Expressions of Interest - Research Data Management (2024)

The Call aims to contract up to 10 Centers for Research Data Management.

Proposals may be submitted by institutions that are part of the national science and technology system, as defined in Decree-Law No. 63/2019 of May 16.
Proposing entities may apply individually or jointly. In the case of joint applications, one proposing entity must be identified as the lead applicant.

No, the same legal entity may only apply for one Center.
It is recommended that institutions coordinate to submit an application.

Entities responding to this call for the creation of a Research Data Management Center may also submit proposals for the establishment of a Consortium, under an invitation to be launched by FCT, within the scope of PN CADAI. However, if they are selected to join the Consortium, the expression of interest submitted by the institution, either individually or in co-promotion, will not be considered and, in the latter case, regardless of whether the entity is listed as the leader or not.

The Consortium's main objectives will be:

• Support national scientific and higher education institutions in developing and applying 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 lifecycle;
  • Training and capacity building in best practices.
• Coordinate, advise, and support Research Data Management Centers, to be selected by FCT;
• Support the convergence of national infrastructures and services with EOSC and with European research infrastructures and networks.

In the field of Research Data Management, FCT's digital services unit, FCCN, provides a Data Management Plan system and a data repository service, the Polen repository, which is currently completing its pilot phase and may be an option for institutions and/or research teams that do not have their own solution. For more details on these services, see here.
The PNCADAI program also plans to provide digital services for active data management as well as storage and backup infrastructure.
The proposal may assume the future existence of these services. However, the institution is free to choose the digital services that are most convenient for it.

The contract shall terminate when all agreed activities have been completed, or when the PRR implementation period established for December 31, 2025 ends, whichever occurs first.

The amount that FCT is willing to pay for the performance of all services that constitute its object is €220,500, plus VAT at the legal rate in force.

In the case of a procurement process, the proposing entity is responsible for incurring the expenses it deems essential for the execution and achievement of the objectives and deliverables described, taking into account the impacts and results set out in the proposal.

Proposals must be written in English, except for the Acronym and Full Title (first item in section 9. 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 9 of the Call.

The Curriculum Vitae of the person(s) responsible for the application and of the main elements, completed on the CIÊNCIAVITAE platform, must be published and the relevant records for evaluation by the evaluation panel must have access 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.

The following deliverables must be provided during the contract period: the elements to be included in the application proposal, the deliverables for "Center Coordination and Management," and the deliverables for "Operational Activity," as designated in point 11 of the Call. Some of the deliverables for "Operational Activity" require a link to the Consortium's activities (see question #5).

Proposals must be submitted in English to the email address: compras@fccn.pt, with the reference RI/00139/2024 entered in the "Subject" field of the email.

Proposals will be evaluated by an evaluation panel composed of independent national or foreign experts appointed by FCT.
The merit of proposals will be evaluated taking into account the eight criteria described in point 10 of the Call and the attribution of a score based on a scale from 0 to 5. Applications with a score of 24.00 or higher will be considered eligible.
The selection process will also take into account the objective of maximizing coverage and scope in terms of geographical area and thematic areas. To this end, bonuses have been included for proposals based on their geographical area and thematic area (see question #15).

After evaluating the merits of the proposals, 3 points will be awarded to the best proposals in each geographical area and each thematic area, and 1 point to the second-best proposals in each of these areas.

The scientific field(s) of activity must be identified in accordance with the"Classification of Scientific and Technological Fields"(Fields of Science and Technology, FoS) approved by the OECD and adopted by Portugal in 2007. If the proposal covers more than one scientific field, the main scientific field must be indicated.

Any information regarding the procedure should be requested via the following email address: compras@fccn.pt, as mentioned in point 21 of the Appeal.

The recording of the information session, held on July 11 and promoted by FCT through FCCN – Digital Services, is available for viewing.

The presentation document can also be consulted.

Note: Changes have been made to points 9, 10, and 15 of the Call that are not included in this clarification session. For more information, please refer to the republished Call.

The deadline for submitting proposals for the creation of Research Data Management Centers has been extended, in view of the changes in points 9, 10, and 15 of the Call, and is now August 22, at 11:59 p.m.

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