Call for expression of interest for the provision of a legal analysis on the necessity and proportionality of extending the Visa Information System (VIS) to include data

Negotiated procedure NO HOME-2017-ISFB-PR-0008

The European Commission, Directorate-General for Migration and Home-Affairs, is planning to launch a procurement procedure for a middle-value contract (not exceeding EUR 135,000) for a duration of three months regarding a legal analysis on the necessity and proportionality of extending the Visa Information System (VIS) to include data on long stay visas and residence documents.

The VIS is a large scale IT system that allows Schengen States to exchange data on short stay visas and carry out visa processing. VIS connects consulates in non-EU countries and all external border crossing points of Schengen States. The system can perform biometric matching, primarily of fingerprints, for identification and verification purposes.

The Final Report of the High-level expert group on information systems and interoperability of May 2017 identified an information gap at EU level concerns the documents — whose issuance falls under the competence of Member States — that allow third-country nationals to stay for a longer period of time in the Schengen area: long-stay visas, residence permits and residence cards. From a border control point of view, Member States have little means to check authenticity of the document in combination with the identity of the holder, or the validity of the documents in the case where they are issued by another Member State. In this respect, the Council Conclusions on June 2017 on the way forward to improve information exchange and ensure the interoperability of EU information systems invited the Commission to undertake a feasibility study for the establishment of a central EU repository containing information on long-stay visas, residence cards and residence permits.

The conclusions of this study finalized in September 2017 indicated that a repository as part of the VIS would provide the most feasible solution from an IT Security, ease of implementation and cost-effectiveness perspective.

The aim of the present legal study would be to analyse, on the basis of the results of the feasibility study mentioned above, the necessity and proportionality and impact on fundamental rights of extending the scope of the VIS to include long stay visas and residence documents for the purpose of border checks and information exchange between migration authorities throughout the EU.

If you are interested in this contract, please send an email, together with the filled-in reply-form, in one of the official languages of the European Union, by no later than 06/10/2017 to the following functional mail box: HOME-TENDERS@ec.europa.eu.