In support of school education
– ESA's new ITT for the implementation of ESERO in Belgium -

On 12 June 2020 the European Space Agency (ESA) will publish an open Invitation to Tender (ITT), limited to Belgium, inviting companies and institutions located in Belgium to submit their proposals for the implementation of the ESA educational project 'ESERO' in Belgium from the end of 2020 until the end of 2022.

The ESERO Belgium project is co-funded by ESA and, nationally, by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO).  For the purpose of this activity, BELSPO has delegated the management of its funding to ESA. Therefore, ESA is making the total cumulative ESA and BELSPO budget available through this ITT.

To describe and explain the requirements of the ITT, ESA is hosting briefing meetings through two identical online information sessions for potential bidders on:  
- Tuesday 16 June 2020, 14:00 – 16:00 CEST
- Wednesday 17 June 2020, 10:00 – 12:00 CEST (repeat)

During these sessions, ESA will present the ESERO (European Space Education Resource Office) project objectives, the ITT requirements, the different possibilities of involvement, and how to bid for the ITT. Explanations will be followed by an open Questions and Answers session..

Please note that only questions related to the ITT itself will be answered during the information sessions. Questions submitted and answers given during these information sessions, will be communicated simultaneously to all Potential Bidders immediately after the information sessions through the publication on EMITS of clarifications to the ITT.

Register here by 15 June to join the information sessions.

The Information Sessions will take place in English.

About ESERO

ESERO is ESA's main project in the field of formal STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education at primary and secondary school level. It was established in 2006 and is active in 18 European countries to date.

Under the coordination of ESA, with the involvement and support of national institutions and organisations active in the field, the project aims at enabling capacity building in teaching communities. ESERO takes advantage of space as an inspirational factor, and context, for the teaching and learning of curricular STEM disciplines at large.  

The project delivers STEM teacher training, curricular classroom resources and school projects. ESERO activities are designed and implemented using state-of-the-art STEM educational methodologies, such as inquiry-based learning, blended learning, learning by project and learning by design, as well as the integration of interactive tools for education. ESERO also works towards establishing links between the school environment and the professional space sector. This is in order to support scientific and technological role modelling, and to help bridge the gap between the STEM theory taught in school and the real practice of science.

Implementing the ESERO project at national level

The national ESERO projects are established to operate across their hosting country, in close collaboration with ESA and the national public institutions in charge of space (e.g. national space agencies/offices). The ESERO activities are tailored to the specific situation in each Member State, and are thus able to support specific national STEM education policies and objectives.

Each ESERO is staffed by national education experts that work in strong synergy and partnership with national education authorities, stakeholders and networks in a collaborative, non-competitive fashion – an approach that has already proven to be effective and successful in the European countries where the project is operational.

For Belgium, ESERO is expected to properly address the needs and specificities of the following language communities:
   - the Dutch-speaking Community
   - the French-speaking Community
   - the German-speaking Community.

Tender information

The Invitation to Tender (ITT), to be published on EMITS on the 12th of June 2020, will be an open competitive action limited to economic operators whose registered office is located in Belgium. The ESERO project is to be run on a non-profit basis.

Contact

The interested bidders (potential Prime and all subcontractors) must register via esa-star registration.
Any entity, at the time when a tender is submitted, should at least have already completed the "Light Registration" as described in the following "esa-star" Registration User Manual.

Further information on the registration process can be found on the Industry Portal pages.

Protection of personal data

With respect to the personal data protection for the purpose of organisation of the information sessions, the collected personal data will be handled in accordance with the "ESA Personal Data Protection Framework" applicable to ESA and available on the ESA website at the url: http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Law_at_ESA/Highlights_of_ESA_rules_and_regulations.

The information collected and retained for registration and participation to the sessions will be retained for the duration necessary to fulfil the objectives of the sessions as announced herein.

Contact

For further information about the ESERO Belgium ITT Information sessions, please contact: eserobelgiumITT@esa.int

Links:
https://www.esa.int/Education/Teachers_Corner/European_Space_Education_Resource_Office