GIZ/ CALL FOR TENDER PREQUALIFICATION

 

 

CALL FOR TENDER

PREQUALIFICATION

1. GENERAL CONDITIONS

   Requester: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), Office Tirana, Rr. Asim Zeneli, Nd.6/10, 1000, Tirana, Albania

       Profile (Background of the Call): 

This Prequalification Call represents a key step in supporting Albania’s ongoing EU accession process. Albania has been an EU candidate country since 2014 and formally opened accession negotiations in 2022 under the revised EU Enlargement Methodology, which structures negotiations in thematic clusters.

This assignment forms part of the GIZ-supported project “Support to Albania for fulfilling selected EU Accession Closing Benchmarks in Cluster 2 – Internal Market”, implemented under the Studien– und Fachkräftefonds (SFF).

Cluster 2 – Internal Market includes core areas such as the free movement of goods, services, capital and workers. Within this cluster, Chapter 2 – Free Movement of Workers requires alignment with the EU acquis and the establishment of effective administrative and institutional structures.

The European Commission has defined a Closing Benchmark requiring Albania to demonstrate sufficient capacity to implement the acquis on free movement of workers, including:

• the European Network of Employment Services (EURES); and

• cooperation with the European Labour Authority (ELA).

This assignment will contribute to the fulfilment of this benchmark by supporting the alignment of Albania’s legal, institutional and operational framework with the relevant EU acquis.

2. SUBJECT

This call aims to pre-qualify bidders to carry out the assignment:

Alignment of the Albanian Legal, Institutional and Operational Framework with the EURES and ELA Acquis (Chapter 2 – Free Movement of Workers)

The assignment includes, inter alia:

• Regulatory and Legal Analysis
   Analysis of the relevant EU acquis (EURES and ELA) and assessment of the current level of alignment, including identification of legal, institutional and technical gaps.

• Preparation of Analytical Tools
   Preparation of Tables of Concordance (ToCs) and Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIA), including financial, economic and social (including gender) implications.

• Drafting of Regulatory Framework
   Drafting of legal and administrative acts required for:

• EURES governance, admission system and data exchange; 

• enabling cooperation with the European Labour Authority (ELA).

• Institutional and Operational Design
   Development of coordination mechanisms, protocols and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for labour mobility governance and enforcement.

• Technical Assessment (IT and Data Exchange)
   Assessment of national systems in relation to EURES requirements, including interoperability, data exchange and ESCO-related aspects.

• Consultation and Coordination Support
   Support to interinstitutional coordination and stakeholder consultation processes.

• Capacity Development
   Delivery of targeted training and guidance to relevant institutions to support implementation and operationalisation.

3. ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility for this call is extended to natural persons (individual consultants) as well as legal entities (companies), including consortia/groupings.

To participate, applicants must fulfil the following criteria:

3.1 Legal and administrative requirements

• Natural persons: valid identification and proof of professional registration (if applicable under national law); 

• Legal entities: proof of legal registration (e.g. extract from commercial register or equivalent); 

• Submission of required self-declarations on exclusion grounds (as per GIZ templates).

3.2 Financial capability

• Legal entities:

• Average annual turnover of at least 60,000 EUR (or equivalent in ALL) over the last three financial years; 

• Natural persons:

• Demonstration of sufficient financial capacity to implement the assignment (e.g. annual income, contracts, or financial statements), proportionate to the contract value.

3.3 Workforce capacity

• Legal entities:

• Average of at least 2 employees (full-time equivalent) over the last three calendar years; 

• Natural persons:

• This criterion does not apply; however, the applicant must demonstrate access to additional expertise (e.g. through cooperation arrangements, subcontracting or expert pool).

3.4 Technical experience

• At least 2 reference projects in one or more of the following fields:

• EU acquis alignment / legal approximation; 

• legal drafting / regulatory reform; 

• labour market, employment policy or internal market-related frameworks; 

• Each reference project must have a minimum value of 20,000 EUR (or equivalent in ALL); 

• At least 1 reference project implemented in Albania or the Western Balkans region, within the last 36 months prior to publication of this call.

(For natural persons, reference projects may include assignments carried out as independent experts or key experts within larger projects.)

3.5 Consortiums / Groupings

• Applications may be submitted by consortia/groupings of natural and/or legal persons; 

• A lead partner must be clearly identified; 

• Eligibility criteria may be met collectively, except for exclusion grounds which apply individually.

4. DEADLINE

All interested parties in the application process should ask for the Expression of Interest ref. no. 7000005700 to the address: [email protected], latest by 16.04.2026.

The due date for submitting the application is 17.04.2026.

The documents should be submitted in pdf format via e-mail to [email protected] with subject “7000005700 – EURES / ELA Alignment”.

After the due date for submitting the application, the process of prequalification will follow. The submitted applications will be evaluated, and only prequalified candidates will be invited to answer the bid. All written communication for this procedure and the following successful ones must be in English. 

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