The European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the procurement of the first complete constellation of the European satellite navigation system. A total of 30 dedicated navigation satellites will be put into space, monitored and controlled by a ground-based infrastructure which will be deployed around the world, with the main control centres in Europe.

The overall programme objective for Galileo is the deployment, by 2013, of a European navigation system providing signals that offer a total of five main services, namely the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service, the Commercial Service, the Public Regulated Service, and the Search and Rescue Service.

The European Parliament and the Council have allocated a budget of € 3.4 billion for the European satellite navigation programmes EGNOS and Galileo for the period 2007-2013 and provided for an agreement on the governance structure of the programmes. This revised framework provides for the deployment of the full operational capability (FOC) of Galileo under a public procurement scheme, entirely financed out of the EU budget. This first call for tender has a budget of EUR 2,145,000,000.

The scope of the Contract Notice, published in the EU Official Journal, consists of the procurement of the following six work packages: system support; ground mission segment; ground control segment; space segment (satellites); launch services; and operations. This procurement complements the In-Orbit-Validation contract placed by ESA for the first four satellites and associated ground control infrastructure.

The GNSS Regulation sets forth that the Galileo FOC procurement is split into a set of 6 main work packages:

1. System engineering support.
2. Ground mission infrastructure completion.
3. Ground control infrastructure completion.
4. Satellites.
5. Launchers.
6. Operations.

Each work package constitutes a specific lot of the Galileo FOC procurement without giving rise to multiple simultaneous procurement strands for individual work packages. The content of the 6 work packages in which the Galileo FOC is organised.

The procurement of the Galileo infrastructure is particularly complex and will have to address many technical and highly sensitive issues. To this end, the European Commission and ESA have opted for the procurement procedure of "Competitive Dialogue" as set up in the EC Financial Regulation Implementing Rules. This procedure will be implemented in line with the political instructions of the Council and European Parliament, as set out in the GNSS Implementing Regulation that will enter into force shortly.

Organisations interested in participating in the Galileo procurement can find more details and an information pack on ESA's web site.

This call for tender follows a High-level conference developed last 24th June in Brussels on the "Civilian Applications of GALILEO", co-organise together with Business Bridge Europe and with the participation of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR).