81317521-Scaling digital agriculture innovations through start-ups (SAIS)

The Scaling Digital Agriculture Innovations through Start-ups (SAIS) programme is a global accelerator and company development initiative implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), SAIS also receives co-funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation …

CPV: 79900000 Miscellaneous business and business-related services, 79994000 Contract administration services
Place of execution:
81317521-Scaling digital agriculture innovations through start-ups (SAIS)
Awarding body:
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Award number:
81317521

1. Buyer

1.1 Buyer

Official name : Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Legal type of the buyer : Public undertaking, controlled by a central government authority
Activity of the contracting authority : General public services

2. Procedure

2.1 Procedure

Title : 81317521-Scaling digital agriculture innovations through start-ups (SAIS)
Description : The Scaling Digital Agriculture Innovations through Start-ups (SAIS) programme is a global accelerator and company development initiative implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), SAIS also receives co-funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the European Union. Launched in 2019, SAIS aims to scale tech and tech-enabled private sector solutions in agriculture, livestock, food, climate, and the circular economy. Through its investment readiness programmes, SAIS provides tailored support to start-ups and companies to enhance their investment readiness, enabling them to attract funding, scale operations, and increase their impact. SAIS currently operates the following programmes: - SAIS Africa: A 12-month investment readiness programme for up to 25 tech and tech-enabled African start-ups, with tracks for francophone countries (PPI), anglophone countries (r-IRP), and livestock-focused start-ups. - SAIS CIRCULAR (Sri Lanka): Supports start-ups and SMEs developing circular economy solutions to reduce food loss and plastic waste in Sri Lanka, including incubation, acceleration, and access to finance. Through SAIS, GIZ aims to scale proven digital innovations that improve income, nutrition, or climate resilience in the agri-food sector. SAIS is currently commissioned until June 2029.
Procedure identifier : e00996f2-52f2-470a-a773-9c06960ee2d1
Internal identifier : 81317521
Type of procedure : Negotiated with prior publication of a call for competition / competitive with negotiation
The procedure is accelerated : no

2.1.1 Purpose

Main nature of the contract : Services
Main classification ( cpv ): 79900000 Miscellaneous business and business-related services
Additional classification ( cpv ): 79994000 Contract administration services

2.1.2 Place of performance

Town : Bonn
Country subdivision (NUTS) : Bonn, Kreisfreie Stadt ( DEA22 )
Country : Germany

2.1.4 General information

Additional information : Bekanntmachungs-ID: CXTRYY6YT0FS6R3Q Communication / questions can only be submitted using GIZ"s eProcurement Tender Platform for the award of contracts.
Legal basis :
Directive 2014/24/EU
vgv -

2.1.6 Grounds for exclusion

Sources of grounds for exclusion : Notice
Breaching of obligations set under purely national exclusion grounds : In accordance with §§ 123,124 GWB, § 22 LkSG
Participation in a criminal organisation :
Terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities :
Money laundering or terrorist financing :
Fraud :
Corruption :
Child labour and including other forms of trafficking in human beings :
Breaching obligation relating to payment of taxes :
Breaching obligation relating to payment of social security contributions :
Breaching of obligations in the fields of environmental law :
Breaching of obligations in the fields of social law :
Breaching of obligations in the fields of labour law :
Insolvency :
Assets being administered by liquidator :
Business activities are suspended :
Analogous situation like bankruptcy, insolvency or arrangement with creditors under national law :
Grave professional misconduct :
Agreements with other economic operators aimed at distorting competition :
Conflict of interest due to its participation in the procurement procedure :
Direct or indirect involvement in the preparation of this procurement procedure :
Early termination, damages, or other comparable sanctions :
Misrepresentation, withheld information, unable to provide required documents and obtained confidential information of this procedure :

5. Lot

5.1 Lot technical ID : LOT-0001

Title : 81317521-Scaling digital agriculture innovations through start-ups (SAIS)
Description : To ensure the timely, compliant, and efficient delivery of highly individualised support measures to start-ups, SAIS seeks a procurement partner to manage contracting, payment, and documentation. The support needs of start-ups are diverse and often highly specific and cannot be met through pre-structured, one-size-fits-all services. By outsourcing procurement operations to a flexible and service-oriented partner, SAIS can respond quickly to each start-up"s needs while maintaining full compliance with GIZ procurement regulations. The contractor will be responsible for the full lifecycle of support request processing, including procurement, contracting, payment, and expert pool management, in accordance with GIZ procurement regulations. A key feature of the assignment is that most of the contract volume is pass-through funding for third-party services and equipment. The assignment is expected to begin in mid-2025 and run until March 2029, and is a follow-on to an existing procurement partner arrangement. Task 1: Initial Assessment and Workflow Optimization The contractor will begin by reviewing the current request management workflow and tools ("ticketing system") used by SAIS, including MS Teams, Word templates, and manual email-based approvals. Based on this review, the contractor is expected to identify inefficiencies and propose scalable workflow enhancements. As part of this, the contractor is invited to propose the use of off-the-shelf or proprietary digital tools, platforms or systems that reduce manual handling and increase transparency, tracking, and speed. These tools should align with GIZ"s data protection and IT compatibility requirements. Additionally, the contractor should propose a solution for a voucher-based mechanism or virtual credit card model. This solution would allow start-ups to access their pre-approved support budgets for defined service categories (e.g. subscriptions, certifications, travel support) directly via the ticketing system. All such requests must remain subject to prior validation by SAIS staff and full compliance checks by the procurement agency. The goal of this work area is to streamline and digitise the operational backbone of support delivery, while maintaining full documentation, accountability, and transparency. Task 2: Procurement and Contract Management The contractor will manage all approved support requests submitted by start-ups, companies and SAIS staff in accordance with GIZ procurement and contracting procedures. This includes validation of request documentation, sourcing and contracting of service providers or vendors, and processing of payments. Support requests vary in nature and value, including: - Consultant and expert services (e.g. legal, financial, marketing), - Software and subscriptions, - Hardware and equipment purchases, - External service providers (e.g. branding, translation, development). The contractor is expected to ensure cost efficiency and proportionality of transaction and service fees. The workflow must ensure traceability, secure documentation, and clear status visibility for GIZ and the SAIS team. The contractor will provide regular financial reporting on support budgets used, remaining allocations, payment status, and open requests. Task 3: Management of the SAIS Expert Pool The contractor will manage the existing SAIS Expert Pool and be responsible for onboarding, contracting, and coordinating short-term experts to deliver advisory and technical services to start-ups. The SAIS Expert Pool is a curated network of pre-vetted short-term experts and consultants who are contracted to provide highly tailored support services to start-ups participating in the SAIS programmes. This task includes: - Vetting and onboarding new experts based on SAIS quality criteria, - Issuing and managing framework agreements and assignment contracts, - Coordinating deliverables, timelines, and payments, - Monitoring expert utilisation and performance. The contractor must maintain a structured, filterable expert database (e.g. by expertise, region, language) and integrate this system into the digital workflow established under Task 1. The expert pool should be actively updated and reported on, including feedback from SAIS staff and start-ups.
Internal identifier : 81317521

5.1.1 Purpose

Main nature of the contract : Services
Main classification ( cpv ): 79900000 Miscellaneous business and business-related services
Additional classification ( cpv ): 79994000 Contract administration services
Options :
Description of the options : GIZ may optionally commission contract amendments and/or increases based on the criteria in the tender documents to the successful bidder of this tender. For details, please see the terms of reference.

5.1.2 Place of performance

Town : Bonn
Country subdivision (NUTS) : Bonn, Kreisfreie Stadt ( DEA22 )
Country : Germany
Additional information :

5.1.3 Estimated duration

Start date : 01/01/2026
Duration end date : 31/03/2029

5.1.4 Renewal

Maximum renewals : 2
Other information about renewals : GIZ may optionally commission contract amendments and/or increases based on the criteria in the tender documents to the successful bidder of this tender. For details, please see the terms of reference.

5.1.6 General information

Reserved participation : Participation is not reserved.
The names and professional qualifications of the staff assigned to perform the contract must be given : Not required
Procurement Project fully or partially financed with EU Funds.
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) : yes
This procurement is also suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) : yes
Additional information : #Besonders auch geeignet für:selbst#

5.1.7 Strategic procurement

Aim of strategic procurement : No strategic procurement

5.1.9 Selection criteria

Sources of selection criteria : Notice
Criterion : Other economic or financial requirements
Description : EN-A1: Principles for the execution of orders (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): The eligbility criteria are not from the same category as stipulated above, as there is no suitable category. 1. Self-declaration: name of company and address, tax ID, registration and commercial register number or equivalent register in accordance with the legal provisions of the country of origin. 2. No grounds for exclusion pursuant to § 123, § 124 GWB, § 22 LkSG, EU-Russia sanctions 3. Declaration of bidding consortium and/or declaration of subcontractors (if applicable)
Criterion : Other economic or financial requirements
Description : EN-A2: Conditions for the reduction of candidates (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): If we receive more than five (5) requests to participate, we will make a selection on the basis of the criteria laid out in the procurement documents and invite tenders only from the five (5) candidates with the highest scores. We reserve the right to cancel the procurement procedure if we receive fewer than three (3) requests to participate. If it is not possible to make a clear selection of up to five (5) candidates for the tendering phase on the basis of the criteria listed in the procurement documents (e.g. if a number of candidates achieve the same overall eligibility score), we reserve the right to increase the maximum number of six (6). We also reserve the right to award the contract on the basis of initial tenders without entering into negotiations. We also reserve the right, once the initial tenders have been submitted, to make a selection on the basis of the criteria listed in the procurement documents and only to enter into negotiations with the three (3) tenderers that receive the highest scores. Weighted criteria for the selection of candidates: 1. Technical experience (70%) 2. Regional experience (20%) 3. Experience of development projects (at least 50% ODA-financed) (10%)
Criterion : References on specified services
Description : EN-B1: Technical and professional ability (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): 1. The technical assessment is only based on reference projects with a minimum commission value of 50000 EUR. 2. At least 2 reference projects in the technical field Procurement and contracting and at least 1 reference project in Africa in the last 36 months (deadline: date of publication of invitation to tender).
Criterion : Average yearly turnover
Description : EN-C1: Economic and financial standing (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): Average annual turnover for the last three years (last-but-four financial year can be included in case of tenders held within 6 months of end of last financial year), at least: 250000 EUR.
Criterion : Other economic or financial requirements
Description : EN-C2: Economic and financial standing (Mit dem Teilnahmeantrag; Mittels Eigenerklärung): Average number of employees and managers in the last three calendar years, at least 6 persons.
Criterion : References on specified services
Description : Weighted criteria for the selection of candidates: 1. Technical experience (70%) 2. Regional experience (20%) 3. Experience of development projects (at least 50% ODA-financed) (10%) - Assessment of technical eligibility / weighted criteria for the selection of candidates
The criteria will be used to select the candidates to be invited for the second stage of the procedure
Weight (percentage, exact) : 100
Information about the second stage of a two-stage procedure :
Minimum number of candidates to be invited for the second stage of the procedure : 3
Maximum number of candidates to be invited for the second stage of the procedure : 5
The procedure will take place in successive stages. At each stage, some participants may be eliminated
The buyer reserves the right to award the contract on the basis of the initial tenders without any further negotiations

5.1.11 Procurement documents

Languages in which the procurement documents are officially available : English
Deadline for requesting additional information : 01/08/2025 23:59 +02:00

5.1.12 Terms of procurement

Terms of the procedure :
Estimated date of dispatch of the invitations to submit tenders : 29/08/2025
Terms of submission :
Electronic submission : Required
Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted : English
Electronic catalogue : Not allowed
Variants : Not allowed
Tenderers may submit more than one tender : Not allowed
Deadline for receipt of requests to participate : 14/08/2025 12:00 +02:00
Information that can be supplemented after the submission deadline :
At the discretion of the buyer, some missing tenderer-related documents may be submitted later.
Additional information : According to tender documents
Terms of contract :
The execution of the contract must be performed within the framework of sheltered employment programmes : No
Conditions relating to the performance of the contract : The execution conditions result from the information given in the contract notice and the tender documents.
Electronic invoicing : Required
Electronic ordering will be used : yes
Electronic payment will be used : yes

5.1.15 Techniques

Framework agreement :
No framework agreement
Information about the dynamic purchasing system :
No dynamic purchase system

5.1.16 Further information, mediation and review

Review organisation : Vergabekammern des Bundes
Information about review deadlines : According to Article 160, Section 3 of the German Act Against Restraint of Competition (GWB), application for review is not permissible insofar as 1. the applicant has identified the claimed infringement of the procurement rules before submitting the application for review and has not submitted a complaint to the contracting authority within a period of 10 calendar days; the expiry of the period pursuant to Article 134, Section 2 remains unaffected; 2. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that are evident in the tender notice are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for the application or by the deadline for the submission of bids, specified in the tender notice; 3. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that first become evident in the tender documents are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for application or by the deadline for the submission of bids; 4. more than 15 calendar days have expired since receipt of notification from the contracting authority that it is unwilling to redress the complaint. Sentence 1 does not apply in the case of an application to determine the invalidity of the contract in accordance with Article 135, Section 1 (2). Article 134, Section 1, Sentence 2 remains unaffected.
Organisation providing additional information about the procurement procedure : Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Organisation receiving requests to participate : Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

8. Organisations

8.1 ORG-0001

Official name : Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Registration number : 993-80072-52
Postal address : Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 32 + 36
Town : Bonn
Postcode : 53113
Country subdivision (NUTS) : Bonn, Kreisfreie Stadt ( DEA22 )
Country : Germany
Telephone : +49 2284460
Fax : +49 22844601766
Internet address : https://www.giz.de
Roles of this organisation :
Buyer
Organisation providing additional information about the procurement procedure
Organisation receiving requests to participate

8.1 ORG-0002

Official name : Vergabekammern des Bundes
Registration number : 022894990
Postal address : Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße 16
Town : Bonn
Postcode : 53113
Country subdivision (NUTS) : Bonn, Kreisfreie Stadt ( DEA22 )
Country : Germany
Telephone : +49 2289499-0
Fax : +49 2289499-163
Roles of this organisation :
Review organisation

8.1 ORG-0003

Official name : Datenservice Öffentlicher Einkauf (in Verantwortung des Beschaffungsamts des BMI)
Registration number : 0204:994-DOEVD-83
Town : Bonn
Postcode : 53119
Country subdivision (NUTS) : Bonn, Kreisfreie Stadt ( DEA22 )
Country : Germany
Telephone : +49228996100
Roles of this organisation :
TED eSender

Notice information

Notice identifier/version : ce24d532-2e6f-4ec6-bb4f-07487aa64443 - 01
Form type : Competition
Notice type : Contract or concession notice – standard regime
Notice dispatch date : 14/07/2025 15:24 +02:00
Languages in which this notice is officially available : English
Notice publication number : 00463205-2025
OJ S issue number : 134/2025
Publication date : 16/07/2025