Expressions of Interest - Research Data Management (2024)

The Consortium's main objectives are:

• To promote the creation and development of a networked community of practice for the management of FAIR research data in Portugal, with the aim of supporting the creation and transfer of knowledge and best practices;
• To support the entities of the national scientific and higher education system in the development and application of data management skills and action strategies, in accordance with the principles of Open Science and FAIR Data;
• Support convergence with national legislation and European directives on data management and sharing;
• Coordinate and develop three cross-cutting areas, considered crucial and transformative:
  • Institutional policies on data management and sharing;
  • Curation of research data throughout the data cycle;
  • Training and capacity building in best practices.

• Articulate, advise and support Centers for Research Data Management, to be selected by the FCT;
• Support the convergence of national infrastructures and services with the EOSC and with European research infrastructures and networks.

Tenders may be submitted by entities in the Research & Innovation System (SI&I) that are contracting authorities for the purposes of Article 5-A(5) - "Public sector contracts" of the Public Contracts Code (CCP).

The following conditions must be met:

1. The FCT and the bidding entity are contracting entities, in accordance with Article 2 of the CCP.
2. The contract establishes cooperation between the contracting authorities in the context of public tasks assigned to them and which have a relevant connection with each other;
3. Cooperation should be governed exclusively by considerations of public interest; and
4. The contracting authorities do not carry out 20% or more of the activities covered by the cooperation contract on the free market.

Furthermore, in view of the cooperation relationship, the proposing entities must have common attributions with those of the FCT and must be governed by the public interest.

It should also be noted that, as mentioned in point 10 of the same invitation, tenderers must confirm compliance with the conditions set out in Article 5a(5) of the CCP, by submitting the Declaration of Commitment in Annex I.

The Call for the creation and establishment of a Consortium states that the proposal must include a minimum of three entities, one of which must be designated as the lead entity.

There is no limit to the number of people responsible for the application. The choice of the person(s) responsible will be taken into account in terms of the relevance of their activity to the application(curriculum vitae) at the evaluation stage.

Entities that respond to this Call for Proposals for the creation and establishment of a Consortium may also submit a proposal for the establishment of a Center for Research Data Management, under the Call launched by the FCT, within the scope of the PNCADAI. However, if they are selected to be part of the Consortium, the expression of interest formulated by the institution for the constitution of a Center, individually or in co-promotion, will not be considered and, in the latter case, regardless of whether the entity is the leader or not.

The contract expires when all the activities agreed under the cooperation have been completed, or on December 31, 2025, whichever comes first.

The amount allocated to carrying out all the activities that make up its purpose is €780,000, plus VAT at the legal rate in force.

As this is a contract that establishes cooperation between entities, the proposing entity is responsible for carrying out the expenses it deems essential for the execution and achievement of the objectives and deliverables described with a view to the impacts and results set out in the proposal.

Proposals must be written in English, with the exception of the Acronym and Full Title (first item of point 10. Elements to be included in the Proposal), which must be identified in Portuguese and English.

The elements that must be included in the proposal are set out in point 10 of the invitation.

The curriculum vitae of the person(s) responsible for the application and the main elements, completed on the CIÊNCIAVITAE platform, must be published and the relevant records for evaluation by the evaluation panel must be accessible with the privacy level "Public". These CIÊNCIAVITAE parameters must be ensured until the accepted proposals and the final results of the evaluation process are known.

It is recommended that the curriculum vitae be submitted in English.

Proposals will be evaluated by an evaluation panel made up of independent national or foreign experts to be appointed by the FCT.

The merit of the proposals will be assessed by taking into account the eight criteria described in point 11 of the Call and assigning a score based on a scale of 0 to 5. Applications with a score of 24.00 or more will be considered eligible.

The following deliverables must be provided during the execution period of the contract: the elements to be included in the application proposal, the "Consortium Coordination and Management" deliverables and the "Operational Activity" deliverables, as designated in point 12 of the Call.

The deadline for submitting proposals for the creation and establishment of a Consortium is September 10, until 23:59.

Proposals should be submitted in English to: compras@fccn.ptwith the reference RI/00138/2024 entered in the "Subject" field of the e-mail.

Any information on the procedure should be requested via the following email: compras@fccn.ptby the end of the first third of the deadline for submission of tenders.

The recording of the information session, held on August 1, 2024 and promoted by FCT through FCCN - Serviços Digitais, is available for consultation.

You can also consult the presentation document.

With a few exceptions where the questions were addressed directly to the applicant, the requests for clarification, sent by the entities through the official channel compras@fccn.pt, have been taken into account in the production of the questions/answers presented here (FAQs). Likewise, doubts raised during the clarification session were taken into account.