EU to buy “drones” for maritime surveillance

Call for: RPAS Services for Multipurpose Maritime Surveillance

Buyer: European Maritime Safety Agency, MAR – European Maritime Safety Agency, Lisbon

Planned budget: 67 000 000,00 EUR

Framework contract for 48 months

Deadline: 12/03/2025 – 16:00:59 (UTC)

LOT1: RPAS for maritime surveillance in open sea areas with long endurance. Budget: €30.000.000

LOT2: RPAS for maritime surveillance with extended coastal range and long endurance. Budget: €30.000.000

LOT3: Vertical Take-off and Landing RPAS for ship-based operations. Budget: €7.000.000

Scope: The contracted services will provide RPAS, operating from land or vessels, capable of carrying payloads that support users’ activities in multipurpose maritime surveillance for Coast Guard functions.These services are divided into three lots, each targeting the provision of services through separate contracts as follows:

• Lot 1: RPAS for maritime surveillance in open sea areas with long endurance: medium or large-sized RPAS capable of carrying a suite of high-performance payloads and a satellite communication system (satcom) to deliver maritime surveillance services in high seas (beyond radio line of sight).

• Lot 2: RPAS for maritime surveillance with extended coastal range and long endurance: medium-sized RPAS that do not require a runway for take-off and landing, easily deployable and operable from small areas on land. These RPAS shall have the capability to extend their coastal range by deploying ground relay stations / spokes3 along the coastline.

• Lot 3: Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) RPAS for ship-based operations: small to medium-sized RPAS designed for deployment and operation from vessels. These RPAS shall have a low logistical footprint in terms of equipment and crew, facilitating their use from a wide variety of patrol vessels. Additionally, their range and minimum endurance of two hours shall enable coverage of beyond-visual-line-of-sight areas around the patrol vessels.

The Technical Specifications for the services are described in detail in Appendix II to the Tender Specifications – Detailed Specifications and Offer template. Information on the compliance status to the requirements as well as explanations on how this compliance will be achieved shall be provided by the tenderer using Appendix II.

Tenderers should note that the contracting authority has established specific minimum requirements that must be fully met for the tender to be compliant. Tenders that do not fully comply with these minimum requirements will be rejected.

During evaluation of tenders, EMSA reserves the right to request clarifications, missing information or evidence on the tender, while respecting the principle of equality of treatment, provided that it does not entail a substantial change to the submitted tender.

The tenderer/contractor must meet the operational availability requirements (refer to section 21.3) by providing complete RPAS systems (including payloads and spares) and staff during the contract implementation to ensure RPAS services in two simultaneous deployments4.

Geographical scope of the service: Areas of operation can include all sea areas surrounding EU Member States, Norway, or Iceland. The take-off and landing areas for the service must be in one of these countries or, for vessel operations, primarily within their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), but also outside if requested. The contracting authority may also request multinational and cross-border operations. If requested by users, the service may be provided in adjacent sea basins outside the EU, Norway, or Iceland, provided that the same price and service conditions are maintained, and a specific contract is signed between the contracting authority and the contractor.

Economic and financial capacity – Selection criteria:  The tenderer must be in a stable financial position and must have the economic and financial capacity to perform the contract. The yearly turnover for the last 2 years must be minimum:

• 5,000,000 EUR for Lot 1;

• 5,000,000 EUR for Lot 2;

• 1,500,000 EUR for Lot 3.

Technical and professional capacity – Selection criteria: Tenderers must comply with the following selection criteria in order to prove that they have the necessary technical and professional capacity to perform the contract.

Proficiency of the staff

Standards / Prerequisites Staff		Standards/ Prerequisites that the staff shall have (at the time of the bid submission and during contract implementation)
A.	Project Manager		At least 5 years’ experience in relevant project and operational management.
Good command of English, at least B2.
B. B.1. B.2.		RPAS Operational team Each member of the team shall have relevant experience in RPAS services for surveillance, maintenance or monitoring. The team shall be composed as a minimum by the following profiles:
RPAS Pilots and Payload Operators Experts piloting the RPAS and/or controlling and monitoring the payloads.		At least 2-year experience piloting manned aircraft and/or RPAS.
At least 1-year experience in RPAS services for surveillance, maintenance or monitoring.
Followed a full RPAS training programme for the RPAS and payload offered and have the required and relevant valid certifications/ licenses.
Good command of English, at least B2.
RPAS Ground crew Operational, logistical and maintenance experts		At least 1-year experience having worked on RPAS deployments or RPAS services for surveillance, maintenance or monitoring.
Followed a full RPAS training programme for the RPAS and payload offered and have the required and relevant valid certifications/ licenses.
C. C.1.		Information Technology (IT) team The team shall be composed as a minimum by the following profiles:
IT Technical Manager		University degree(s) in the IT or Engineering field.
At least 3 years of experience implementing, maintaining, and ensuring IT operations of real time systems including experience in data processing and distribution.
Good command of English, at least B2.
C.2. Programmer/tester Educational background in the field of IT programming/testing Experience in developing/testing system to system interfaces for data streaming (at least one year). Experience in video streaming solutions (at least one year). Experience in standards like STANAG 4609, H.264, H.265/HEVC, MPEG-TS. (at least one year). Good command of English, at least B1.

RPAS maturity – Selection Criteria

15.5.2.1 Standards / Prerequisites RPAS Maturity	Standards/ Prerequisites that tenderer shall demonstrate (at the time of the bid submission)
	The offered RPAS, same type and version without major changes (i.e., same engine, same airframe, same take-off and landing configuration, etc.), has undertaken the requested number of flight hours at the time of the bid submission.
A1. Total successful flight experience   A2.Successful flight experience from vessels	At least 300 flight hours (FHs) – for Lot 1 and Lot 2. At least 50 flight hours (FHs) – for Lot 3 Successful flight experience from vessels

RPAS Operator experience – Selection Criteria

15.5.3.1 Standards / Prerequisites RPAS Operator experience

Standards/ Prerequisites that tenderer shall demonstrate (at the time of the bid submission)

A.

Tenderer’s experience as RPAS Operator in providing RPAS services for surveillance or monitoring at the time of the bid submission: – At least 1 year of experience within the last 5 years in RPAS services for surveillance or monitoring, with deployments/ projects lasting longer than 1 month.   The tenderer shall note that flight demos and tests will not be taken into consideration. E. The experience may be with a different RPAS than the one being offered, as long as it is of the same type and size.