Implementation assistance : Action plan for the introduction of advanced television services in Europe
The Commission of the European Communities has published an accelerated restricted procedure invitation to tender to assist with implementation of the action plan for the introduction of advanced television services in Europe. Under the framework of the action plan, the Commission intends to conclude two contracts for services to provide several kinds of specialized assistance. The successful contractor will assist the Commission in implementing the broadcasting services part of the plan, under which broadcasters wishing to transmit services on the wide screen 16:9 aspect ratio can benefit from Community support by responding to periodic calls for proposals that will be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. The two tasks are as follows: 1. Continuous monitoring of the market impact of the action plan, notably of the evolution of the audiences for wide-screen broadcast services and of the market for relevant consumer electronics products. 2. Expert evaluation of broadcasters' service proposals in terms of their commercial aspects, especially attractiveness to viewers and of the technical quality of the services, collation of results and submission of an evaluator's report containing recommendations to the Commission. The tasks must be executed in the tenderer's office. Service providers can tender for part of the services concerned: Tenderers may express interest in more than one of the tasks. The duration of the contract for Task 1 will be one year and the contract for Task 2 will be for one month. Tenders may be submitted individually or jointly. If two or more applicants submit a joint bid, one must be designated as the lead contractor and agent responsible. Requests to participate should be addressed to: Commission of the European Communities Directorate-General for Telecommunications, Information Market and Exploitation of Research, DG XIII Attn. Mr Picard Room BU9 6/204 200 rue de la Loi B-1049 Brussels Tel. +32-2-2968342; Fax. +32-2-2968393 Or in the event of delivery by hand to: Mr Picard (BU9 6/204) 9 avenue de Beaulieu B-1160 Brussels (Auderghem)