Call Open for Smart City Solutions – 6 Themes in FinEst Twins Mini-pilot Programme

FinEst Twins is a project funded by the European Union’s research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020. The project is expected to contribute to the development of smart, sustainable, and resilient cities by enhancing the cross-border collaboration between Finland and Estonia and establishing a world-class Smart City Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia  – FinEst Centre for Smart Cities. The FinEst Twins project brings together leading research institutions, universities, and industry partners to foster collaboration, innovation, and knowledge exchange between the two cities. 

Forum Virium Helsinki announces the opening of a call for the second round of innovative pilots aimed at tackling smart city related challenges.The FinEst Twins’ mini-piloting programme aims to solve challenges in six different focus areas: data, mobility, smart governance, clean energy transition, built environment, and health & wellbeing. These focus areas support holistically cross-border collaboration between Finland and Estonia while aligning perfectly with the overall goals of FinEst Twins. Challenges are provided by a variety of organizations engaged in supporting the operations during the piloting period. 

The application period is open from 17. February 2025 12:00 (EET) to 17. March 2025 16:00 (EET). A maximum of seven selected solutions will get the grant from this call and these will be implemented in the Helsinki region or in some cases potentially in Estonia during 2025. More than seven solutions can be selected and implemented without the financial support from the call if the pilot hosts and the solution providers agree to it. The total budget of the tender is a maximum of 70,000 euros (VAT 0%). The maximum cost of the pilot and the number of chosen pilots under each of the six focus areas depends on the challenge. Forum Virium Helsinki Oy will not commit to covering any costs or expenses not included in the tender (e.g. accommodation or travel expenses). The procurement price must cover the implementation of the service in its entirety, including costs resulting from insurance and permits as well as taxes and charges levied by the authorities, for example. An information session about the mini-pilot program will be held on March 5, 2025. All questions and answers will be publicly available at the end of this webpage after the session.

Objectives of the Mini-pilot Programme

The goal of the FinEst Twins mini-pilot program, coordinated by Forum Virium Helsinki, is to promote smart city development in six different focus areas while sharing the knowledge in close cooperation with Estonia. This program offers companies the opportunity to develop their products and services while solving a real-life challenge provided by an organization supporting the pilot. It will bring visibility to new products and services that support smart city development and accelerate their development and implementation. In addition, the pilot program should increase the collaboration between Finland and Estonia.

Pilot Challenges Under the Six Focus Areas

Tenders should be addressing one of the six challenges and offer a potential solution which can be executed in a real-life environment between the beginning of April and the end of September, 2025. The pilot program has been designed together with organizations providing the challenges, thus they will be supporting the development of solutions during the piloting period.

Descriptions of the challenges and how to apply can be found under each of the focus areas:

• Data
• Mobility
• Smart Governance
• Built Environment
• Clean Energy Transition
• Health & Wellbeing

Pilot Programme Schedule

The application period is open from 17. February 2025 12:00 (EET) to 17. March 2025 16:00 (EET).

Selections will be published latest on 17. April, 2025. Only the numerical scores will be published. Qualitative scores will be available upon request.

The kick-off of each pilot will be in April, 2025 and the operations will be running till the end of September, 2025. The final event will take place in October, 2025. During the final event, each organisation can present their solutions and learnings from the pilot programme.

Information session will be held on March 5. Register to participate!

Evaluation and Selection of Tenders

Tenders are submitted using a specific form which can be found under each of the focus areas. In addition to filling in the form, each Bidder can submit a maximum of four (4) other attachments supporting their tender. Please note that in the health & wellbeing focus area it is mandatory to submit at least one (1) attachment.

Forum Virium Helsinki, The FinEst Twins project’s experts and the selected members from each pilot host organisations will evaluate the tenders submitted by the deadline and select the best tenders based on scoring. In the Smart Governance and Health & Wellbeing focus areas the submitted tenders are first ranked based on challenge specific criteria. Then, based on the ranking, they are invited to an online event to present their solutions. The final selection in each challenge is made based on the general evaluation criteria. All participants in the tender competition will be notified of the results. The procuring entity has the right to decide not to carry out the procurement, considering factors such as the total funding available or the quality of the tenders submitted. 

Order of precedence: 

1. The information provided on the form

2. The information presented in the attachments to the tender

3. The information provided in the potential online event

Materials provided outside the form, its attachments, or the online event will not be considered as part of the tender.

Who Can Participate?

The invitation to tender is open to companies with a valid European business ID. The personnel and administration of Forum Virium Helsinki Oy and their interest groups are prohibited from submitting tenders. The submission of a tender as a consortium (‘team’) is allowed. In this case, the team will appoint a company from among them to act as the contact party for this tender. This company will also serve as the procurement contract party. The procuring entity requires the procurement contract to be signed with a single supplier, with the other parties named in the tender allowed to serve as its subcontractors. 

General Evaluation Process

For the purpose of evaluation, tenders submitted will be evaluated based on the following quality criteria in accordance with the specified weightings: 1) feasibility (40 %), 2) novelty and innovativeness (30 %), 3) impact and sustainability (20 %), and 4) scalability (10 %). The maximum number of points is 100. Each challenge has a fixed price, which means that the price is not an evaluation criteria.

Each evaluation criterion is scored on a scale of 0–3 points. The maximum total score that a tender can receive is 100 points.

The scoring will be evaluated accordingly:

• 3 points: The criterion is met excellently.
• 2 points: The criterion is well met.
• 1 point: The criterion has been taken into account to some extent.
• 0 points: The criterion has been taken into account weakly or not at all.

General Evaluation Criteria

1. Feasibility, weight 40 % (0–21p equals max. 40 points)

• Equivalency: The proposal meets the specific challenge description. (0-3p)
• Clarity of the tender: The description of measures, goals, timetables and resources shows that the solution can be implemented in a high-quality and safe manner, within the agreed timeframe and at the location specified in the invitation to tender. (0-3p)
• Technical feasibility: The solution can be realistically implemented with current technology/data/resources available. (0-3p)
• Competence: The Bidder demonstrates that they have sufficient competence and resources to implement the service. Competence of the personnel assigned for the pilot project, e.g. CVs or other characterisations and support material. (0-3p)
• Restrictions: The Bidder has no limitations (e.g. policy issues, competitive setting, or other) to work in collaboration with the pilot hosts, stakeholders, and other operators being involved in the pilot programme. (0-3p)
• Economic viability: The solution is economically viable. Consider development costs, operating costs, and potential return on investment. (0-3p)
• Market viability: The solution has a market fit. (0-3p)

2. Novelty and innovativeness, weight 30 % (0–9p equals max. 30 points)

• Novelty: The solution is new to the industry or to the specific area it targets. (0-3p)
• Innovative qualities: The solution has innovative qualities which bring value for the challenge it solves. (Evaluation is carried out based on the personal competence and general and special know-how of the members of the evaluation panel selected by the procuring entity) (0-3p)
• Degree of change: The pilot project introduces more disruptive innovations than incremental improvements like new practices/solutions/perspectives compared to the existing similar solutions. (0-3p)

3. Impact and sustainability, weight 20 % (0–9p equals max. 20 points)

• Comprehensibility: The intended impact of the service and the method to verify the impact are described clearly. (0-3p)
• Positive impact: The solution demonstrates a clear positive impact on solving the identified challenge. (0-3p)
• User needs: The solution addresses a real need or solves a challenge. Innovations that are problem-driven are more likely to be successful. (0-3p)

4. Scalability, weight 10 % (0–9p equals max. 10 points)

• Replicability: The service can be replicated or reproduced in another environment. (0-3p)
• Scalability: The Bidder demonstrates that their solution has sufficient possibilities to be beneficial for wider usage (e.g. different audience or user groups, more organisations, other countries, or other factors) than only during the specified 6 month pilot period. (0-3p)
• Business value: The solution offers potential for new business. (0-3p)

Each criterion will be evaluated as a whole. Points will be awarded at a minimum interval of 0-100 points and expressed to 2 decimal places. Tenders evaluated to be of equal value may receive the same score.  In a situation where multiple tenders receive the same total score, the deciding factor will be the highest score of the criteria starting from the first criteria of the top category feasibility to the last criteria of the last category in a numerical order.

Information Session and Questions

All questions regarding the call for tenders can be sent via email before the information session on March 5. The subject of the message should be “FinEst Twins open call” and it should be sent to satu.reijonen@forumvirium.fi. The questions asked and their answers will be published on this page.

An information session on the pilot programme was held online in English on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, from 12:00 PM to 14:30 PM.

If you have questions, check the Slides from the info session and Q&A document.

General Principles of the Procurement

Forum Virium Helsinki announces the opening of a call for innovative pilots aimed at tackling smart city related challenges.The FinEst Twins’ mini-piloting programme aims to solve challenges in six different focus areas: data, mobility, smart governance, clean energy transition, built environment, and health & wellbeing. With this open invitation to tender, Forum Virium Helsinki Oy seeks several suppliers for the aforementioned purpose.

The tender process is completely electronic. Bidders must provide their contact email addresses. After the end of the tender period, the tenders will be opened and evaluated. Forum Virium Helsinki Oy may request that bidders submit, add, clarify or supplement incomplete or incorrect information and documents within a specified period. Tenders that do not correspond to the invitation to tender will be excluded from the evaluation.

Suppliers are responsible for having the necessary insurances to carry out the experimentand permits, and to ensure that the experiment complies with applicable legislation, including legislation related to privacy protection (including the EU data protection regulation GDPR). Forum Virium Helsinki Oy treats all the parties participating in the tender process and other suppliers in a non-discriminatory and equal manner, operating transparently and in accordance with the principle of proportionality. After the evaluation, a decision will be issued on the procurement. The decision will include the selected supplier and the grounds for the selection.

The tender process will be carried out in English. The procuring entity will not be translating any of the related materials into English. Tenders must be submitted in English.

Order of precedence: 

1. The information provided on the form

2. The information presented in the attachments to the tender

3. The information provided in the potential online event

In the event of contradictions in the information provided: 

1. Any differences between the prices presented on the form and in the attachments will result in the tender being rejected as invalid.

2. Any contradictions in the statements of price provided in the attachments will result in the tender being rejected as invalid.

3. Not including price information in the attachments and/or the form will result in the tender being rejected as invalid. 

4. Not including an attachment if requested in a specific challenge will result in the tender being rejected as invalid.

Tenders must be valid until 30.06.2025.

Content of the Tender

The tender must: 

• describe the content, quality and scope of the service
• include the total price of the service and a breakdown of the costs
• detail the equipment and personnel used for the service, and
• indicate any professional and trade secrets.
• not exceed the total number of 5 pages. 

Before the evaluation of submitted tenders, the procuring entity will ensure that the Bidders fulfil the eligibility requirements, which include: 

• the good financial standing of the Bidder (the Bidder must attest in its tender that it has sufficient resources to implement the service/pilot project being procured)
• fulfilment of the obligations specified in the Act on the Contractor’s Obligations and Liability when Work is Contracted Out.

In other words, Bidders must provide, upon request, certificates and statements of taxes paid and pension insurance premiums and any necessary insurance policies in accordance with the Act on the Contractor’s Obligations and Liability when Work is Contracted Out. This obligation shall remain in effect even after the issuing of the procurement decision.

The Bidder must have sufficient financial resources relative to the scope and quality of the procurement/pilot project. The Bidder agrees to supply a statement from a credit data institution (Suomen asiakastieto Oy or similar) at their own cost upon request. Upon request, the Bidder must also supply Forum Virium Helsinki Oy with its financial statements for the most recent financial period. If the Bidder cannot supply its financial statements due to having only recently commenced operation, the Bidder can, upon request, supply a report of its solvency and financial standing in another manner approved by Forum Virium Helsinki Oy.

The eligibility requirements and the evidence requested to determine their fulfilment are relevant to the Bidder’s capacity to provide the service being procured and have been proportioned to the nature, purpose and scope of the procurement.

The procuring entity reserves the right to decide not to carry out the procurement in its original scope due to insufficient tenders or other reasons related to the eligibility of the tenders. The entire procurement may be cancelled if the tenders are considered insufficient in terms of content with regard to the invitation to tender. Insufficient tenders include, but are not limited to, tenders that do not meet the conditions and objectives of the invitation to tender. 

The procuring entity reserves the right to not accept all tenders if they are very similar in terms of content. In such a situation, the procuring entity may still select other, non-similar tenders even if they had a lower score than the similar tenders excluded from the tender process. Tenders submitted by the deadline will be evaluated by Forum Virium Helsinki Oy’s, FinEst Twins project’s and supporting organisations’ panel of experts. 

Rights

Unless otherwise agreed, the results, lessons learned and conclusions arising from the service/pilot are the property of the Bidder. Forum Virium Helsinki Oy has the right to freely use and pass on the results, lessons learned and conclusions from the service/pilot in Forum Virium Helsinki Oy’s operations and future projects. The service/pilot does not affect the existing intellectual property rights of Forum Virium Helsinki or the Bidder. 

Forum Virium Helsinki Oy has the free and continuous right to use, copy, edit, pass on and publish the results, materials and data produced in the service/pilot without the separate permission of the provider, for any purpose of use. This data includes the raw data collected during the service/pilot, the material handed over at the end of the pilot, any data retrieved and produced by Forum Virium Helsinki Oy from the open interfaces, and other possible data and material produced in the pilot. The provider is not responsible for any errors, quality or derivatives of such data or their possible effects. The data must be available to Forum Virium Oy even after the pilot period. The supplier is responsible for not including any personal data in accordance with the GDPR regulation. The anonymization of personal data can be agreed separately, as far as the data is possible for later use. The costs of this activity are the supplier’s responsibility.

Changes

Forum Virium Helsinki Oy may change and cancel events and presentation sessions as well as change the way in which they are organised so that they are held remotely or delivered in the form of recorded materials due to the COVID-19 pandemic or other exceptional circumstances. These arrangements will not affect the duration of the invitation to tender or the opportunity for operators to ask further questions electronically. 

Photo: Vesa Laitinen