Service of the Startup Denmark Secretariat and expert panel
1. Background
Startup Denmark is a start-up visa scheme by the Danish Government that allow entrepreneurs outside the EU and EEA to relocate and grow high-impact start-ups in Denmark. Applicants apply through the submission of a business plan which is evaluated by the Startup Denmark expert panel (hereinafter the expert panel). If the expert panel approves the business plan based on predefines criteria, then applicants are eligible to apply for a Danish residence and work permit as self-employed entrepreneur.
The Startup Denmark Secretariat in the Danish Business Authority (hereinafter the secretariat) is responsible for running the start-up visa scheme “Startup Denmark”. The secretariat appoints and serves the expert panel, screens all applications and business plans and conveys evaluations from the expert panel to applicants.
Additional information about Startup Denmark can be found in annex 3.
This announcement concerns the service of the secretariat and the expert panel form July 1st 2019 thru December 31st 2021 with an option of extending the contract term for 12 months at a time. The contract can be extended two times.
2. Purpose and scope
Service of the secretariat and the expert panel has three overall purposes: 1) providing and operating a digital application module, 2) providing and operating an evaluation module and 3) planning and executing evaluation rounds with the expert panel. The deliveries are described below, and the requirements are described in appendix 1 and 2.
3. Deliveries
• Application module: The operator shall setup and operate an application module that must be integrated to the web portal startupdenmark.info (hosted by the Danish Business Authority), where applicants can apply with a business plan and key information about the applicant defined by the secretariat.
• Receive and store application data: The operator must receive application data from the application module and store the data for a limited period defined by the secretariat.
• Service (data transmission): The operator must push application data and evaluation data to the secretariat. The data format is determined by the secretariat.
• Endpoint: The secretariat pushes notice about applications going to the expert panel via an endpoint defined by the operator.
• Plan and execute evaluation rounds: The operator must plan and execute evaluation rounds in a rolling system in accordance with procedures drawn up by the secretariat. This includes a dashboard that provides the expert panel access to applications and an evaluation module. The expert panel consists of smaller expert groups. As an example, the scope of this task was as follows in 2018: 289 applications were evaluated in 22 evaluation rounds.
• Contact person: The operator must point out a contact person that can answer questions regarding status on applications and judging rounds, handle confidential information and possible technical issues.
4. Time schedule for announcement
Deadline - Activity
April 5th 2019: The announcement and the contract notice are published
April 12th, 2019 12.00 a.m.: Deadline for submission of questions
April 25th, 2019 12.00 a.m.: Deadline for submission of offer
Week 18: Expected information of the result of the evaluation
Week 18: Expected contract signing (kick off meeting week 18 2019)
Week 18-25: Development phase (including test)
July 1st, 2019 – December 31st 2021: The selected operator is responsible for carrying out the defined tasks
5. Offer should include:
• A solution description including a description of the system integration and the uptime of the system.
• A description of the organisation and relevant competencies chosen to carry out the service.
• A description of the organisation’s conduct of data security and data privacy.
• Price (the offer cannot exceed a total price of 70.000 euros exclusive VAT for the contract term). This amount includes all kinds of expenses. The offer must clearly specify the price of the optional two 12-month extensions the contract term.
• The offer must be in English and no more than 5 pages of 2,400 characters per page (not including appendixes).
6. Assessment criteria
The Danish Business Authority will identify the most economically advantageous offer based on the award criteria “best price-quality ratio”. The selection of the offer with the best price-quality ratio will be based on the following sub-criteria:
• Quality and understanding of task
• Organisation and competencies (relevance of organisation and competencies and experience with similar services)
• Price
7. Contact information
All questions regarding the announcement must be send to Helene Iversen at the Danish Business Authority at helive@erst.dk.
8. Contract
A draft of the final contract has been attached in appendix 4 and a draft of the Data Processing Agreement has been attached in appendix 5.
The contract establishes the obligations and rights that will be applicable between the parties of the contract. It should be noted that the basic conditions included in the draft cannot be changed.
The Danish Business Authority expects to sign the contract in week 18.