Procure4Health 3rd call for twinnings

Description

Executive summary A central aspect of the Procure4Health community is to enable procurers to learn about and adopt innovation procurement practices, tools, approaches, and policies for deploying sustainable and innovative solutions in health- and social care.  Twinnings are a community (peer to peer) tool that enables exchange of knowledge on a particular topic by bridging knowledge from experienced actors to less experienced ones. Over a defined period, the twinning parties carry out activities such as structured study visits, workshops, training sessions and internships, leading to the effective knowledge transfer from the originator to the adopter. A twinning can focus on knowledge-exchange between two or more partners. The main concept behind twinnings is to avoid reinventing the wheel by adopting knowledge, enabling partners to learn from existing experiences that have already successfully tackled the same problems and barriers, found solutions for them, and thus help to significantly shorten the adoption/implementation time and related costs.  This is the 3rd Request for Twinnings Proposals launched by the Procure4Health project, the first ones being launched and implemented during 2023.   This document aims to provide i) an introduction into Twinnings and how they relate to capacity-building in the Procure4Health project, ii) the opportunity for Twinnings provided by the project and iii) the procedure for organizations to apply to them.    Twinnings are open to Public and private procurers with registered headquarters in the EU and with clear mandate for procurement in the health and social care sectors. Supporting actors such as GPO´s of organisations covered by the above criteria are eligible.   In the call for Twinnings launched early 2024 combinations of Procure4health founding members1 and external organisations are eligible.  This call is open in a cut-off deadline format, introducing a mid-term deadline and selection.  1.Introduction and purpose of twinnings  1.1 Why Procure4Health?  The public procurement of innovation seeks to bring closer cutting-edge processes and technology to the public sector as a user who can benefit from these advances, both directly to the citizens who receive or use the services and goods purchased by the public sector and the public sector itself. It is about promoting business innovation from public demand-side, which moves about 2 billion euros a year: if 3% of the spending that the public sector makes for its provision of works, goods and services, were destined to demanded products and services, some 60,000 million euros a year would be allocated to R&D&I, almost as much as the funds from the Horizon 2020 program for the five-year period 2015-2020 (70,200 million euros), and this without any additional expense. It is estimated that an increase in investment in R&D of 3% could create up to 3.7 million new jobs and a considerable increase in GDP. The potential of the public procurement of innovation to promote development and thus quality employment is therefore enormous.  Every year, public authorities in the EU spend around 10% of GDP on the purchase of Health & Social Care services (H&Sc), works and supplies. The increasing trend of the costs is a challenge for the sustainability of global health systems.  Leveraging the use of innovation procurement instruments (e.g., PCP, PPI, and Innovation Partnerships) could help to tackle common present and future needs and achieve best value for money, driving innovation from the demand side.   However, there are still barriers to EU-wide adoption of innovation procurement, such as fragmentation of health systems, legal differences, bureaucracy, language barriers, risk aversion by policy makers and H&Sc procurers when it comes to adoption of innovation procurement, lack of appropriate procurement skills and expertise, etc. There is no central or consolidated knowledge on innovation procurement & management procedures at EU level, or appraisal of trusted tools and approaches.  Procure4Health is an EU project that started in June 2022. It aims to overcome these barriers by creating the largest EU community of reference for European procurers in the field of health and care. A consolidated database for knowledge exchange and sharing of best practices and management processes has been developed, as well as the design of training programs to consolidate this knowledge. Furthermore, the focus is on the identification and prioritisation of common needs for the preparation of concrete innovation procurement projects and action plans in the H&Sc sector. For this, a range of support tools and opportunities are shared within the project, such as training webinars, dialogues focused on shared unmet needs, a capacity-building catalogue, and Twinning opportunities, which are described more in detail in this document.  Procure4Health thus provide an appropriate environment for public and private procurers, as well as the wider H&Sc community, to effectively share knowledge, build capacities of procurers, define common needs and advance innovation procurement in the EU.   1.2 Procure4Health and twinnings  A central aspect of the Procure4Health community is to enable procurers to learn about and adopt innovation procurement practices, tools, approaches, and policies for deploying sustainable and innovative solutions in health- and social care. Procure4Health capitalises on the consortium’s experience in innovation procurement and from partners expertise in implementing sustainable practices in Pan-European healthcare. The community complements that knowledge with know-how in approaches and use of tools to scope procurement needs, define innovative specifications, carry out innovation procurement projects, and exploit the results of innovation procurements in a sustainable way. This unmatched knowledge of the community has been consolidated into a Capacity Building Catalogue (CBC) and enriched with further materials in the beginning of the project, as a resource for providing support to both procurers taking their first steps with the instrument, as well as procurers with previous experience in it. The CBC covers a range of relevant topics, such as (i) PPI and PCP, (ii) sustainable innovative procurement, (iii) evaluation frameworks, (iv) Intellectual Property Rights management, (v) go-to-market schemes, (vi) deployment of innovative solutions, and (vii) innovation procurement strategies building on current established methodologies and best practices. The range of topics are structured in a process starting from exploration of an unmet need to the finalised deployment of an innovative product or service and the realisation of its impact. Each major step of the journey covers a range of specific topics to be understood, addressed, and concluded to be able to proceed to the next step in the process. The CBC is updated throughout the project to ensure optimal relevance, for project partners as well as for external stakeholders.  Adding to the stepwise capacity-building process illustrated above, the CBC also covers a section of cross-cutting priorities and challenges which can be addressed by Innovation procurement approaches, such as socially responsible procurement, cross-border procurement, organisational (innovative) transformation, etc. These are gathered under the common topic of Next generation Procurement in the CBC.  Twinnings are a community (peer to peer) tool that enables the exchange of knowledge on a particular topic by bringing together experienced actors willing to pass on their experience to less experienced ones. Over a defined period, the twinning parties carry out activities such as structured study visits, workshops, training sessions and internships, leading to the effective knowledge transfer between Twinnings partners. A twinning can focus on knowledge-exchange between two or more partners.   The main concept behind twinnings is to avoid reinventing the wheel by adopting existing knowledge and current best-practices, enabling partners to learn from existing experiences that have already successfully tackled the same or similar problems and barriers, finding solutions for them, and thus significantly shorten the adoption/implementation time and related costs.  It is recognized that the individual partner may have in-depth experience and can be considered “Originator” in one particular topic, while having less experience, and can be considered “Adopter” in another. This means that any Twinnings partnership can optionally be considered a mutual learning experience with an interchange of experience(s) covering a range of applicable topics.  The objective of a twinning can be the transfer of knowledge and experience around a variety of perspectives; around the use of a product or service (e.g., a specific procurement tool), process or methodology (e.g., value-based procurement approaches), strategy (e.g., effective procurement policies), or a procurement business model.  The Twinnings opportunity primarily targets procurers in EC member states (or associated countries), there is no distinction whether these procurers are private or public, although as part of their proposal adherence to certain Selection criteria must be demonstrated (3.1).  The Twinnings open call will be published widely to attract a broad range of applicants; on the P4H website, via the P4H community platform, and on the EC funding & tenders portal. 1.3 What activities are financed under a Twinning?  The main objective of this scheme is to support knowledge transfer of innovation and best practices, relating to the conceptual process described above and illustrated in Figure 1 Major steps in the procurement of innovative solutions, supplemented by the breakdown of topics in Table 1 Twinnings topics. Proposed activities in a twinning work plan shall therefore pursue this goal and include one or several of the following:   Knowledge transfer meetings  Supporting services from competence centres in innovation procurement  Meetings with local stakeholders  Organisational readiness of innovation procurement efforts  Field visits  Viability studies  Cost/benefit analysis  Dissemination events  Preparation of reports  Travelling necessary for the twinning  Consumables necessary for the twinning  The Twinning Evaluation Committee (see section 4.4) will assess scope and purpose of proposed Twinnings activities promoting capacity-building in relation to the topics described in section 2.1 as one of the award criteria 2.1, in particular as part of Annex 2 – Technical section, section 1 Excellence of the proposed Twinning.  1.4 Cost eligibility and reporting  Funding of Twinnings will be performed in a Lump Sum-approach2. Twinnings participants are obligated to adhere to financial regulations as described and implemented by the European Commission.  P4H Twinnings funding is results-driven, provided as vouchers in a lump sum. As such, there is no need for a traditional administrative-justification system (e.g., counting hourly dedication or calculating workload), but getting the funding is associated with the acceptance of the agreed deliverables.  As described in section 2.6 reimbursements are managed upon approval of reporting requested from Twinnings partners.  2.Twinnings in Procure4Health 2.1 Expected topics to be covered by twinnings  The topics to be addressed in the proposed twinnings, which follow the design presented in Section Procure4Health and twinnings. As can be seen in Annex 2 - Technical section, proposals are required to present scope and purpose of Twinnings. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Procure4Health platform (https://community.procure4health.eu/home) for added details on each topic.  2.2 Twinning budget  The maximum grant per Twinning proposal is €30,000. In recognition of that Twinnings partnerships are highly tailored towards the specific needs and context of the individual Twinnings partner, and the activities proposed by them, Twinnings partners are allowed to apply for a joint budget of up to €30.000 covering the activities and accommodating their ambitions in a proposal. The proposed budget shall be clearly indicated in the Financial section of the Twinnings proposal. Applicants are free to suggest an appropriate division of efforts and budget accordingly, in the proposed activities and corresponding financial form of the Twinnings partnership.  A total of € 660,000 is available for Twinnings activities under the Procure4Health project, with funding expected for approximately 30 Twinnings partnerships, or as many as the Procure4Health external Twinnings budget allows.  For the call open during spring2024 the available budget for Twinnings support is €480,379.  Twinning contracts are awarded according to the available budget, i.e., contracts are awarded until the remaining budget is no longer sufficient to fund the next best Twinning proposal that has passed the evaluation threshold. The exact number of Twinnings eventually awarded therefore depends on the prices offered and the number of Twinning proposals that pass the evaluation.   2.3 Matchmaking  Before submitting a proposal to the Procure4Health Twinnings call, applicants must form a twinning partnership, as described in section 1.2.   to facilitate the identification of possible twinning partners, the Procure4Health online community platform (https://community.procure4health.eu/home) offers a tool for matchmaking. Here, community members can connect with like-minded procurers or find procurers with complementary knowledge in order to initiate a collaboration and an exchange of knowledge in an area that could be important for their everyday procurement work.  2.4 Twinning timeline  The open call or twinnings (spring 2024) use a cut-off model with an initial deadline (ad corresponding selection and awarding) mid-period followed by a final deadline at close of open call period.   -12.02.2024 Open call launched  -21.02.2024 Information session (webinar)  -17.04.204 Deadline for submission of twinning proposals, 1st cut-off  -10.05.2024 Announcement of awarded proposals, 1st cut-off. -01.06.2024 First group of awarded Twinnings started. Maximum duration of a twinning is 6 months.  -17.06.204 Final Deadline for submission of twinning proposals. -15.07.2024 Announcement of awarded proposals. -01.08.2024 Start of twinning activities. Maximum duration of a twinning is 6 months. Following each cut-off selection and announcement, awarded proposals are contracted and expected to initiate activities.  Budget for the final cut-off will depend on available budget after 1st cut-off, and will be communicated clearly as soon as 1st cut-off proposals have been announced.  2.5 Twinning outputs  Below lists the objectives of the twinnings, their associated output and the tasks to be carried out (i.e., milestones and deliverables) for both budget options. Please note that while the number of deliverables is the same for both budget options, the templates provided may be different. The maximum duration of a twinning is 6 months.  OBJECTIVE: Carry out knowledge exchange and training activities where relevant knowledge and skills are shared between partners, leading to improved capacity to address the topic in a better and more informed way in their respective region.  OUTPUT The adopted knowledge will enable addressing the twinning topic in their local/region, including the development and application of a concrete action plan based on the twinning experience on how to use the acquired knowledge to address the topic during the twinning period and beyond MILESTONES AND DELIVERABLES D1.1 Twinning interim report and publishable summary  Midterm Submitted by email Report describing the tasks developed according to the work plan  D1.2 Final twinning report and publishable summary  At close Submitted by email Report describing the tasks developed according to the work plan  

Beneficiary & submission

1.Content of the proposal and submission process Twinning applicants shall submit their application electronically via the Procure4Health online community platform, no later than the date specified in the twinning timeline in Table 2. They should take full account of all proposal documents downloaded from the Procure4Health online community platform or website.  List of application documents:  Request for twinning proposals (this document)  Annex 1 – Application template – Administrative section  Annex 2 – Application template – Technical section  Annex 3 – Application template – Financial section  Annex 1, Annex 2, and Annex 3 must be submitted as part of the proposal for it to be eligible.  Any questions on the call for Twinnings, proposal documents or the open call process must be made via the P4H community platform before the deadline set out in the timeline in Table 2. Answers will be published in an FAQ section on the community platform.   Applicants that do not comply with the eligibility criteria and/or formal requirements described in this section may be rejected.  2.Proposal templates  The proposal templates (Annex 1-3) must be used when preparing the proposal.  Administrative section  The Twinning partners must provide a completed legal entity form. Example forms are available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/legal-entities_en.  Exclusion criteria apply. The applicant’s exemption from any of the grounds for exclusion set out in section 4.1 of this document shall be supported by the evidence referred to in that section.  The applicant's compliance with the selection criteria set out in section 4.1 of this document shall be demonstrated by the evidence referred to in that section.  The applicant’s compliance with the compliance criteria contained in section 4.1 of this document shall be demonstrated by the types of evidence referred to in this section.  The documentation to be included in the administrative section must be submitted in English.  Applicants may be requested to provide additional information and/or evidence.  The Admin section is provided by filling in the respective PDF form, and include among the submitted documentation. No signature is required for submitting an application, however one will be required for proceeding to contracting if the submitted proposal is selected in evaluations.  Technical section  The twinning proposal must include a detailed technical offer which describes the three categories of excellence, impact, and implementation of the proposed twinning.  Further details (page limit, format, etc.) are available in the technical section template.  Financial section  The twinning proposal must include a detailed budget breakdown according to the categories: Twinning Personnel and Twinning Direct Costs. The total of the two categories of cost may not exceed the maximum as outlined in 2.2.   Twinning Personnel  For Twinning Personnel, detailed information must be provided on each individual foreseen to contribute to the twinning activities. The qualifications and experience of each individual proposed shall be indicated, along with indicative effort and hourly rate. For individuals who cannot be named, sufficient details must be provided.  Twinning Direct Costs  For Twinning Direct Costs, details of each item or type of item, each set of travel plans etc. and other costs that conform to Horizon Europe eligibility rules.  3.Other conditions  Confidentiality  Applicants are obliged to keep confidential all information received in the context of the Call for Twinnings procedure (including EU-classified information7).  Language  Proposals, as well as outcomes in the form of deliverables must be submitted in English.  The twinning language is English, and the twinning contract must be signed in its English version. All communication (related to the open call procedure or the implementation of the twinning contract) must be in English.   By submitting their proposal, twinning applicants accept these conditions.  Cancellation of the open call procedure  INNOVATION SKÅNE may terminate and cancel the open call procedure at any time. INNOVATION SKÅNE reserves the right not to award any contracts at the end of the open call procedure. INNOVATION SKÅNE shall not be liable for any expense or loss the twinning applicants may have incurred in preparing their application.  Communication obligations  Recipients of funding must ensure that communication activities of the recipients related to the action (including media relations, conferences, seminars, information material, such as brochures, leaflets, posters, presentations, etc., in electronic form, via traditional or social media, etc.), dissemination activities and any infrastructure, equipment, vehicles, supplies or major result funded by the grant must acknowledge EU support and display the European flag (emblem) and funding statement (translated into local languages, where appropriate):  The emblem must remain distinct and separate and cannot be modified by adding other visual marks, brands, or text. Apart from the emblem, no other visual identity or logo may be used to highlight the EU support. When displayed in association with other logos (e.g. of beneficiaries or sponsors), the emblem must be displayed at least as prominently and visibly as the other logos. For the purposes of their obligations under this Article, the beneficiaries may use the emblem without first obtaining approval from the granting authority. This does not, however, give them the right to exclusive use. Moreover, they may not appropriate the emblem or any similar trademark or logo, either by registration or by any other means.  Obligations towards the funding agency  Participants awarded a grant under this request for twinning proposals will be obliged to comply, among others, with contractual obligations included under Articles 12, 13, 14, 17.2, 18, 19, 20 and 25 of the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) Model Grant Agreement (available here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/agr-contr/unit-mga_he_en.pdf).  4.Evaluations and awarding  This section explains the different exclusion criteria for a proposal, the award criteria and their thresholds, the ranking of twinning proposals and the evaluation process.  4.1Exclusion, selection, and compliance criteria  This section describes the different exclusion criteria for a proposal, the award criteria and their thresholds, the ranking of twinning proposals and the selection process. These aspects are declared in annex TD1- Admin section, form.  Conflict of Interest  An applicant who is subject to a conflict of interest may be excluded. If there is a potential conflict of interest, an applicant must immediately notify INNOVATION SKÅNE in writing.  A conflict of interest is any situation where the impartial and objective implementation of the evaluation of proposals and/or implementation of the Twinning Contract is compromised for reasons relating to economic interests, political or national affinity, family, personal life (e.g., family of emotional ties) or any other shared interest.  Note: If an actual or potential conflict of interest arises at a later stage (i.e., during the implementation of the Twinning Contract), the contractor must contact INNOVATION SKÅNE, who will notify the EC and take steps to rectify the situation. The EC may verify the measures taken and require additional information to be provided and/or further measures to be taken.  Exclusion grounds as defined in Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014  Grounds relating to criminal convictions  An applicant will be excluded if it has been the subject of a conviction by final judgement for one of the following reasons:   Participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;  Corruption, as defined in Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union and Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA (34), as well as corruption as defined in the national law of the lead procurer or the economic operator;   Fraud within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests;   Terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, as defined in Articles 1 and 3 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA, respectively, or inciting or aiding or abetting or attempting to commit an offence, as referred to in Article 4 of the aforesaid Framework Decision;   Money laundering or terrorist financing, as defined in Article 1 of Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;   Child labor and other forms of trafficking in human beings as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council.  The obligation to exclude an applicant shall also apply where the person convicted by final judgement is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory body of that applicant or has powers of representation, decision or control therein.  Grounds relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions  An applicant shall be excluded from participation in the twinning where INNOVATION SKÅNE is aware that the applicant is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions, and where this has been established by a judicial or administrative decision having final and binding effect in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which it is established or with those of the country of INNOVATION SKÅNE.  Furthermore, INNOVATION SKÅNE may exclude from participation an applicant where INNOVATION SKÅNE can demonstrate by any appropriate means that the applicant is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions.  This paragraph shall no longer apply when the applicant has fulfilled its obligations by paying or entering into a binding arrangement with a view to paying the taxes or social security contributions due, including, where applicable, any interest accrued or fines.    Grounds of insolvency or professional misconduct  INNOVATION SKÅNE may exclude an applicant in any of the following situations:   Where the applicant is bankrupt or is the subject of insolvency or winding-up proceedings, where its assets are being administered by a liquidator or by the court, where it is in an arrangement with creditors, where its business activities are suspended or it is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure under national laws and regulations;   Where INNOVATION SKÅNE can demonstrate by appropriate means that the applicant is guilty of grave professional misconduct, which renders its integrity questionable;   Where INNOVATION SKÅNE has sufficiently plausible indications to conclude that the applicant has entered into agreements with other economic operators with the intention of distorting competition;   Where a conflict of interest cannot be effectively remedied by other less intrusive measures;   Where a distortion of competition from the prior involvement of the applicant in the preparation of this twinning procedure cannot be remedied by other, less intrusive measures;   Where the applicant has shown significant or persistent deficiencies in the performance of a substantive requirement under a prior public contract, a prior contract with a contracting entity or a prior concession contract which led to early termination of that prior contract, damages or other comparable sanctions;   Where the applicant has been guilty of serious misrepresentation in supplying the information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of the selection criteria.   Where the applicant has undertaken to unduly influence the decision-making process of INNOVATION SKÅNE, to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the open call procedure, or to negligently provide misleading information that may have a material influence on decisions concerning exclusion, selection or award.  Ability to perform the twinning activities  This criterion is evaluated on a pass/fail basis. “Fail” means that the evidence given does not provide sufficient indication of the applicant’s expertise, ability and/or equipment to meet twinning objectives. Any proposal that cannot meet the selection criteria requirements will not be selected.  To measure this criterion, applicants are asked to provide the following information (as part of the twinning proposal):  Brief description of relevant references and /or previous projects  Examples; innovation projects, innovation-friendly procurement procedures, strategic efforts in innovation or innovation-friendly procurement, or similar.  Demonstrate the expertise and working experience required to carry out the twinning by providing short curriculum vitae (CVs) of key personnel and competences necessary to complete the twinning.  Note: applicants may be requested to provide additional information.  Compliance with the scope of the twinning call, including compliance with the definition of twinning topics as set out in section 2.1  Applicants must confirm that the proposal complies with the scope of twinnings as laid out in this document, more specifically in sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.5, and 3.1.  Applicants must provide reference of Procurement function demonstrating the organisations function within the domain of Health and social care.  Compatibility with other public financing  Applicants that receive public funding from other sources will be excluded if this leads to double public financing at the time of the twinning’s implementation, or an accumulation of different types of public financing that is not permitted by EU legislation, including EU state aid rules.  Applicants awarded in previous (Procure4Health) calls for Twinnings are only eligible for funding in this 3rd call IF their previous Twinnings engagement has been completed AND final report approved.  Compliance with ethics and security requirements  Proposals will be excluded if they:  Do not comply with ethical principles (including the highest standards of research integrity, notably as set out in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, and, in particular, avoiding fabrication, falsification, plagiarism and other research misconduct  Include plans to carry out activities that are prohibited in all Member States.  If the proposal involves activities that raise ethical concerns, the applicant must submit an ethics self-assessment that:  Describes how the proposal meets the legal and ethical requirements of the Member State(s) where the tasks raising ethical issues are to be carried out.  Explains in detail how the applicant intends to address the ethical issues identified, in particular with regard to:  Objectives (e.g., dealing with vulnerable populations and dual-use goods)  Methodology (e.g., involvement of children and related consent procedure and protection of data collected)  The potential impact (e.g,. issues relating to the dual use of goods, environmental damage, stigmatisation of particular social groups, political or financial retaliation, benefit-sharing and malevolent use of results).  For information on ethics issues, see the guidance for EU grant beneficiaries How to complete your ethics self-assessment.  4.2 Award/Evaluation criteria  A twinning proposal will only be evaluated against the award criteria set out herein if it is not excluded by application of the exclusion criteria and if the requirements relating to the selection criteria, the compliance criteria and the administrative instructions are met.  DEFINITION MAXIMUN SCORE THRESHOLD Excellence of the proposed twinning 40 24 Impact of the proposed twinning 40 24 Implementation of the proposed twinning 20 12 TOTAL SCORE 100 4.3Ranking of twinning proposals  Twinning proposals must score above the thresholds given, for each threshold. Proposals that do not reach the c economically advantageous proposal, i.e. the one scoring above all thresholds and offering the best value for money determined in accordance with the formula below. A weight of 80/20 is given to quality and budget, respectively.    The maximum score for a proposal is 100 points, of which 80% correspond to the technical quality and 20% to the budget proposal, as shown in the formula above.  For each of the three stages, a separate calculation of the total score applying the formula above is carried out in order to normalise the role of the budget. Subsequently, all total scores are merged into a common ranking. The proposal ranked first after applying the formula will be offered a Twinning Contract. Twinning Contracts will then be awarded until the remaining budget is insufficient to fund the next best ranked twinning proposal.  Budget for the final cut-off will depend on available budget after 1st cut-off, and will be communicated clearly as soon as 1st cut-off proposals have been announced.  Should there be any doubt as to the application of any of these criteria to a proposal, applicants may be requested to provide additional information.  4.4Evaluation process  Proposals will be evaluated in a non-discriminatory manner in accordance with the legal requirements of the relevant provisions of the European Regulations.  The P4H project has appointed a Twinning Evaluation Committee (TEC) composed of experts in the fields related to the twinning topics defined in the Call for proposals. The TEC will follow fairness, transparency, and gender balance principles. The TEC will be composed of representatives of the P4H project and members of the project’s Advisory Board.  Note: Each member of the Evaluation Committee will sign in advance a Declaration of absence of conflict of interest and protection of confidentiality and in addition specifically notify INNOVATION SKÅNE if there is any conflict of interest with any of the applicants. INNOVATION SKÅNE will refuse to involve a TEC member for a given proposal evaluation if a conflict of interest is identified.  All proposals submitted within the deadline will be opened by INNOVATION SKÅNE according to timeline in section 2.4. The technical sections are then made available to the TEC.  The TEC may request clarifications about the proposal documents or additional evidence if needed, in which case the twinning applicant concerned will be notified by email. The applicant will have five (5) calendar days (from the day of receipt of the notification) to send the clarifications and / or evidence requested. After this deadline, if no response is received from the applicant, the offer will be rejected and will be excluded from the proposal evaluation. The applicant will be informed by INNOVATION SKÅNE by email.  The TEC will carry out the selection of twinning proposals; apply the exclusion, compliance and selection criteria; and evaluate proposals that are eligible for evaluation on the basis of the award criteria. Only proposals that comply with the criteria provided, that are not excluded on the basis of the exclusion criteria and that meet the selection criteria, are admissible for evaluation under the award criteria. Proposals that do not comply with the formal requirements will be excluded from the process.  The TEC will issue its reports on the evaluation. The TEC will reach its decision on final scoring of the proposals by a simple majority vote.  The twinning applicants will receive a written report via email on the result of the evaluation, including the scoring and their rank.  5.Personal data protection  This call involves the collection of personal and non-personal data from the applicants. Your personal data relating to you as a natural person or to the organisation, institution or company you represent are collected for the purpose of verifying your eligibility of your application and for the purpose of mandatory reporting by P4H to the European Commission.  The provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) shall be complied with by the organisations participating in this Call with respect to the processing of personal data. Rest assured, all your personal data will be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.  By submitting an application, the Applicants consent to the use, processing and retention of their personal data, in accordance with article 6.1 (e) and (c) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (2016/679) and for the purposes of:   processing and evaluating the application;   administering any subsequent funding award;   managing the relationship between the Applicants and ISAB as funding agency;  Disseminating the results of the Call;   providing aggregate data to national and European surveys and analyses on the funded twinnings;   and complying with audits that may be initiated by the Funding Agencies and the EC (or its agencies).   In addition, by submitting an application, the Applicants agree to share their personal data with Reviewers (some of which may be based outside the European Economic Area) in relation to the above activities.  Your personal data may be processed both digitally and non-digitally, in full compliance with the security measures provided under the GDPR.  The winning applicants may be asked to participate in interviews or contribute to communication material about their twinnings during the project period. This material, including personal data, will be published on the P4H Community Platform, social media channels or publicised through press releases. Participation is not mandatory.  We remind you that, in your capacity as a natural person, you may exercise your rights against P4H at any time in accordance with the relevant provisions of the GDPR by sending an email to  hello@procure4health.eu. 

Further information

1.Information for applicants This section contains general information on the objectives of the open call process and its conditions.  1.1 General information and objectives  Participation in this request for twinning proposals is open on equal terms to   Public and private procurers with a clear mandate for procurement in the health and social care sectors, established in a Member State (MS) of the European Union (EU) (or its Horizon-associated countries4). Applicants are required to demonstrate appropriate Procurement function as part of responding to the Selection Criteria (Admin section and Section 4.1 Exclusion, selection, and compliance criteria),  Supporting actors such as GPO´s covered by the above criteria (and Admin section and Section 4.1 Exclusion, selection, and compliance criteria   (In the call for Twinnings launched early 2024) combinations of Procure4health founding members5 and external organisations  Organisations awarded in previous calls for external Twinnings as long as their previous Twinnings have been concluded and their Final report approved.  The focus of the twinnings is on local, regional, or national health and social care procurers that want to learn about or adopt innovative solutions, procurement techniques or similar related matters available elsewhere For applicants based in the United Kingdom (UK): Please note that after the UK's withdrawal from the EU, certain limitations on access to EU funding for economic operators established in third countries also apply to applicants from the UK, meaning applicants from the UK are excluded from the awarding procedure Please note that twinnings cannot be awarded to certain Hungarian public interest trusts and entities maintained by them, in accordance with Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506 of 15 December 2022 on measures for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary. Twinning activities must involve the transfer of know-how between Twinning partners, it focuses on knowledge exchange between two or more partners. Twinnings proposals are prepared and submitted jointly by Twinning partnerships, one identified partner acting as Lead partner of the proposal. An organisation may participate in more than one twinning, as long as the twinning activities are clearly different from each other. 1.2 Contractual conditions Awarded Twinnings proposals will sign a contract for the implementation of the proposed activities between INNOVATION SKÅNE and the Lead partner of the Twinnings proposal. Awarded Twinnings participants are obligated to: • Adhere to eligibility criteria described in the Twinnings Call for Proposals, throughout their involvement in Procure4Health Twinnings, • Report progress outlined - Twinning outputs above. 1.3 Payment  1.3.1Timeline and Procedure  Twinning participants will receive the funding upon approval of all deliverables. The amount, which will be transferred to the partner identified as the Lead partner3 of the Twinning partnership, is subject to assessment of satisfactorily completion of the activities (a) described by the Twinnings contract signed by the P4H project representative (in this case, INNOVATION SKÅNE) and the Twinnings representative, and (b) proposed in the Twinnings application.