Tender specifications

5.Estimates of volumes

On average, two training events each lasting two weeks with an average of 10 specialised forensics courses will be organised by the contractor every calendar year (see training catalogue and planning in the sections below)

The total value of the framework contract over a maximum of four years is estimated to be no more than € 5 million.⁷

6.Participation in the tender procedure

The call for tender is open to any natural person or legal entity coming within the scope of the European Treaties and any other legal entity from a third country which has concluded a specific agreement with the European Union in the area of public contracts, under the conditions provided for in that agreement.
Where the Multilateral Agreement on Public Contracts of the WTO applies, the contracts are also open to nationals of states that have ratified this Agreement, under the conditions set out in it.

7.Services to be provided

This call for tender is intended to provide the European Commission (OLAF) with a framework contract for designing, planning, organising and evaluating digital forensics training courses for staff working for national and regional administrations. This training should give national forensics experts access to certification procedures recognised and accredited at international level. A list of the courses to be organised is given in the section ‘Training catalogue’ below and in the enclosed Annex III.

The 2013 Hercule II financing decision⁸ provides for technical training courses on digital forensics to be organised for national law enforcement agencies, by using the services of an organisation/company selected as the result of an open call for tender. The first two-week training event is to be organised already in autumn 2013 (before 15 December 2013), as indicated in the ‘Planning’ section.
The contractor will be tasked with the following activities:

1. 
   Organising training courses on digital forensics for national and regional target audiences (mostly LEAs). The purpose of this training is to develop, improve and update staff competences in the area of digital forensics.
   
2. 
   Providing a quality assurance process to give trainees access to certification procedures (where available) in order to enable them to develop, improve and update their competences in the area of digital forensics.
   
3. 
   Supporting the creation and maintenance of a network of digital forensics experts across the EU to promote the exchange of best practices between forensics computing experts.
   

7.1. Organisation of forensics training courses

For every training event, the contractor will be assigned tasks in the fields of design, planning, evaluation, organisation and logistics. Each task will be further defined in the specific contracts to be signed by the contractor and the European Commission.

1. Training catalogue — Courses

The following non-exhaustive list of training courses will be organised by the contractor in accordance with the provisional planning below:

1. 
   Basic Computer Forensic Examiner;
   
2. 
   Macintosh Forensics basic;
   
3. 
   Macintosh Forensics advanced;
   
4. 
   Linux Forensics basic;
   
5. 
   Linux Forensics intermediate;
   
6. 
   Mobile Phone Forensics basic;
   
7. 
   Mobile Phone Forensics Intermediate;
   
8. 
   Encase Forensics;
   
9. 
   Forensic Tool Kit Bootcamp;
   
10. 
    X-Ways Forensics;
    
11. 
    Internet Forensic Examiner (IFE);
    
12. 
    Windows Forensic Examiner (WFE);
    
13. 
    Applied Computer Forensics (ACF);
    
14. 
    Network Forensic Analysis (NFA);
    
15. 
    Train the trainers;
    
16. 
    Encase Macintosh-Linux examinations;
    
17. 
    Encase EnScript programming;
    
18. 
    Encase Portable Configuration and examinations (Filtrage);
    
19. 
    AccessData Macintosh Forensics;
    
20. 
    AccessData Applied Decryption;
    
21. 
    AccessData Triage;
    
22. 
    Live data forensics;
    
23. 
    Refresh Basic Computer Forensic Examiner;
    

The contractor should take into account the latest updated and available versions of the above-mentioned software applications in organising the training. The version to be used should be communicated to and approved by the European Commission three months before the start of training. The contractor can supplement but not replace the above training catalogue with any other related courses aimed at enhancing the digital forensics skills of the trainees (see Annex III — Technical proposal). The training offer should indicate two different levels: basic and advanced level. It should also include a final examination/test aimed at verifying the knowledge acquired directly after the training. The skills and knowledge acquired should meet the requirements necessary to access certification procedures recognised and accredited at international level (see ‘Certification’ section below).

The contractor should also be aware that the training portfolio may not be identical throughout the four-year framework contract. OLAF can review and adjust the training course catalogue with regard to needs and the evolution of technology in the digital forensics domain.

2. Target audience

The training is mainly aimed at staff members of national and regional administrations, mostly officials working for LEAs. Courses should also be accessible to EU staff working for the European institutions. On average, 120 participants are expected for each weekly training event. A maximum of 10 EU staff will attend each event.

3. Planning

The contractor should organise each training event in accordance with the yearly planning prepared by the European Commission. OLAF’s provisional planning for 2013-2014 is as follows:

• 
  The first 2-week training event is to take place in the autumn of 2013 (before 15 December 2013);
  

• 
  The second 2-week training event is to take place in the first half of 2014 (February-June 2014).
  

The courses to be provided are indicated in Annex III. The number of courses to be organised will depend on the number of applicants (on average 120 participants per week) who have expressed an interest via the secured website provided by the Commission (see ‘Registration’ section below). The definitive list of courses will be agreed by the Commission (OLAF) and the contractor at least three months before the training event.

Training event	Duration	Average number of participants per week
October – mid-December 2013	Two weeks	120
February – June 2014	Two weeks	120

4. Trainers

The contractor must be able to supply qualified and certified trainers to deliver training courses. The trainers should be current or past law enforcement officials or have a sound background as trainers for law enforcement officials. The required minimum level and length of previous experience is indicated in the section ‘Selection criteria’. CVs of each trainer should be included in the offer. In addition to its permanent team of trainers, the contractor should propose a number of trainers it can call upon if need be. Given the cultural diversity of the target audience, trainers must have proven experience of working in complex, multicultural and multinational environments. This must be clearly indicated in their CVs to be enclosed with the tender. The strictest confidentiality is also required, as trainers might come in contact with confidential information during training. The European Commission (OLAF) has the right to require the replacement of any trainer who does not satisfy the requirements.

5. Language translation

The training courses are to be provided in English. Trainers must have an excellent command of English to almost mother-tongue level. All documents used for the courses must be available in English. Translation must correspond to high-quality translation standards. Expenses for the translation of documents can be included by the contractor in the financial offer. All translated material must be made available to the European Commission (OLAF) two months before the start of the training event. The European Commission (OLAF) reserves the right to reject translations of poor quality.

6. Information, registration and invitation procedures

The European Commission (OLAF) will inform the relevant national and regional administrations about the organisation of the training courses. Each national administration will subsequently propose to the European Commission (OLAF) the names of staff members that could benefit from attending these training courses.

For this purpose, the contractor will set up a secured website to allow applicants to submit their applications on-line (registration). In their offers, tenderers are requested to give details of the website, in particular the ‘look and feel’ and the secured access. Once set up, the European Commission (OLAF) will jointly manage the website with the contractor. The details to be included in the registration list will be communicated to the contractor by the European Commission (OLAF). The contractor and OLAF will have full access to the registration list of applicants. The European Commission (OLAF) will be in charge of the selection process. Once the list is approved by the European Commission (OLAF), the contractor will send invitations to accepted participants and ask them for confirmation of their participation at the latest two months before the start of training.

7. Place of performance

The courses are to be organised in one of the Member States of the European Union. Tenderers should specify the venue where the training sessions will be held in their financial and technical offers. Chosen venues should assure easy access to the training sessions. Therefore, training sessions should be held preferably in cities with an international airport/railway station allowing easy travel to EU countries. All hotels/training facilities should also be located close to the city centre and be easily reachable from the airport or railway station by public transport. The contractor must guarantee full accessibility of the training premises to disabled persons. Upon specific request, the contractor must be able to organise training sessions at a location chosen by the European Commission (OLAF). Logistical arrangements will be made by the contractor and defined in the specific contract.

8. Training facilities — documents

The contractor should ensure that appropriate and updated training and IT facilities are available and in line with requirements set out in the enclosed Annex I. All the training equipment, in particular the IT equipment (computers and accessory equipment for setting up networks), should be fully operational and tested two days before the start of each training event. The contractor should ensure that the trainers and the relevant documents are available in time for each training event. The contractor should also indicate which training courses will be sub-contracted to external service providers.

9. Travel and accommodation

The contractor will invite the participants and arrange for their travel and accommodation. Travel includes the trip from the place of work of the participants to the place where the training courses will take place, as well as transport between the place of accommodation (hotel) and the training site(s).

Travel and accommodation prices should be within the limits set by the annexed rules⁹ (Annex II). Accommodation consists of lodging (hotel) and meals. Unless the Commission (OLAF) specifies otherwise, breakfast must be included in the rate charged for the room. The contractor will settle the hotel bill for all participants.
As specified in the financial section below, the tenderer should indicate in its offer an overview of the prices of travel and accommodation arrangements for the number of participants invited to attend the training (i.e. booking, purchase, modification and cancellation of travel tickets, reservation of hotel rooms, etc.). Please note that the participants will not receive daily allowances.
EU staff. For EU staff, travel arrangements will be made directly by the EU officials attending the course. If requested by EU staff, accommodation and catering facilities might be arranged by the contractor. Those costs are to be invoiced to the European Commission (OLAF) separately.

10. Training fees

The tenderer should indicate in its financial offer a quote for the training fees to be charged per participant. Training fees will include: registration fees, training materials, final examination fees and certification fees.

EU staff will pay training fees separately. For these, the contractor will submit a separate invoice to the European Commission.

11. Training survey

The contractor will develop a mandatory online survey to be filled in anonymously by participants. The contractor will use a Likert scale survey complemented by open- and close-ended questions. The survey will focus on the following four levels:¹⁰

1) reaction level (to what extent were trainees satisfied?),

2) learning level (to what extent has learning occurred?);

3) behaviour level (to what extent will on-the-job behaviour change as a result of the training?);

4) level of results anticipated and perceived by participants (to what extent will the training produce results?).
In particular, the following topics will be addressed:

• 
  the perceived relevance of the content of the course for the participants; to what extent the conference was relevant to the needs, problems and issues of the target audience;
  
• 
  expected use of the acquired competences in daily activities;
  
• 
  language constraints for non-native speakers;
  
• 
  anticipated overall impact of training on anti-fraud activity;
  
• 
  satisfaction rate of trainees based on the
  
  • 
    quality of the trainers;
    
  • 
    quality of the course and the training materials;
    
  • 
    the quality of the training facilities (training room, IT equipment);
    
  • 
    quality of the travel and accommodation arrangements;
    
  • 
    quality of social events, in particular the informal network building activities;
    
• 
  possible reasons for discontinuation;
  
• 
  possibilities for improving the training;
  
• 
  interest of trainees in gaining access to international certification procedures/examination (see section on certification below).
  

The survey and evaluation link will be sent by the contractor to the European Commission for approval at least two weeks before the start of each training event.