 6 – Media and elections, countering disinformation

Topics within this Lot 6 will include but are not limited to:

• practices and legal framework of media coverage of elections in the Council of Europe member states; 
• Council of Europe standards and recommendations on media coverage of elections;
• regulation of political advertising during elections in the member-states of the Council of Europe;
• Countering information disorder, disinformation and new challenges in media.

ASSESSMENT

Exclusion criteria and absence of conflict of interests

(by signing the Act of Engagement (see the template below), you declare on your honour not being in any of the below situations)

Tenderers shall be excluded from participating in the tender procedure if they:

• have been sentenced by final judgment on one or more of the following charges: participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, money laundering;
• are in a situation of bankruptcy, liquidation, termination of activity, insolvency or arrangement with creditors or any like situation arising from a procedure of the same kind, or are subject to a procedure of the same kind;
• have received a judgment with res judicata force, finding an offence that affects their professional integrity or serious professional misconduct;
• do not comply with their obligations as regards payment of social security contributions, taxes and dues, according to the statutory provisions of their country of incorporation, establishment or residence;
• are or are likely to be in a situation of conflict of interests;
• are or if their owner(s) or executive officer(s), in the case of legal persons, are included in the lists of persons or entities subject to restrictive measures applied by the European Union (available at www.sanctionsmap.eu);
•  made a financial offer exceeding the exclusion level set out in the Act of Engagement (EUR 400).

Eligibility criteria

• A university degree in law / political sciences / social sciences / international relations / public administration / journalism or related fields;
• At least 5 years of professional experience in the areas mentioned as topics of Lots 1-6 (practical experience in relevant media organisations, consulting, academic research, analytical work, expert assessments, working as trainers, contribution to the events as speakers etc.);
• Fluent/proficient in English (at least level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).

Award criteria

• Quality of the offer (80%), that means relevance of the experience and level of expertise of the tenderer in the areas covered by specific Lots, including previous assignments with international organisations and/or previous experience with Ukrainian context that would be regarded as an asset;

• Financial offer (20%).

Documents to be provided:

• A completed and signed copy of the Act of Engagement^[1] (See attached);
• A detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format, demonstrating clearly that the tenderer fulfils the eligibility criteria;

• A list of all owners and executive officers, for legal persons only;

• A list of drafted expert opinions, legislation assessments, reports and other relevant materials with active links to them to the extent possible (but not less than 1) on the topics covered by the Lots 1-6 above produced in the last 5 years.

All documents shall be submitted in English, failure to do so will result in the exclusion of the tender.

If any of the documents listed above are missing, the Council of Europe reserves the right to reject the tender.

The Council reserves the right to reject a tender if the scanned documents are of such a quality that the documents cannot be read once printed.

Attachments to the present announcement contain full description of the terms and conditions of the consultants’ involvement:

1. Tender file / terms of reference;
2.  Act of Engagement.