VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., herein referred to as “VTT” or “Contracting Authority” expects your request to participate in negotiated procedure as detailed in the contract notice published on the public procurement website Hilma and this invitation to participate and its Annexes. Subject-matter of the Contract is a project and portfolio management platform with related services.

The procurement process is a negotiated procedure. A maximum of five (5) tenderers shall be selected by the Contracting Authority for the negotiations on the basis of the criteria described in this contract notice, unless there are fewer than five applications to participate in accordance with the invitation to participate. Candidates from countries outside the WTO GPA (Agreement on Government Procurement) will not be considered.

The procurement object

VTT is planning to procure a project and project portfolio management solution (PPM) that will support VTT in its core business process of research projects and their management. The objective of this procurement process is to find one (1) professional supplier who can guarantee high quality service and provide the service in its entirety as described in annex 1 ‘’Description of the procurement object’’.

The PPM solution sought by VTT should be capable of integrating with several other core business IT solutions, including finance ERP, CRM, HCM and document management systems.

The service will be delivered as software as a service (SaaS) model.

The price for the PPM solution cannot exceed a maximum budget of 3 million euros in four years period. The price includes the following:

o Software system licenses for a SaaS solution,

o Implementation project,

o Support and maintenance services,

o Mandatory options.

The objective of the contracting authority is to address the characteristics, detailed content, additional requirements, specific features and pricing of the offered PPM-system and its implementation during the negotiated procedure. A preliminary description of the service being procured is attached as Appendix 1 ’’Description of the procurement object’’ to this request to participate. Due to the nature of object of the procurement, it is not possible to prepare the request to tender and description of the procurement object in such detail that the most economically advantageous tender could be selected using either an open or restricted procedure. In addition, the pricing model is not possible to be defined without negotiations due to the nature of the procurement object. The contracting authority will further define the procurement object during negotiations with the selected candidates. The contracting authority may also modify the preliminary request to tender or negotiation invitation during the negotiated procedure and request adapted new preliminary tenders based on the negotiations.

Preliminary schedule for the procurement

The procurement schedule is preliminary and will be refined as the negotiated procedure process progresses. The preliminary schedule outlined by the contracting authority is as follows:

— 5/2025: Publication of the procurement notice

— 6/2025: Invitations to the negotiation procedure

— 8-9/2025: Deadline to send a preliminary tender

— 9/2025: Negotiation rounds with selected suppliers

— 9-10/2025: Final call for tenders, with a reasonable time for suppliers to respond

— 10-11/2025: Procurement decision and signing of procurement contracts

— 11-12/2025: Preparation for the implementation project

— 1/2026: Start of the implementation project

— 4/2026: Start of pilot use

— 8/2026: Start of production use, roll-out phase 1

— 10/2026: Start of production use, roll-out phase 2

Negotiation Topics

As a preliminary estimate, the contracting authority estimates that 2-3 negotiations per candidate will be held. The need will be specified based on, among other things, the preliminary request to tender. The content of the negotiations will be refined during the procedure, based on the preliminary tenders of the suppliers. The topics identified for negotiation are:

— Subject of procurement: functional aspects, including also mandatory options

— Subject of procurement: technical aspects, including also integrations

— Contractual matters

— Pricing model and pricing.

The negotiations are tentatively scheduled for 9/2025.

The contracting authority reserves the right to change the content and number of negotiations.

Contracts and Contract Period

The contracting authority will enter into a contract with the supplier who wins the tender. The contracting authority’s aim is that the contract will be valid indefinitely from the date of signing, but the contract period can also be for a fixed period. The contracting authority aims to start the service implementation project as soon as possible after the contract is signed, ideally during 1/2026.