10049107-Agency to Build Narrative and Develop Knowledge and Communication Product...

✓These quantities and budgets are contractual maximum limits; the contractor has no entitlement to use all days, trips, workshops or budgets in full.

✓The work is largely carried out in or for the Indian context, under German law and GIZ’s AVB 2025, with reporting and coordination to GIZ in Germany and its country office.

✓Award criteria and weighting are clearly laid out.

✓Such as stated both in the invitation letter and the application terms, tenders are first assessed technically using the attached technical assessment grid (Form 31‑10‑4‑en).

✓The technical bid carries 70% of the total score; the financial bid 30%.

✓A minimum of 500 technical points is required for the financial bid to be opened; bids below 500 points or failing mandatory technical criteria in the ToR are excluded.

✓The technical grid covers: strategy and technical‑methodological approach (interpretation of objectives, explicit strategy, cooperation and steering with partners, contribution to results‑based monitoring, knowledge management, scaling‑up measures); project management (implementation plan, milestones, personnel assignment plan, backstopping strategy); and detailed assessment of proposed staff (team leader, experts, short‑term expert pools, including qualifications, language, general and specific professional experience, regional and development‑cooperation experience, leadership, and “other” criteria such as gender‑responsive curriculum adaptation experience).

✓Fixed budget items in the financial bid (e.g. the video subcontract lump sum, some operating cost items) are not included in the price evaluation.

✓The financial bid must be in EUR, net of VAT, structured per price schedule and AVB; presentations may be requested but do not change the non‑negotiation nature of the procedure.

✓Such as: (i) the tender is binding until 15.01.2027; within that period GIZ can award the contract, and no negotiations are foreseen.

✓(ii) The contractor must comply with integrity provisions, including anti‑corruption rules (no gifts over EUR 35/year per recipient, no facilitation payments), conflict‑of‑interest mitigation, and reporting of suspected corruption or property offences; breaches can trigger contractual penalties up to EUR 50,000 or equal to any illicit pecuniary advantage, plus possible termination.

✓(iii) Delays in delivering agreed “works” after a grace period allow GIZ to demand a contractual penalty of 0.5% of the corresponding remuneration per week (max. 5%).

✓(iv) Subcontracting of significant parts of services requires contractual provision and written amendment if not originally foreseen; where foreseen but unnamed, GIZ must consent in text form to the chosen subcontractor, and all subcontractors must be bound to the AVB.

✓GIZ also regulates procurement by the contractor: for orders over EUR 1,000 (excl.

✓VAT), at least three suitable companies must be invited unless a named subcontractor is in the contract or cost‑effectiveness can be proven without competition.

✓(v) GIZ checks sanctions lists, creditworthiness, and risks of false self‑employment; it may decline to award the contract if risks are high.

✓There are reporting obligations (regular and special reports, information security incident reporting), confidentiality duties, bans on monitoring GIZ staff via IT systems, and obligations to cooperate in audits.

✓Assignment of claims requires GIZ’s prior written approval; place of jurisdiction is Frankfurt am Main for most contractors.

✓On contradictions or corrections within the documents, the governing rule is given in AVB section 1.2: in case of discrepancies, the components of the contract apply in the following order: (1) the specific contract or award notification with its annexes; (2) the General Terms and Conditions (AVB 2025) with their annexes; and (3) the Standard Official Contracting Rules for Services, Part B (VOL/B).

✓For the tender stage, such as noted in the self‑declaration, clauses introduced by GIZ in the public tender documents take precedence over any other content (including bidders’ own general terms and conditions), and only the documents listed in the invitation letter and Annex overview (application conditions, ToR, assessment grid, draft contract, self‑declaration, price schedule, data protection information, AVB) form the basis for the offer.

✓Page‑limit rules in the ToR (max. 10 pages for the concept, excluding CVs; content beyond that is ignored) override any temptation to submit longer technical descriptions.

✓No variant tenders are permitted; any variant is excluded but the main tender remains valid.

✓Where a flexible remuneration item exists, the ToR and AVB confirm it may only be used with GIZ’s prior approval and not to increase fee rates.

✓In practical terms, if bidders find conflicting statements, the specific contract/draft and ToR (plus AVB hierarchy) determine which statement applies.

Answers on the required criteria

Must securities be provided (bid bond, performance or warranty guarantee)? If so: which, in what amount and by when?

❓Regarding securities (such as bid bonds, performance guarantees or warranty guarantees), the input text does not stipulate any such requirement for this specific services tender.

❓Thus, based on the provided documents, no securities are required in this procedure.

Is subcontracting allowed? If so: with which limits and which disclosure duties?

✓On subcontracting, the texts clearly allow it under defined conditions.

✓The AVB 2025 (section 1.4) states that if subcontracting is not already provided for in the contract, it requires a written amendment; if a subcontracting arrangement is foreseen but the subcontractor is not yet named, GIZ’s consent to the selected subcontractor must be obtained in text form, and all subcontractors must be bound to comply with the contract provisions.

✓Additionally, the “Terms and conditions for application” (section 11.2) specify that if a candidate/tenderer intends to let a subcontractor implement some services, the nature and extent of these services must be disclosed with the tender and the subcontractor must be mentioned by name.

✓Furthermore, when the contractor procures materials, equipment, services and works (including subcontracts), it must follow principles of competition, transparency, cost‑effectiveness and invite at least three suitable companies for contracts from EUR 1,000 (unless an exception applies), documenting the process.

✓Thus subcontracting is allowed but subject to prior disclosure, GIZ consent (where not already defined), and adherence to procurement and contract compliance rules.

Is there a site visit, and is attendance mandatory? If so: when?

❓As for a site visit, there is no mention in the input text of any formal site inspection organised by GIZ for tenderers, nor any mandatory attendance requirement linked to a site visit.

❓Indian cities such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore) and the expected regular presence of the contractor there during contract implementation, but they do not announce a pre‑tender site visit event or link eligibility/evaluation to attendance.

❓Therefore, based on the available text, no site visit is foreseen in the tendering phase, and none is mandatory.

In which language must the tender and the supporting documents be submitted, and are documents in other languages accepted?

✓Concerning language, the procedure clearly designates English as the language of the tender.

✓The invitation letter explicitly requires that self‑declaration of eligibility and technical and financial bids be submitted “by 6.11.2026, 12:00 (Berlin time) in English”.

✓The Terms of Reference add that “The tender must be drawn up in English” and that CVs “can also be submitted in English”, with format requirements (e.g. standard EU / Europass format).

✓For official register documents from other countries, the application terms state that translations into German or English must be enclosed for any official documents in another language.

✓Thus, tenders and supporting documents must be in English; documents originally in other languages are accepted only if accompanied by a translation into German or English.

How long is the bidder bound by the tender (validity period), and is there a deadline for bidder questions? If so: until when?

✓As regards binding period of tenders and deadlines for bidder questions, the invitation states that “when you submit a tender, the tender is binding until the expiry of the deadline” and defines the “End of binding period (i.e. tenders no longer legally binding)” as 15.01.2027.

✓The planned contract award is in November 2026, and commencement of service delivery is also November 2026, but the legal validity of bids extends until 15 January 2027.

✓On questions, the “Terms and conditions for application” explain that any commercial, technical or procedural questions must be raised promptly and “no later than the deadline specified in the procedure”, and that questions can only be submitted electronically via the Tender Platform.

✓Answers of general interest are shared anonymously with all tenderers.

❓However, the specific calendar date for the question deadline is not provided in the excerpts; it is to be taken from the deadline information shown in the particular procedure on the eProcurement platform.

Further details

✓GIZ public invitation to tender for services and works (Tender no. 10049107)

✓The input text comprises the core procurement documents for a GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH) public invitation to tender for a services contract, tender number 10049107, under German public procurement law (GWB, VgV, UVgO).

✓It reflects the point of view of the Federal Republic of Germany as awarding authority, with performance in India (mentioned as the country of assignment) and references to EU law where relevant (e.g.

✓EU Directive 2014/24/EU).

✓The framework is that of a German contracting authority procuring consulting / communication services internationally, via its eProcurement Tender Platform.

✓The documents, such as the “Invitation to submit a tender”, the “Terms and Conditions for application” and the “General Terms and Conditions of Contract (AVB 2025)”, set out the legal and procedural framework for this tender.

✓They detail, for example, how tenders must be submitted electronically, how technical and financial bids are evaluated, and which integrity, confidentiality and reporting obligations apply to the future contractor.

✓This includes references to German law, EU procurement rules and GIZ internal guidelines (e.g. corporate design, security, data protection).

✓The documents describe project locations (e.g.