Tender process

Calls for Tender

Calls for Tender are a staged procurement process for high-value contracts as described below:

Stage 1: Call for Nomination, where Domestic Agencies are formally requested to provide the names of potential candidates. The candidates shall liaise with relevant Domestic Agencies to express their interest for required supplies, services or works. The ITER Organization could also add a potential candidate if needed after having informed the Domestic Agency.

Stage 2: Pre-qualification, where the ITER Organization will establish a list of qualified suppliers amongst the nominated entities, based on specific selection criteria. All nominated companies receive the pre-qualification package.

Stage 3: Call for Tender, where only the pre-qualified candidates will receive the tender package from the ITER Organization. Tenderers shall submit offers in response to the Call for Tender package which is composed of Instructions to Tenderers, ITER Organization Technical Specifications, and Special and General Conditions of Contracts. The evaluation of the tenders submitted involves two steps. First, the technical offers are evaluated with respect to the award criteria indicated in the Instructions to Tenderers and only those obtaining scores higher than the technical threshold indicated shall be considered for the financial evaluation. Second, the financial evaluation is based either on the combined quality and price scoring mechanism (best value) or on the cheapest technical compliant offer.

Click here to see our Calls For Tender list

Restricted Tender

Restricted Tender is a procurement process inviting an ad-hoc short list of qualified suppliers (potential bidders) selected in a non-discriminating manner by the ITER Organization. A Restricted Tender follows the same evaluation process as a Call for Tender, and is appropriate where a Call for Tender or an Open Tender is unsuitable, where exceptional circumstances persist or where the global market retains a limited availability of the required goods or services. The short list of qualified suppliers can be extracted from sources such as rosters, prequalification lists, previous call for nominations, etc.

Competitive Dialogue

Competitive Dialogue is a procurement process introduced for procurements that are complex in nature, where technical parameters are difficult or not defined in advance. Generally starting with a Call for Nominations, it is followed by a Pre-qualification phase after which the pre-qualified candidates are invited to take part in a dialogue process during which selected areas of the project are discussed and solutions developed by the tenderers based on their industrial experience. At the end of the dialogue, the tenderers are invited to submit a best and final offer based on the finalized technical specifications and contractual conditions as resulting from the dialogue. 

Negotiated Procedure

Negotiated Procedure is a procurement process where the ITER Organization and two or more tenderers negotiate the technical and commercial terms of a contract before final offer is submitted. Negotiated Procedure is an exceptional procedure and is applied only to high-value and/or complex contracts. Typically, this procedure is most appropriate when there is a limited amount of service providers or suppliers. The purpose of this negotiation process is to increase transparency in risk allocation and pricing with a final aim to achieve the best possible contract price in the market.

Calls for Expertise

Calls for Expertise are a procurement process allowing to seek experts from legal entities for specific purposes based on an open solicitation method. Candidates are invited to submit their offer directly to the ITER Organization pursuant to the communication made by the Domestic Agencies and the ITER Organization on their respective websites and networks.

Click here to see our Calls For Expertise List

Request for Quotation

Request for Quotation is a simplified method of solicitation used for the purchase of low-value, simple, off-the-shelf goods or simple specifications or defined services. The Request for Quotation is submitted to a minimum of three pre-selected companies. The contract shall be awarded to the lowest-price technically compliant offer.

Open Tender

Open Tender is a competitive procurement process published exclusively on the ITER Organization website. All suppliers wishing to participate in the competitive process are invited to do so directly with the ITER Organization. An Open Tender follows the same evaluation process as the Call for Tender, with a two-step approach to evaluation.

Click here to see our Open Tenders List

Single Source

Single Source is an exceptional procurement process requiring specific justification and authorization.