Croatia – Programming services – Izrada novog elektroničkog sustava Hrvatske zaklade za znanost za prijavu projektnih prijedloga, vođenje i praćenje financiranih projekata

The subject of the procurement is the development of a new electronic system for the Croatian Science Foundation for the submission of project proposals, evaluation and monitoring of funded projects. The Croatian Science Foundation (HRZZ) as the Contracting Authority, is the central national organisation for the financing of scientific, higher education and technological programmes and projects in Croatia. Every year, HRZZ launches a series of calls for proposals to support scientific research, thereby ensuring stable funding for research groups working on internationally and/or nationally significant scientific issues, which through basic, applied or developmental research create new knowledge and improve existing knowledge. In order to ensure the selection and financing of the best projects, HRZZ has developed a procedure for the evaluation of project proposals based on internationally accepted peer review practice, in which scientists from Croatia and abroad participate. The procedure for submitting applications to HRZZ calls, evaluating and selecting project proposals and monitoring the implementation of agreed projects is carried out through the Electronic System for Project Submission and Monitoring (hereinafter: EPP system). The existing EPP system was developed in 2011 and has been upgraded several times over the years. The total server space it currently occupies is ~720 GB. The total number of active registered users in the system is 21,875, while approximately 7,000 users work with the system on an annual basis in various roles, and around 30 HRZZ staff members. However, based on the above, it is necessary to build a new modular system that the Contracting Authority can independently adapt to the type of call, the type of evaluation procedure and the users involved. The system must enable the Contracting Authority to select, from predefined elements, the elements that will be used in a particular call period (e.g. criteria for checking the eligibility of applicants, cards or forms that the user completes, mandatory fields, documentation for upload and so on). Furthermore, a detailed description of the subject of the procurement is contained in the document Technical Specifications, which constitutes Annex I to this Procurement Documentation.