Cross-Border Cyber Hubs

Quel est l’objet de cet appel ?

The call selects consortia of national cyber hubs to jointly procure, with the ECCC, platforms that pool and analyse cyber threat data across several Member States. It covers new consortia as well as the expansion or reinforcement of existing ones.

Que finance cet appel ?

Purpose

This call for expression of interest selects entities in EU Member States and other eligible countries that are ready to deploy and operate cross-border cyber hub platforms. The platforms aim to strengthen capacities to analyse, detect and prevent cyber threats and to produce high-quality cyber threat intelligence by pooling data from public and private sources and sharing state-of-the-art tools in a trusted environment. They should complement existing SOCs, CSIRTs and other relevant actors.

Specific objectives

• Producing high-quality actionable information and CTI with state-of-the-art tools, for example AI including machine learning.
• Contributing to faster detection of and response to threats and incidents.
• Contributing to collective situational awareness through information sharing within each platform, between platforms and with relevant EU entities and networks. Participants in a platform must commit to share operationally relevant information within the consortium, and selected consortia will have to cooperate with ENISA on interoperability.
• Improving the EU's technological sovereignty and providing other services, such as tool sharing, data lakes, cyber outreach and training of analysts.
• Hubs could also deploy solutions to monitor and protect critical submarine infrastructure such as undersea cables.

How the support works

• Selected consortia will take part in a joint procurement with the ECCC to buy the tools, infrastructure and services needed to set up, expand or upgrade the platforms. The number of joint procurements depends on the number of successful applications.
• Separately, the platform must apply for a grant under a separate call for proposals that complements the joint procurement. The grant is awarded if the requirements of that call are met and the application to this call for expression of interest is successful.
• The grant covers costs such as staff and other eligible costs for setting up and operating the platform and its cooperation with other stakeholders, excluding the tools, infrastructure and services bought through joint procurement.
• Hosting and usage agreements are signed by the coordinators of selected consortia (or the hosting consortium, if it is a legal entity) and the ECCC.

Three strands

• Selection of new consortia that will set up and operate cross-border cyber hub platforms; platforms should aim to involve many contributing entities that share data and tools.
• Expansion of existing consortia: additional national cyber hubs may join existing consortia by agreement with the current partners, with an amended consortium agreement.
• Reinforcement of existing consortia: existing consortia can apply for a second phase to increase platform capabilities.
• For existing consortia, if the phase 2 application is successful, the hosting and usage agreement and joint procurement agreement may be amended at the ECCC's request, without affecting the ECCC's ownership of tools already procured.

Quelle est la date limite ?

16 mars 2027 (131 jours)

16 March 2027