When a framework contract (FWC) is managed through the F&T Portal, the contracting authority sends the requests for specific contracts through the portal.
The FWC Primary Coordinator Contacts (PCoCos) and Coordinator Contacts (CoCos) receive email notification when the contractor is invited to reply to a request for specific contract. The notification (accessible also in the F&T Portal section Notifications of the logged on user) includes a link to the F&T Portal section Invitations where the invitation, including all the documents attached to the request, can be found.
The F&T Portal sends to the PCoCo/CoCos also a reminder about the approaching submission deadline 5 days before the deadline (the reminder is sent only if a PCoCo/CoCo has created a draft submission in the F&T Portal).
If the contracting authority decides to cancel the request for specific contract, the PCoCo/CoCos receive a cancellation notification by email, available also in the F&T Portal section Notifications.
Acknowledge receipt
Quick overview on how to submit your request for a specific contract
Please note that this video's purpose is only illustrative, the exact workflows and mandatory data and/or documents may vary depending on the contract and its conditions. Also note that some menu titles changed since the video was made in 2023. For detailed instructions please consult the procurement documents and follow the steps on this wiki page.
Access and acknowledge the invitation
This first step allows you to acknowledge that your organisation has received the request for specific contract.
You will access your invitation in Funding & Tenders Portal via the Invitations section on the left (2).
The invitations can have the following status:
Received : an invitation to participate in a request for specific contract has been received;
- Acknowledged : the PCoCo/CoCo has acknowledged the receipt of the invitation;
- Accepted : the PCoCo/CoCo has expressed their willingness to participate in a request for specific contract under cascade or single framework contract;
Closed : the invitation is closed when the submission deadline has expired.
For more information about Invitations, please consult our wiki page.
Follow the link in the invitation mail that you received. The link will bring you to the section Invitations (1) of the F&T Portal which you can access also from the menu on the left (2) .
Click on the menu button (three dots) (3) next to the invitation you wish to respond to. Select the Acknowledge Receipt option.
The status of the invitation becomes Acknowledged.
Consult the documents
Acknowledging the invitation allows the contractor to view the request data (1), including the applicable deadlines (2), and the request documents (4) .
To download a document, check or select the version of the documents displayed (5), then click on the Actions button.
You will be able to download the actual document in PDF (Download) or the 'native' version (Download native), e.g. Word, if made available by the contracting authority.
You will click on Show less / Show more (6) to display less or more data and hide/unhide the request documents.
You can choose the display language by using the button at the top right of the screen:
Once the invitation has been acknowledged, you can still consult the request data, deadlines and documents by clicking on the menu button (three dots) 
and selecting View willingness (only available for requests for specific contract under single or cascade FWC) or Start New Submission.
If you have already started your submission, you can consult the request data, deadlines and documents by clicking on the menu button (three dots) and selecting View (to see your submission) or Edit (to edit your draft).
In the submission screen, click on the procedure reference number.
Q&A
Any request for additional information concerning a request for specific contract sent via Funding & Tenders Portal must be made using the the "Questions & answers (Q&A)" section in the Invitation page.
You have the possibility to ask questions until the submission deadline. After the deadline for questions has expired, you can still ask a question but the contracting authority is not obliged to answer.
When a new Q&A is published or your question has been answered privately, i.e. the answer is sent only to you, you will receive a notification. The notification is accessible under the bell on the top right corner of the screen.
From the Invitations section of the Procurement Centre on the left side navigation of the Funding & Tenders Portal, access the invitation by clicking on the request for specific contract reference.
The invitation details screen opens.
At the bottom of the screen, you will find 2 tabs:
- Restricted Q&A: here you can consult the Q&A shared with all invited contractors
- My Q&A: here you can consult your questions and the answers provided only to you (private answers).
From the Invitation details screen, click on Create question.
Add your question in the "Question" field (max. 1000 ca). You can also enter a subject (title) and select a category from the list (both are optional). Then click on Submit to send your question.
Once the question sent, it appears in the list of questions as Submitted.
At the bottom of the invitation details screen, go to the section "My Q&A", click on the menu button (three dots) next to your question and select Withdraw.
The withdrawn question will still be visible to the contracting authority but will appear with the status Withdrawn.
Express willingness to participate
After receiving a request for specific contract under a single or cascade FWC, the invited contractor must first express its willingness to participate, i.e. its intention to reply to the request or not. This must be done within the deadline to express willingness indicated in the request.
The contractor can start the reply submission process only after expressing willingness to participate in the request by clicking Yes and then Save. The status of the invitation becomes Accepted.
If the contractor does not intend to reply to the request, he needs to select No and provide reasons in the Comment field before clicking Save. The status of the invitation becomes Closed and the contractor cannot change willingness.
The contracting authority is notified immediately of the contractor's positive or negative response.
If the contractor does not react within the willingness deadline, the contracting authority has the right to cancel the request or, in case of cascade FWC, send the request to the next contractor in the cascade.
If the contractor indicated their willingness to participate, the contractor can change the willingness response at any time before the submission deadline.
Click on View willingness in the menu button (three dots)next to your invitation and then on Change Willingness on the next screen.
After the submission deadline you can only view your willingness response.
Start submission
After consulting the request data/documents and expressing your willingness to participate in the request if requested you can start your submission.
Tick the box (1) to accept the Terms and Conditions, acknowledge that you have read and understood the F&T Portal Privacy Statement and the Privacy Statement for procurement award and management, then click on New submission (2) .
You can start the submission also from the menu button (three dots) close to the invitation - click on Start New Submission.
You can always leave eSubmission when drafting your submission - click on the Leave 
button at the top of the page. The submission will be saved as Draft which can be resumed at any time before the submission deadline. To resume the draft, find the invitation under the section Invitations from the F&T Portal menu on the left and click on View willingness under the menu button (three dots) - the eSubmission screen opens where you can choose whether to resume the draft or start a new submission.
Alternatively, you can resume the draft by clicking on the submission link next to the status of the invitation and then clicking on Edit under the menu button (three dots) .
Draft submission
When you start your submission you will see a progress line on top of the screen. This line shows all the steps of the submission process and your current step.
You can always consult the request data and documents by clicking on the procedure reference number button on the left side of the screen.
If the contracting authority updates the RfSC documents, you will receive a notification to inform you.
Click on the link in the notification to go back to Invitations, then look for the procedure and follow the instructions in the section 'How to find the documents after the invitation has been acknowledged'.
See how to check the different versions of the documents in the Acknowledge section.
Identification of the participant
The submission process starts with the identification of the participant - the contractor details (in case of a consortium the details of the consortium leader and the consortium members) are retrieved from the FWC data and cannot be edited.
The FWC Primary Coordinator Contact (PCoCo) is automatically defined as the contact person but the PCoCo/CoCo drafting the submission can change it by clicking on the edit 
icon (1).
 This contact person becomes the PCoCo (Primary Coordinator Contact) for the submission and, if the contractor is successful, the resulting contract. Read here about PCoCo's permissions. |
A form will pop up listing all contact persons already identified for the organisation in previous submissions. The name of the last person identified as contact person appears at the top of the list. If you want to designate another contact person, either select another member from the list or indicate a new contact person. If this person does not have an EU Login account, a temporary EU Login account will be automatically created based on the indicated email address. The person will be invited by email to complete the EU Login registration. The invitation will be an automatic system message with no reference to the request procedure.
Click Done after defining the contact person and then Next (2) to continue your submission.
Upload the tender data
Add the total amount to the tender data
In the step 'Tender data' you will see a field to encode the total amount of your submission (1).
If your total amount exceeds the contracting authority’s maximum budget announced in the request, you will receive a warning. The warning does not prevent you from proceeding with your submission - you should check the request for specific contract documents for the legal consequences.
In requests under FWCs with reopening of competition, you need to confirm that your specific tender complies with the minimum requirements specified in the request documents or, if it does not, to provide an explanation (2). This statement will be reflected in the submission report.
| Make sure you always click the Save button (3) after entering the total amount and the confirmation about the (non) compliance. |
Upload your submission documents
Upload your submission documents in the Attachments section. Click on the system requirements hyperlink to view the list of accepted file types.
First, select which type of document you are uploading from the list on the left . T hose with an asterisk are mandatory.
Upload all the documents requested in the tender specifications!
Then, drag and drop the file in the dashed area. Alternatively, click on Choose file to browse your computer.
You can see which documents have been uploaded by clicking on the Submission documents button on the left side of the screen.
To proceed click on Next > . The button will be active only if all data and documents marked as mandatory have been provided.
| At this stage, your draft submission, including all your documents, is not submitted yet. |
Preview the submission report
The submission report is generated by the system and is part of the submission. The report lists all the documents included in the submission and includes the details of the contact person and the person making the submission.
eSubmission automatically generates and adds the submission report to your submission. You can consult the report on the screen or download it for your own records (before submitting the tender). You don’t need to sign and upload the signed report in eSubmission.
Note that if you do not download the submission report at this stage, you will not be able to view it anymore as it will not be accessible on eSubmission or the F&T Portal.
To download the submission report click on this button: 
| The submission report is not a proof of submission. You have not submitted yet . Please proceed to the next step and click on Submit to finalise the submission. |
To proceed click on Next >.
Submit
.The system will display a confirmation message similar to this one.
Click Yes if you want to confirm and continue the submission. You will then no longer be able to modify this submission.
After you have submitted:
- An email notification will be sent to the email address of the contact person indicated in the submission (PCoCo) and the email address (if different) linked to the EU Login account used to submit (CoCo).
- Both the person making the submission and the designated contact person get the notifications in the F&T Portal as well (F&T Portal section Notifications ).
- This email notification contains a link to the F&T Portal where you can find the submission receipt.
A message is displayed where you can click on the Display your submission link to open the relevant section in the F&T Portal and find the Submission Receipt.
- Your submission will be available under Invitations section of the F&T Portal. Search for the invitation and click on the submission link in order to display the submission. When clicking on the menu button (three dots), you will find the option to view the receipt.
| The Submission Receipt constitutes proof of compliance with the time limit for receipt of submissions. |
Manage a submission draft
Resume a submission draft
If the invitation status is "acknowledged" or "accepted" (1) , you can click on the submission link (2) in order to display the draft submission (3). The menu button (three dots) next to the draft submission shows an option to edit (4) this draft submission. Clicking on it will re-direct you to eSubmission.
Delete a submission draft
Search for invitation to participate in the F&T portal and click on the submission link (1) in order to display the draft submission. The menu button (three dots) next to the draft submission shows an option to delete (2) this draft submission. Clicking on it will re-direct you to eSubmission where you will confirm that you want to delete it and you will be asked to provide the reason for deletion.
The menu button (three dots) is not available for the tenders with the status Deleted. Once a draft tender has been deleted, it cannot be retrieved by the tenderer.
Multiple submissions
Unless your FWC foresees a maximum number of submissions per contractor in response to a request for specific contract, you may prepare and submit several submissions until the submission deadline is reached. The latest submission will be considered for the evaluation.
Withdraw a submission
You can withdraw your submission only in case the request for specific contract is made under a FWC with reopening of competition and only until the submission deadline is reached.
Search for the invitation to participate in the F&T portal and click on the submission link in order to display the submission. The menu button (three dots) next to the submitted submission will show an option to withdraw the submission. Clicking on it will re-direct you to eSubmission where you need to confirm the withdrawal and provide the reason for it.
After entering a reason and confirming the withdrawal, you can use the Display your submission link to open the relevant section in the F&T Portal and find the withdrawal receipt. Search for the invitation under Invitations in the portal and click on the submission link in order to display the submission. Under the menu button (three dots), you will find the option to view the withdrawal receipt.
Once you have withdrawn a submission, you cannot view, edit or submit it again.
