Books and teaching aids for Troms County – RFI

Troms County (hereafter called the Contracting Authority) shall enter into a new framework agreement for books and teaching aids. The procurement is now in a preparatory phase and needs mapping is currently being carried out, as well as examining the possibility that the contracting authority ́s total need for all types of books and teaching aids can be covered through a joint agreement. The contracting authority ́s need primarily includes access to teaching materials, textbooks and concretising materials connected to all disciplines and subjects in sixth form education and the vocational college. Furthermore, the contracting authority would like to be able to use digital books and teaching aids, as a supplement to printed books and teaching aids, as well as books available through NDLA. The contracting authority also sees the need for a contract for other types of printed books than teaching aids, such as entertainment and fiction books. Emphasis is put on the fact that the contracting authority has already entered into a separate framework agreement for e-books and e-audiobooks, and that such products are therefore exempt from this hearing. Question 1: As the first part of the market mapping, the contracting authority would therefore like to know whether there are actors in the market who can offer all types of products as mentioned above, including both printed and digital teaching aids for sixth form college and vocational college, as well as a wide range of fiction and entertainment books. The contracting authority envisages the following alternative options to cover the need: Through a joint framework agreement, by dividing the procurement into two sub-contracts; one for all types of teaching aids (printed and digital) and a separate sub-contract for fiction. By dividing the procurement into three sub-contracts; one for printed teaching aids, one for digital teaching aids and one for fiction. Question 2: We would like further market input on which of these three alternatives are feasible and which is best suited to safeguard the contracting authority ́s needs as described above. How should the hearing be answered? Response deadline Thursday 05 March 2026 (12:00). The hearing will be answered through the communication tab in Mercell. The inputs will be treated confidentially and not visualised for other suppliers. Please note that Troms County does not reimburse any costs for participation in the hearing. Once the hearing deadline has expired, we will carefully review all received inputs and assess what input it might be appropriate to include in the final documents. Emphasis is put on the contracting authority not be obliged to comply with the inputs. Tenderers who respond to this hearing may be contacted afterwards if needed for clarification or further questions. Furthermore, it may be necessary to send a draft of the competition documents for a hearing. We therefore recommend all interested suppliers to provide input for this hearing.