The purpose of the call for tender on ‘ESPON Update of Indicators and Maps (2011-2014) – Harmonised Datasets on Local Units (LAU 2)’ is to support the scientific platform and tools under Priority 3 of the ESPON 2013 Programme. This call is aimed at selecting a service provider that will perform the service contract with the purpose of enlarging ESPON's knowledge base on data comparability from different years and sources. A secondary and equally important focus is on expanding the work developed by ESPON 2013 and thereby responding to the increasing demand for EU-wide harmonised analyses.

The objectives of this service contract are as follows: developing guidance to the ESPON research community on the main issues that users have to deal with when collecting and harmonising data at LAU level 2; further expanding the ESPON 2013 Database at LAU level 2 with data for EU28+4 (i.e. EU28 plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein) on thematically-oriented topics on the basis of the 2001 and 2011 population and housing censuses; improving data comparability over time and across data sources at LAU level 2 by applying the methodology developed in the framework of the ESPON 2013 programme and, ultimately, demonstrating the capability of the methodology to be replicated more broadly by the ESPON research community.

The services requested are further explained in the technical and administrative terms and conditions.