ARTE is a European cultural TV Channel that broadcasts programmes 24 hours a day across all media in France, Germany and Europe, always in at least French and German.
ARTE is made up of three entities - the head office based in Strasbourg (named ARTE GEIE), and the two structures responsible for producing and designing the programmes (ARTE France based in Paris and ARTE Deutschland based in Baden-Baden).
This procedure focuses on the web hosting for ARTE websites.
As a brief overview, ARTE websites can currently be considered as a set made up of the following applications:
â the main ARTE website, www.arte.tv, including the television catch-up service (replay) on a NodeJS server,
â API to structure content delivery on the various platforms in PHP/Symfony, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch,
â a Wordpress Site Factory,
â a Drupal Site Factory,
â a store and VOD platform as well as professional websites on Java/Tomcat/MySQL.
ARTE is a European cultural TV Channel that broadcasts programmes 24 hours a day across all media in France, Germany and Europe, always in at least French and German.
ARTE is made up of three entities - the head office based in Strasbourg (named ARTE GEIE), and the two structures responsible for producing and designing the programmes (ARTE France based in Paris and ARTE Deutschland based in Baden-Baden).
This procedure focuses on the web hosting for ARTE websites.
As a brief overview, ARTE websites can currently be considered as a set made up of the following applications:
â the main ARTE website, www.arte.tv, including the television catch-up service (replay) on a NodeJS server,
â API to structure content delivery on the various platforms in PHP/Symfony, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch,
â a Wordpress Site Factory,
â a Drupal Site Factory,
â a store and VOD platform as well as professional websites on Java/Tomcat/MySQL.
Currently, ARTEâs Internet content is watched primarily on the web (50 %), but ARTE is experiencing strong growth in traffic through mobile technology apps (smartphone and tablet) (35 %), smart TVs and other OTT apps. As a whole, 85 % of visitors to its websites are French or German and 12 % come from the rest of Europe. ARTE intends to broaden its audience following the successful launch of its programmes in English, Spanish, Italian and Polish.
Up to 200 ARTE contributors upload content to the various systems. Around 10 different teams, from both within ARTE and externally, undertake the technical projects for the range of platforms under the supervision of ARTE GEIE, ARTE France or ARTE Deutschland.
This represents over 100 production and pre-production servers, 95th percentile bandwidth of around 500 Mb/s and over 70 million requests per day.
Websites operate mainly using open source software bricks based on Linux CentOS.
The chosen operator must be able to manage the website hosting within the agreed constraints relating to security, responsiveness and scalability required of media sites.
They must provide ARTE with:
â Well-defined PaaS (Platform as a Service) systems that offer the simple web hosting capabilities of LAMP or similar technology (NodeJS, Go, Python, etc.).
â Managed IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) systems that can also be used as a set of basic PaaS to host complex projects.
The contractor will approve and provide the basic components of the application (Operating System and runtime software bricks) and will oversee, maintain and ensure the technical maintenance and proper functioning of the website within the limits of the application codes supplied by ARTE.
â Unmanaged IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) systems that can host complex projects.
The web host will supervise the systems and the proper functioning of part of the infrastructure.
ARTE wishes to benefit from support and guidance in open source technology and âDevOPSâ methods that will help scale up the online deployment of its various projects.
Currently, the infrastructure is built using âAnsibleâ technology. In an initial phase, ARTE would like to migrate its infrastructure and systems in their current state.
At a later date, ARTE would like to go further and redefine its architecture with Docker containers and manage the orchestration (TBC: Terraform, Kubernetes, Swarm, Consul, ...) in order to achieve greater flexibility in its development approval processes and operation in production.
Finally, ARTE is also seeking to replace part of its infrastructure with SaaS solutions provided by the web host. The chosen contractor must be able to support ARTE in carrying out these projects and come up with suggestions and solutions.
ARTE would like to be able to access the various tools that will enable them to regularly track performance and monitor the different components in production.
This procedure does not concern the distribution of videos, which is handled by a CDN (Content Delivery Network) in parallel to the website hosting.
The solution must comply with GDPR requirements (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679&from=EN) and adhere to the clauses in ARTEâs âConfidentiality and Security Agreementâ, available in the tender documents.
In this respect, all personal data collected will be stored on servers exclusively located within the European Union.
The European Single Procurement Document (ESPD), bidders are invited to use the dedicated service at the following address: https://ec.europa.eu/tools/espd The document to be uploaded on this website is the pre-completed .xml file attached to the tender documents. The completed ESPD has to be attached to the candidates application in .xml and .pdf format.
OR (in the event that the bidder does not use the EPSD):
(a) a letter of application (the form made available by ARTE GEIE may be used, please note that this document is only available in French and German);
(b) a declaration by the bidder (the form made available by ARTE GEIE may be used, please note that this document is only available in French and German), accompanied by the following documents:
â an extract from the commercial and companies registry,
â if the bidder is in administration, a copy of the judgment or judgments to that effect.
1) certificate of insurance covering the bidderâs civil professional liability;
2) an indication of workforce and turnover excluding VAT in the last three years together with the proportion corresponding to the services the subject of the contract.
Technical capabilities
The bidder must provide the following information:
â An Internet service provider Autonomous System Number,
â A macro description of the network (exchange points, bandwidth, etc.),
â The number of servers hosted,
â IP address ranges (IPv4 and IPv6).
If a bidder submits a bid as part of a consortium or as a contract to be outsourced, details of the technical capabilities of their partner(s) must be given.
References
The bidder must provide:
â A maximum of five references similar to the present tender that are either ongoing or have been completed within the last 3 years.
The references must demonstrate the bidderâs experience in web hosting of, in particular, high-traffic websites in ARTEâs circulation zone (France, Germany, French- and German-speaking Europe, Europe).
The list of references must include:
â The name of the client (with his area of activity, and the name and telephone number of a main contact),
â The type of service,
â The Period of completion of the reference (ongoing or completed within the last 3 years),
â A description of the uploaded components (website address, screenshots, etc.),
â The service volume capacity (number of servers, bandwidth, number of pages viewed per month)
â The technical setup (operating systems, programming languages, database management system â DBMS and content management system â CMS),
â The list of software and technical systems used,
â Service quality (SLA).
The bidder will complete the reference presentation document provided on ARTE GEIE buyer profile (see article I.3).
If the references mentioned were projects carried out as part of a consortium or contracts that were outsourced, the following information should also be included:
â The name of the partner,
â The type of service,
â The interoperable services provided by the bidder.
âApplications must be delivered electronically using ARTE GEIEâs purchasing...â
Applications must be delivered electronically using ARTE GEIEâs purchasing profile:
http://www.arte.tv/sites/corporate/particuliers-professionnels/#appels-doffres
With regard to the practical details of transmitting applications electronically, bidders must comply with the following provisions and with the document entitled âHow to file a response on marches-securises.frâ (available in French and German) attached to this document.
Candidates are strongly advised to read all the provisions of this Article before responding in electronic format.
Documents must be transmitted electronically exclusively using ARTE GEIEâs purchasing profile.
In order to ensure proper use of the electronic platform, bidders are invited to check that they possess the requisite techniques upon reading the tender documents and well in advance of the deadline for the delivery of applications. Use of the latest versions of the Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome browsers, and of a recent version of Java, is recommended.
IMPORTANT NOTES: Any file whose upload completes after the deadline (time and date) set out above will be regarded as irregular.
In the event that, after filing its application and its bid for the first time, the bidder finds that its documents are incomplete or that it wishes to partially replace them, ALL the documents must be filed again (and not just those items that the bidder wishes to add or replace). The last upload within the allotted time will replace the previous one and will be the only one that the contracting authority may take into account.
In the event of technical difficulties when using the platform, bidders can contact the following number: +33 4 92 90 93 27.
Document formats:
Electronic bids must not include any compressed files.
It is not authorised to send documents using physical electronic media, with the exception of backup copies.
Bidders who have delivered an electronic bid and who are awarded the contract will be informed that their contract must be prepared in physical form and that paper documents must be signed personally.
Bidders are asked to use the formats .docx,.xlsx and .pdf, and not to use certain formats or tools such as in particular .exe, such as macros.
The bidderâs electronic bid must include the Excel file corresponding to the financial schedule attached as a schedule to the binding commitment.
Backup copy:
A backup copy may be sent in the manner outlined in the Order of 14.12.2009 relating to the dematerialisation of public procurement procedures.
The backup copy may be sent on a physical electronic medium (USB stick).
This copy shall be sent in a sealed envelope to the address appearing above, within the deadline for the receipt of bids, and must include the following indications:
â âBackup copyâ,
â The name of the tender procedure,
â The name and company name of the bidder.
In accordance with the aforementioned Order, the backup copy may be opened:
â when a computer virus is detected in the documents relating to the bid transmitted by electronic means, or
â when the documents relating to the bid have been transmitted and have not arrived within the deadline laid down for the filing of bids, or could not be opened.
The backup copy will only be taken into account if it arrives within the deadline laid down for the filing of bids.
Appeals may be lodged on the basis:
â of Article 2 Order No. 2009-515 (7.5.2009), relating to appeal procedures applicable to public procurement contracts, before the conclusion of the contract (urgent pre-contractual application),
â or of Article 11 of that Order (urgent contractual application), no later than the 31st day following publication of the notice of award of the contract, or, in the absence of publication of such a notice, until the expiry of 6 months period counting from the day after the date of notification of the contract.