An introductory webinar on PIC Registration and Validation in the Funding & Tenders Portal

Electronic submission (eSubmission) is mandatory for international open, restricted and negotiated procedures in direct management for tenders of EU External Actions DGs since March 2022. This means that paper submissions are no longer applicable for these procedures. Before submitting their application online via eSubmission, the tenderer (the leader and all the members in case of consortium) must first register in the Funding and Tenders Portal (OPSYS ecosystem) to obtain a 9-digit Participant Identification Code. If the leader and/or participant have already registered in the Participant Register and know their credentials, they can search for their PIC and use it when submitting tenders or requests to participate in eSubmission, otherwise they will need to register their entity in the Funding & Tenders portal.

In the course of the procedure, tenderers (including consortium members) may be contacted by European Research Executive Agency (REA) validation services and requested to submit documents. Based on these documents their PIC will be validated once and for all. The validated PIC will then allow tenderers to subscribe to any future call, as well as to manage their contract(s) electronically in the Funding and Tender Portal.

In this context, tenderers, Contractors and Experts would find it valuable to attend the proposed awareness webinar in English and Spanish via Webex. The awareness webinar on PIC registration and validation for Economic Operators has been scheduled:

Awareness Webinar in English

On 19 September

from 10 am to 12 pm CEST

Webex Link: https://ecconf.webex.com/ecconf/j.php?MTID=mc6d84bef339b5685712054e233d9078d

Webinar password: Opsys@2022 (67797120 from phones)

Awareness Webinar in Spanish

On 28 September

from 4.00 pm to 6.00 pm CEST

Webex Link: https://ecconf.webex.com/ecconf/j.php?MTID=m5cdf94c7fe1fc3d10612ccd5c9d8fb50

Webinar password: Opsys@2022 (67797120 from phones)

Participants will understand the registration process, the validation rules and processes, as well as learn how to navigate and find relevant information in the Funding and Tenders Portal (OPSYS ecosystem).

Agenda:

• What is a Participant Identification Code (PIC)?
• How to register for a PIC in the Funding and Tenders Portal?
• The requirement for PIC Validation
• An overview for each procedure type
• Demo
• Q&A with the panel of experts

The panel of experts will comprise of members from the European Research Executive Agency (REA) validation services, and colleagues from the Data and Information technology unit of DG International Partnerships (the OPSYS Change Management team and the PIC Management team).

The intended target audience is:

• To-be tenderers, Contractors and Experts without a PIC
• Tenderers, Contractors and Experts with ongoing contracts who have questions concerning PIC Validation

Please note that electronic submission (eSubmission) for Specific Contracts under Framework Contracts SIEA 2018, AUDIT 2018, PSF 2019, EVAL 2020 and EVENTS 2020 is managed through OPSYS since February 2020. All the contractors for the five Framework Contracts mentioned above have already been registered for a PIC so they are not the intended audience of this webinar. They are however most welcome to participate. We encourage Economic Operators concerned by open, restricted and negotiated calls for tenders in direct management to join us in this webinar.

* as it refers to time and not to quantities