1_EITRM-SpendMgmt_Invitation to Tender.pdf

[Seite 1]

[To all interested economic operators]

Berlin, 19 October 2026

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution (“SMS”) Purchase-to-Pay, Accounts Payable, Expenses, Corporate Cards and Travel”

Invitation to Tender

Dear Sir or Madam,

EIT RawMaterials GmbH (“EIT RawMaterials” or “Contracting Entity”) intends to award a con- tract for procuring a Spend Management Solution (Purchase-to-Pay, Accounts Payable, Ex- penses, Corporate Cards and Travel). The procurement procedure will be conducted as an open procedure pursuant to sections 119 para. (3) Competition Act, 15 VgV. The relevant pub- lic procurement laws, referred to in these procurement documents are

 the Act against Restraints of Competition (Competition Act) – Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen GWB and  the Ordinance on the Award of Public Contracts (Procurement Ordinance (Vergabeverordnung – VgV))

Interested companies are requested to prepare a tender based on the procurement documents and to submit it in due form and time by the electronic means provided for this purpose via the procurement platform https://www.dtvp.de.

[Seite 2]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

In this cover letter (cf. section 29 para. (1) no. 1 VgV), EIT RawMaterials shall explain the details of the procurement procedure, including the selection and award criteria (also applica- tion conditions in the meaning of section 29 para. (1) no. 2 VgV).

1 Contracting Entity / Point of Contact

The contracting entity is

EIT RawMaterials GmbH Knesebeckstr. 62 D-10719 Berlin

2 Procurement Platform

The procurement procedure shall be conducted electronically via the German Procurement Portal / Deutsches Vergabeportal (https://www.dtvp.de) (hereinafter referred to as “DTVP” or “procurement platform”). Interested economic operators shall have free, unlimited, full and di- rect access to procurement documents through the procurement platform.

Guidance is available at

https://support.cosinex.de/unternehmen/display/company/E-Vergabe+-+English+Instructions

The platform language is either German or English, which can be selected on the registration page at the top right.

2

[Seite 3]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

To participate in the procurement procedure by submitting a tender, all interested economic operators must register at

https://www.dtvp.de/Satellite/public/company/project/CXP4DM2MWGK/en/overview?3

The e-mail address used for registration will be addressed for all communication regarding the procurement procedure. It is therefore recommended to choose a general e-mail address that is constantly monitored by the candidate.

Interested economic operators are encouraged to register and test the electronic means in good time before the tender submission period expires and contact support in case of prob- lems:

https://support.cosinex.de/unternehmen/display/company/E-Vergabe+-+English+Instructions

3 Procurement Documents

The procurement documents include:

1_EITRM-SMS_Invitation to Tender with further annexes

1.1_EITRM-SMS_Tender Letter

1.2_EITRM-SMS_Declaration of Eligibility

1.3_EITRM-SMS_Declaration on grounds for exclusion

1.4_EITRM-SMS_Declaration on third parties capacities

2_EITRM-SMS_Service Description

3_EITRM-SMS_Price List

4_EITRM-SMS_Information sheet GDPR

Q&A-List_all lots

Interested economic operators shall check the procurement documents for completeness after download and inform EIT RawMaterials immediately of any missing or incomplete documents or damaged files.

3

[Seite 4]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

4 Questions

If, in the opinion of the interested economic operators, the procurement documents contain ambiguities or errors, it shall inform the contact point without delay and before submitting its tender by the appropriate means via the procurement platform https://www.dtvp.de.

Questions regarding the procurement procedure shall be asked exclusively via the procure- ment platform https://www.dtvp.de no later than seven calendar days before the end of the tender submission period. Telephone enquiries or enquiries by mail, fax or e-mail etc. shall not be answered. Questions shall be answered via a continuous Q&A list insofar as they contain relevant information for the preparation of tenders. The Q&A list is part of the procurement documents and can be downloaded from the procurement platform.

The languages of the proceedings shall be English. All communication shall be conducted in English. The contract to be concluded as a result of this procurement procedure shall be gov- erned exclusively by German law.

5 Submission of tenders

Tenders shall be complete and submitted in due time and in text form via the procurement platform https://www.dtvp.de. For this purpose, it is sufficient to enter the name of the person responsible for the tender in the spaces provided for this purpose on the forms to be used (text form pursuant to section 126b of the German Civil Code (BGB)).

Tenders shall be uploaded to the procurement platform using the so-called desktop client soft- ware “tool for bidders” (“Bietertool”):

See https://support.cosinex.de/unternehmen/display/company/System+requirements

A video tutorial is available (in German with automatically translated subtitles) under:

https://youtu.be/na-n1IkXS80?si=pZdHKp2AQ1spvcW3

As an alternative to submitting tenders via the use of the desktop client software “Bietertool”, it is possible to directly submit via the web browser:

4

[Seite 5]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

Submission of the tender by mail, by electronic means other than via the procurement platform (Bietertool client or web browser), in particular by unencrypted e-mail or by fax, is not permitted. The same applies to the submission of a tender via the messaging function of the procurement platform https://www.dtvp.de (“Communication”). Any violation of this provision shall result in the exclusion of the tender following applicable public procurement laws.

Additions, amendments or corrections to the tenders are possible before the end of the tender submission period and must be submitted in electronic form via the procurement platform https://www.dtvp.de. Tenders can also be withdrawn in this way before the end of the tender submission period.

Tenders shall be submitted no later than

19 November 2026, 10:00 AM (CEST).

The date of receipt on the server of the procurement platform shall be decisive for compliance with the deadline for submission of tenders.

The tender and all related documents shall be in English. For information and evidence that is not in English (e.g., certificates from foreign authorities), translations into English shall be en- closed in addition to copies of the originals.

Costs incurred by tenderers in processing and preparing tenders shall not be reimbursed.

Tenderers shall designate in the tender letter a responsible contact person whom EIT Raw- Materials may contact throughout the remainder of the procurement procedure in all matters relating to the tender.

5

[Seite 6]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

Tenders shall first be reviewed for compliance with the formal and substantive requirements laid down in the contract notice and in this application conditions pursuant to section 56 (1) VgV. The completeness and accuracy of the tenders shall be reviewed and, if necessary, ten- ders shall be rejected in accordance with section 53 in conjunction with section 57 (1) and section 57 (3) VgV.

Tenderers who do not meet the specified minimum requirements for eligibility (also referred to as “exclusion criteria”) will be excluded. Tenderers for whom there is a compulsory reason for exclusion pursuant to section 123 Competition Act will also be excluded unless sufficient self- cleansing measures pursuant to section 125 Competition Act can be demonstrated. Tenderers for whom there is a facultative reason for exclusion pursuant to section 124 Competition Act may be excluded unless there is proof for sufficient self-cleansing measures pursuant to sec- tion 125 Competition Act.

In compliance with the principles of transparency and equal treatment, tenderers may be re- quested to complete, send on or correct any incomplete, missing or incorrect business-related documents, particularly self-declarations, statements, certificates or other means of proof (cf. section 56 (2) VgV). A change in the content of tenders is inadmissible (cf. section 15 (5) sen- tence 1 VgV).

Tenderers may be requested to explain the documents submitted in accordance with sections 15 (5) sentence 2 and 48 (7) VgV or to clarify abnormally low prices or costs under the condi- tions of section 60 (1) VgV.

6 Requirements for the tenders

The contract is not divided into lots. Variant tenders are not permitted.

The tender shall contain the components listed below (Sections 6.1 to 6.4). Annexes are pos- sible. They must be marked with the suffix “B” for “Bidder” (e.g. “Annex B1”).

6.1 Tender Letter

The form provided for this purpose shall be used to prepare the tender letter. This form shall be completed in full and submitted in text form.

If participation in the procedure as a bidding consortium is intended, the members of the bid- ding consortium shall name an authorised representative for the conclusion and

6

[Seite 7]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

implementation of the contract in the tender letter. The authorised representative shall be the contact person for the bidding consortium in this procurement procedure.

6.2 Declaration of Eligibility / Grounds for Exclusion

A contract in this procurement procedure shall be awarded only to an eligible undertaking that has not been excluded under sections 123 or 124 Competition Act (cf. section 122 para. (1) Competition Act).

Please note that the contract to be awarded in this procurement procedure is subject to public funds granted by the EIT. According to the conditions of funding, costs incurred by EIT Raw- Materials GmbH through the provision of services by its partner organisations are not eligible for funding. Tenders from tenderers who are members of the sole shareholder of EIT Raw- Materials GmbH, the EIT RawMaterials e.V., must therefore remain unconsidered.

As proof of eligibility in this procurement procedure, the form Declaration of Eligibility shall be completed in full and submitted as part of the tender. The same applies with regard to the grounds for exclusion listed in sections 123 and 124 Competition Act for which the Declaration on Grounds for Exclusion must be submitted.

The self-declarations to be submitted to this purpose are set out in detail in the contract notice and in the form Declaration of Eligibility.

In the Declaration of Eligibility, the declarations and evidence required in the context of the tender procedure are clearly marked with an “EX” or an “I”. These markings have the following meanings:

 EX: Exclusion Criterion; exclusion criteria describe mandatory requirements to be met by the candidates regarding their eligibility (also designated as ‘Minimum Re- quirements’). They are clearly identified in the contract notice, in this procedure information and in the declaration on eligibility form. Tenders from candidates who do not meet these exclusion criteria will be excluded from further proceedings in accordance with section 57 (3), (1) VgV.

 I: Information Criterion; With regard to information criteria, declarations must be made for information purposes. They serve as a basis to be able to make further investigations in the context of the prognosis decision on the tenderer’s eligibility if

7

[Seite 8]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

there are doubts, regardless of minimum requirements or exclusion criteria defined as such.

In the case of a bidding consortium, the qualification and authorisation to pursue the profes- sional activity and the absence of the grounds for exclusion under section 123 and section 124 Competition Act must be proven individually for each member of a bidding consortium. For the other selection criteria, the bidding consortium as a whole is decisive. In this respect, each member only completes the Declaration of Eligibility form to the extent that it applies to that member. If reference is made to third parties’ capacities, the Declaration on third parties’ capacities must also be completed and submitted as part of the tender. The eligibility review shall take into account all documents submitted by the bidding consortium.

6.3 Declaration on third parties’ capacities (only if applicable)

An economic operator, even as a member of a bidding consortium, may refer to the capacities of third parties (e.g. subcontractors) to meet the requirements in terms of economic and finan- cial standing and technical and professional ability, irrespective of the legal nature of the rela- tionship between it and these third parties.

Any third party to whose capacities the tenderer refers must complete the Declaration on third parties’ capacities and submit it with as part of the tender. In addition, this third party must prove its economic and financial standing as well as technical and professional ability in accordance with the requirements in the contract notice using the form for the Declaration on Eligibility to the extent that the tenderer relies on it. Irrespective of this, the third party to whose capacities the tenderer refers to must also individually and completely prove its qualification and authorisation to pursue the professional activity and the non-existence of the grounds for exclusion under section 123 and section 124 Competition Act in accordance with the contract notice and using the forms Declaration on Eligibility and Declaration on Grounds for Ex- clusion.

A tenderer can only rely on the capacities of third parties, in respect of providing evidence of the required professional ability or of the relevant professional experience, if said third parties provide the services for which these capacities are required.

In conducting the eligibility review, EIT RawMaterials reviews the third party offering capacities that the tenderer refers to and verifies whether these undertakings actually meet the selection criteria and whether grounds for exclusion are met. The contracting authority shall require the tenderer to replace an undertaking that fails to meet a particular selection criterion or to which

8

[Seite 9]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

compulsory grounds for exclusion apply under section 123 Competition Act. It may require the tenderer to also replace an undertaking to which facultative grounds for exclusion apply under section 124 Competition Act. For this purpose, a reasonable deadline shall be set.

6.4 Technical and functional proposal

Tenderer is requested to prepare and submit a proposal on the basis of and as a direct re- sponse to section 2.2 of the Service Description with the following content.

Tenderers shall describe how they intend to provide the tendered services. The proposal shall become a binding part of the contract. EIT RawMaterials expects concise, thorough and plau- sible concepts on the following aspects, giving a clear impression on how the tenderer will meet the objectives, goals and expectations as set out in the Service Description.

The proposal shall briefly outline the following 17 aspects and shall not exceed 25 A4 pages (with maximum font size 11, Arial or comparable) in total, visualization included.

 Purchase requests and purchase orders  Approval workflows  Incoming invoices and matching  Employee expenses and reimbursements  Corporate cards  Travel  Budgets and spend visibility  Accounting data and DATEV integration  Multi-entity and multi-language  Off-the-shelf readiness and low administrative burden  Users, roles and identity  Staging / sandbox environment  Reporting, audit trail and integrations  Hosting, data protection, and information security  Implementation  Ongoing support and service levels  Exit, data portability, and transition assistance

For details, please refer to section 2.2 of the Service Description and the specifications of the requested services made in the highlighted subsections.

9

[Seite 10]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

6.5 Team

Please submit a full profile for each team member playing a key role in the project, both before and after implementation of the Spend Management Solution, including each team member’s qualifications (education and professional background), illustrated by appropriate case studies and personal references. Please limit the number of profiles to a maximum of six.

6.6 Financial Offer

The tenderers calculate the requested prices on the basis of the Service Description and the Terms of Contract and enter these in full in the fields provided in the Price List.

All requested prices must include all services as indicated in the procurement documents, over the whole duration of the contract, including extra hours/night/weekend/holiday work, commu- nication and all other incidental and additional costs, charges and expenses, as well as all taxes (exclusive of VAT), as far as cost and expenses are not subject to reimbursement for additional services. All prices are to be indicated in Euro, exclusive of VAT.

The contracting entity will review all price indications in terms of plausibility and appropriate- ness in relation to the tendered services. The contracting entity reserves the right to request further explanations on the calculation if the prices appear abnormally low in relation to the type, scope and difficulty of the tendered services. No award shall be made to a tender con- taining prices which are disproportionate to the nature, extent and difficulty of the services to be provided.

Requested prices are:

 Monthly fees per module (Accounts Payable, Cards & Expenses, Procurement, Travel), per legal entity, per user and per card, as well as volume-based fees (e.g. purchase or- ders, incoming invoices, expense reports, payments, FX fees, travel), as set out in the Price List.

 Monthly fees for the interfaces (DATEV, exports to other accounting systems, SSO, HRIS, API) and a one-off fixed price for implementation, including configuration, data migration and training. Hosting, operation, maintenance and the sandbox environment are included in the module fees.

 Annual fee for support & SLA and daily rates for additional services (e.g. consultancy, training, configuration changes).

10

[Seite 11]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

Tenderers are responsible for selecting the licence package that covers all requirements of the Service Description and the indicative volumes stated in the Price List. Price components that are not listed in the Price List shall be explained in the comments column; components not stated in the Price List cannot be charged.

6.7 Contract Offer

Together with its tender, the tenderer must submit the contract terms on the basis of which it intends to conclude the contract (including contractual annexes specifying the services, e.g. service description, SLA). Contract terms must cover all services as requested in the Services Description:

 Implementation and rollout of the Spend Management Solution including migration, configuration, interfaces, training and documentation in accordance with the Service Description with all requested functionalities, including in particular but not only the provision of corporate cards;  Operation and hosting, including the agreed availability, capacity and security require- ments;  Service delivery as SaaS (Software as a Service), including support, incident and maintenance provisions as well as the service levels defined in the Service Descrip- tion;  Optional services in accordance with the Service Description (in particular the items designated as optional services/extensions), such that these can be activated without renegotiation.

7 Provision on Minimum Requirements

The tendered services as set out in the Service Description shall be offered in full.

Requirements which are marked with "must" are considered as minimum requirements, its non-compliance shall result in the exclusion of the tender from further proceedings pursuant to section 57 para. (1) no. 4 VgV. The respective tender shall remain unconsidered. Require- ments marked "should" or "desirable" are evaluated as added value following the procedure and criteria as described in section 8.1.

11

[Seite 12]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

8 Evaluation of tenders and conclusion of the procedure

8.1 Review and evaluation of tenders

The tenders will be reviewed and evaluated in accordance with sections 56 et seq. VgV. The contract will be awarded to the most economically advantageous tender according to the best value-for-money-principle. The award criteria shall be the price and the quality of the service to be expected from the tender.

An interview may be organized for all tenderers with eligible tenders. The interview will con- tribute to the assessment of the quality of the proposed approach, which will be evaluated based on both the written proposal and the interview. A proof of concept to verify functionalities of the SMS on offer may be part of the interview.

30 % of the price and 50 % of the quality of the technical and functional proposal, 10 % of the teams’ experience and expertise and 10 % of the contract terms and conditions will be included in the overall evaluation. The tender scoring the most weighted points (see table below, no. 5) in total will be awarded the contract.

12

[Seite 13]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

5 Total 100% - 1000

The quality of the service to be expected according to the tender (criteria 1, 2 and 4) will be assessed by comparison with other tenders and holistically with 0 to 10 evaluation points, tak- ing into account all declarations made in this respect, with 0 being the worst and 10 the best. The scores have the following meanings:

The financial offer (criterion 3) will be rated as follows on the basis of the total of all price items as set out in the Price List (cf. section 6.6):

Tenderer’s Score = 𝐿𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑎𝑥𝑒𝑠,𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑉𝐴𝑇,𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑎𝑥𝑒𝑠,𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑉𝐴𝑇 ×10 8.2 Determination of the best-value for money

The tender scoring the most weighted points (cf. section 8.1) in total shall be considered the most economical tender according to the best-value-for-money principle and shall be awarded the contract.

8.3 Award of the Contract

The contract is legally concluded with the award of the contract in this procurement procedure.

13

[Seite 14]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

The contracting entity is willing to accept the tenderers’ standard terms and conditions under the condition that all mandatory requirements as set out in the Service Description are fully met.

Tenderers shall be bound by their tenders until

19 January 2026.

If it is foreseeable that a contract cannot be awarded by this date, EIT RawMaterials reserves the right to ask the tenderers for a reasonable extension of the binding period.

9 Confidentiality and Data Protection

By submitting a tender, the tenderer shall treat as confidential all information and documents made available in the course of the procurement procedure, insofar as they are not publicly accessible. The procurement documents may not be passed on by the tenderers to third par- ties without authorisation. Only consultants and subcontractors of candidates shall be ex- empted from the prohibition on disclosure if they can prove that they have been obliged to maintain confidentiality in the same manner and to the same extent.

Tenderers may only publish information about the contract or parts thereof as well as further information which they become aware of in the course of the procurement procedure with the written consent of EIT RawMaterials.

Personal data collected in the course of the procurement procedure shall be processed and stored for purposes of conducting the procurement procedure and implementing and pro- cessing the contract. The provision of personal data is neither contractually nor legally re- quired; however, it is a prerequisite for the consideration of tenders in this procurement proce- dure. Failure to provide the relevant personal data may result in exclusion from the procure- ment procedure.

The data shall be stored for as long as is necessary to fulfil the intended purpose, in particular the statutory tasks of EIT RawMaterials, or for legitimate reasons within the meaning of Art. 17 para. (3) GDPR, such as public procurement law and other statutory retention periods. As long as there are legal obligations to retain personal data, such as tax and commercial law regula- tions, to prevent the deletion of personal data, the person responsible restricts the processing of the data; the data is then deleted in accordance with the legal regulations. The contract award documentation, the contract award notice, tenders, requests for participation and copies

14

[Seite 15]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

of the concluded contract and its annexes shall be kept until the end of the contract term, but at least for three years from the date of the award of the contract (cf. section 8 para. (4) VgV).

In addition, reference is made to the Information Sheet GDPR.

10 Timetable

11 Complaints and time limit for filing a review procedure

Complaints for identified infringements of public procurement regulations must be addressed EIT RawMaterials within a period of ten calendar days (section 160 para. (3) no. 1 Competition Act).

Violations of public procurement regulations which become apparent from the contract notice or from the procurement documents must be reprimanded by the end of the deadline for ten- ders specified in the contract notice, section 160 para. (3) no. 2 and 3 Competition Act.

In addition, reference is made to section 160 para. (3) no. 4 Competition Act. Accordingly, a review procedure is inadmissible if more than 15 calendar days have expired since receipt of notification from EIT RawMaterials that it is unwilling to redress the objection.

Competent body for filing a review procedure is

Senatsverwaltung für Wirtschaft, Energie und Betriebe Vergabekammer des Landes Berlin

15

[Seite 16]

Procurement Procedure “Spend Management Solution” – Invitation to Tender –

Martin-Luther-Str. 105 10825 Berlin

We would be very pleased if you could decide to submit a tender and wish you every success in doing so.

If you are not interested in submitting a tender, please let us know. This will not put you at a disadvantage.

Yours sincerely

EIT RawMaterials GmbH

16