The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is the third largest European political family, bringing together parties with common liberal, democrat and reform ideas from more than 40 European countries. The Brussels-based ALDE Party Secretariat supports the activities of the Party; organises its meetings; manages its external communication; and facilitates European policy development and networking amongst liberal parties.

EVENT REGISTRATION, VOTING SYSTEM AND TEXT AMENDMENT TOOL CALL FOR TENDER

Purpose of the contract

The purpose of this call for tender is to conclude a five-year framework contract for the provision of hybrid event registration, voting system and text amendment tool services in the frame of our statutory events. We have a yearly Congress of approximately 1000 participants, one or two Council meetings of approximately 300 participants, and other ad hoc events that could necessitate any of the three aforementioned type of services.

Estimated value of the contract: 325.000 € without VAT.

Services required

A description of the domains is given hereafter. It should be noted that the descriptions are indicative, and the definitions are non-exhaustive:

1. Event registration:

We require a platform that can handle both online and on-site registration efficiently, as well as the necessary technical assistance for both the online and on-site services. A non-exhaustive list of the minimum technical requirements can be found below:

For the onsite services: in all our statutory events we arrange a registration stand where all participants must come by to either register on-site, or to obtain an identification badge if registration was made online. In this respect, we require the following services to ensure a smooth system:

• Printing of badges, that should be able to include the name of the participants.
• Possibility to print badge with bar code/QR code obtained if registered online.
• Possibility to print badge without bar code/QR by searching participant’s name on the software.
• Real-time attendance statistics.
• Self – registration booths, if requested.
• Laptop(s) or desktop computer(s) with monitor and badges’ printers.
• Installation, configuration, training of hostesses.
• Onsite technical assistance in case of potential bugs, or special requests for changes in respect of votes allocations. There should always be, at least, one project manager present in case of these type of issues.

For the online services: the organisation of all our statutory events requires an online registration software for the enrolment of participants that will be attending, whether physically or online. The digital system should allow our participants (International Officers of our member parties) to create delegations and register people under these delegations. In this respect, we require the following services to ensure a smooth system:

• Creation of participants’ profiles: delegates, guests, invited guests, press and others.
• Collection of all the event’s communications.
• Possibility to have access to the payment page to finalize the registration at the event.
• Creation of an approver module: tailored access to the platform to certain participants (International Officers) to approve and allocate voting rights to their Delegation (formed by certain number of delegates).
• Creation of a “Superadmin” module: tailored access for certain people of the ALDE Party Secretariat to modify participants’ profiles, creation of new registrations, validate categories, remove/allocate voting rights and dashboard control to modify information about the event if needed.
• The software should be mobile friendly

2. Voting services:

During our statutory events our participants adopt resolutions, vote on decisions, vote on text amendments, etc. This requires a voting system that can adapt to our needs as well as to our internal regulations. Therefore, the contractor shall perform the following tasks:

• Provide a voting system app or landing page (see below the minimum requirements)
• Provide technical assistance for each session that requires voting (see below the minimum requirements)

In respect of the performance of the contract, on-site, during the event, one qualified technician should be able to operate and trouble-shoot the whole system. One backup qualified technician should be able to replace the qualified technician. While not replacing the qualified technician, she/he shall work as assistant technician. One assistant technician should be able to install and test the system, provide support to members during the sessions and perform first level intervention in the event of problems.

Minimum technical requirements:

• The Voting System Management Software (VSMS) shall enable the configuration, programming, operation and troubleshooting of all of the components of the voting system for approximately 500 participants or more. More precisely, the VSMS must have the following features:
  • It shall store all information.
  • It shall deliver the emails with the voting credentials for all the registered delegates.
  • It shall operate in compliance with the ALDE Party's internal rules of procedure for voting which can include:
    • quorum verification;
    • votes for/against/abstention;
    • votes by open ballot and by secret ballot must be possible. An open voting session is a session where each voter and his/her vote can be identified; during a secret voting session, it must be impossible to trace and record the vote expressed by each person.
    • Votes from non-EU members should not exceed one third of the number of votes cast in each ballot.
  • It shall enable a rapid change in voting modes: simple majority, absolute majority, two thirds majority, extensions to other kind of majorities, in line with the ALDE Party's internal procedures.
  • It shall enable the creation of reports about each vote matching the votes to the respective questions or amendments. Furthermore, it should have a rapid system of votes’ counting.
  • It shall enable the creation of "ad-hoc" displays to be sent to the meeting room projection system, to be viewed by approximately 500 participants. More precisely, the following display mode must be supported:
    • Voting results for the public: this mode must enable the results of the voting session to be displayed in real time, and more specifically must clearly display the number of votes FOR and AGAINST, the number of abstentions, the title of the voting session, the total number of voters, the organisation’s logo, and the voting session status (OPEN/CLOSED).
  • The system shall be mobile friendly and allow both on-site and hybrid votes for online participants.

3. Tool for text amendments and resolutions:

Our statutory events require a platform that allows participants (delegates) to vote political decisions or make text amendments that require eventual approval. These services and equipment required include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Online platform available and hosted for a three-month period for each of the events (prior-during-after event)
• Creation of at least 100 user accounts. These should include an admin profile whose rights on the platform to edit, amend and export are tailor-made.
• Ability to submit motions in text format and for the admin user to be able to export submitted motions in PDF and DOC/Microsoft formats.
• Submitted motions should be displayed visually on the platform, and users able to submit “amendments” to specific points within the text displayed. These “amendments” must be able to be exported by the admin into PDF and DOC/Microsoft document formats, with the amendments arranged in chronological order based on location within the text and sub-sorted by length of characters in the amendment – g. if two amendments are made addressing the same passage, and one applies to four words and the other applies to more than four words, the longer is sorted and displayed first in the table. The admin should be able to manually order and sort the amendments in the running order prior to export.
• Platform should be able to be bespoke tailored to use the workflow and able to be tailored with in-house terminologies for field labels.
• User account list should be able to be updated quickly and easily by admins.
• Ideally, emails generated by the platform (ie password reset) should be able to be sent via an external email masking to avoid spam filters ([email protected]).
• Mobile and user friendly, English-language.
• At least one project manager in support during the uploading period of the platform and, at least, one person on site for the whole duration of the working groups and the voting system.

Exclusion and selection criteria:

1. Exclusion criteria

Participation in this tender procedure is only open to tenderers (all entities involved, including subcontractors and consortium members) that are not in a situation of exclusion as specified in Annex II, which includes:

• bankruptcy and insolvency situations.
• non-payment of taxes or social security contributions.
• grave professional misconduct.
• fraud, corruption, participation in a criminal organisation etc.
• serious breach of contract.

2. Selection criteria

• Flexibility to provide the requested services in any city around Europe. Travel and accommodation expenses would be covered by ALDE Party.
• Proven experience (examples will be required) of similar projects. The tenderer must provide references of 2 projects delivered in these fields in the past 3 years with details of the value, delivery date and the type of targeted audience.
• Flexibility to work during weekends as our statutory events usually take place over the weekend.
• Adequately staffed and technically equipped for a smooth and efficient performance of the tasks required for the purpose of the contract. Professional profiles (e.g LinkedIn, CVs) will be considered as evidence.
• Excellent knowledge of English of all the staff involved in the delivery of the services.

Award criteria

The contract will be awarded on the basis of the best value for money award criteria, taking into account both quantitative and qualitative criteria

To apply:

Please apply by sending a detailed proposal in English, addressing the below elements:

• Overview of your company, including its background, and the methodology and approach to ensure accurate and timely delivery of services (project implementation proposal).
• The professional profiles of the team that will deliver the main services (e.g LinkedIn, CVs) for each category of services, that is, for the voting, registration and platform services.
• The tenderer must provide references of 2 projects delivered in these fields in the past 3 years with details of the value, delivery date and the type of targeted audience.
• Appendix I - Pricing Template.
• Appendix II – Selection and exclusion criteria.

Tenders must be submitted together with Appendix I and II, filled in and signed, by 5 May 2024 to Maria Claudia Pastena, Head of Events Unit at the ALDE party ([email protected]). The deadline for the selection of the tenderer is set by 10 May 2024. Questions or clarifications are also welcome via email or by calling +32 (0) 25510169.

Annex I - Pricing template

Annex II - Selection and Exclusion criteria

Tender specifications