Version of December 2019  Ref. Ares(2020)1539166 - 12/03/2020 EXECUTIVE AGENCIES  INNOVATION AND NETWORKS EXECUTIVE AGENCY  INEA - Innovation and Networks Executive Agency  INEA.H.H01 - Energy research Brussels, 06/03/2020 Dear Madam/Sir,  The Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (referred to below as  the contracting  authority ) is planning to award the contract(s) resulting from the above procurement  procedure. The procurement documents consist of the contract notice, this invitation letter, the  draft contract(s) and tender specifications with their respective annexes. All documents are  available at the following TED e-Tendering website$^{1}$: https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-display.html?cftId=6154 Economic operators interested in this contract are invited to submit a tender in one of the  official languages of the European Union. Tenders must be submitted exclusively via the electronic submission system (e-Submission)  available from the above website$^{2}$ and accessible on the Funding and Tenders Opportunities  portal (F&T portal)$^{3}$. Tenders submitted in any other way (e.g. e-mail or by letter) will be  disregarded.  In order to submit a tender using e-Submission, economic operators (each member of the  group in the case of a joint tender) will need to register in the European Commission's Participant Register - an online register of organisations participating in EU calls for tenders  or proposals. On registering each organisation obtains a Participant Identification Code (PIC,  9-digit number) which acts as its unique identifier in the above register. Instructions on how  to create a PIC can be found on this page. Economic operators already registered in the  Participant Register shall reuse their existing PICs when preparing tenders in e-Submission.  1. Submission of tenders.  $^{1}$ Subscription to the call for tenders at the above link allows interested economic operators to receive e-mail  notifications when new information or documents are published. Subscription is free of charge and does not  involve any commitment to submit a tender. $^{2}$ For detailed instructions on how to submit a tender please consult the e-Submission Quick Guide available at:  https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/digit/opsys/esubmission/assets/documents/manual/quickGuide_en.pdf.  The supported browsers file types, size of attachments and other system requirements can be consulted at:  https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/wikis/x/f6dqEg. In case of technical problems, please contact the e- Submission Helpdesk (see contact details in the e-Submission Quick Guide) as soon as possible.  $^{3}$ https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/home  Subject: Support to R&I strategy and feedback to policy in the field of smart energy  systems  INEA/2020/OP/0004 