New European Framework Agreement for Cloud Services – OCRE 2024

The Call for the next Pan-European Framework Agreement for cloud services – Open Clouds for Research Environments 2024 (OCRE) – has opened the period for expressions of interest until November 27. Institutions wishing to benefit from the contractual conditions of the future framework agreement should signal their intention to do so. Framework agreements allow for administrative simplification and economies of scale in costs for the entities involved.

GÉANT, an entity that brings together Europe's national research and education networks, has been signing successive framework agreements at European level for commercial cloud services. FCT has been promoting these framework agreements among national higher education and research communities through its FCCN unit, in coordination with the General Secretariat for Education and Science.

The current OCRE European Framework Agreement has 14 national contracting entities. At European level, there are already 800 entities in 27 countries. Framework agreements are contractual arrangements provided for in European and national public procurement law. More information on the framework agreement currently in force can be found here.