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Call key data

National Security Operations Centers (SOCs)

Funding Program

Digital Europe

Call number

DIGITAL-ECCC-2024-DEPLOY-CYBER-07-SOC

deadlines

Opening
04.07.2024

Deadline
21.01.2025 17:00

Funding rate

50%

Call budget

€ 5,800,000.00

Estimated EU contribution per project

between € 1,000,000.00 and € 2,000,000.00

Link to the call

ec.europa.eu

Link to the submission

ec.europa.eu

Call content

short description

The objective is to create or strengthen National SOCs, in particular with state-of-the art tools for monitoring, understanding and proactively managing cyber events, in close collaboration with relevant entities such as CSIRTs. They will also, where possible, benefit from information and feeds from other SOCs in their countries and use the aggregated data and analysis to deliver early warnings to targeted critical infrastructures on a need-to-know basis.

Call objectives

National SOCs are public entities given the role at national level to act as clearinghouses for detecting, gathering and storing data on cybersecurity threats, analysing this data, and sharing and reporting Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI), reviews and analyses. They provide a central operational capacity and support other SOCs at national level (e.g., by offering guidance or training, making available data or analysis of this data, coordinating joint detection and monitoring actions). They will play a central role at national level and can act as a hub within a context of SOCs in the different countries. 

The aim is capacity building for new or existing National SOCs, e.g., equipment, tools, data feeds, as well as costs related to data analysis, interconnection with Cross-Border SOC platforms, etc. This can include for example automation, analysis and correlation tools and data feeds covering Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) at various levels ranging from field data to Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) data to higher level CTI. National SOCs should also leverage state of the art technology such as artificial intelligence and dynamic learning of the threat landscape and context. 

This also includes the use of shared cybersecurity information, to the extent possible based on existing taxonomies and/or ontologies, and hardware to ensure the secure exchange and storage of information. The operations should be built upon live network data. Where relevant, consideration should be given to SMEs as the ultimate recipients of cybersecurity operational information. 

A key element is the translation of advanced AI/ML, data analytics and other relevant cybersecurity tools from research results to operational tools, and further testing and validating them in real conditions in combination with access to supercomputing facilities (e.g., to boost the correlation and detection features of cross-border platforms). 

Another key role for National SOCs is knowledge transfer, such as training of cybersecurity analysts. For example, SOCs dealing with critical infrastructures play a key role and should benefit from the knowledge and experience acquired by or concentrated in National SOCs. 

National SOCs must share information with other stakeholders in a mutually beneficial exchange of information and commit to apply to participate in a cross-border SOC platform within the next 2 years, with a view to exchanging information with other National SOCs. 

To achieve this aim, a call for expression of interest will be launched to select entities in Member States that provide the necessary facilities to host and operate National SOCs. Applicants to the call for expressions of interest should describe the aims and objectives of the National SOC, describe its role and how such role relates to other cybersecurity actors, and its eventual cooperation with other public or private cybersecurity stakeholders. Applicants should also provide the detailed planning of the activities and tasks of the National SOC, the services it will offer, the way they will operate and be operationalised, and describe the duration of the activity as well as the main milestones and deliverables. They should also specify what equipment, tools and services need to be procured and integrated to build up the National SOC, its services and its infrastructure. 

To support the above activities of a National SOC, the following two workstreams of activities are foreseen: 

  • [Procurement] A Joint Procurement Action with the Member State where the national SOC is located: this will cover the procurement of the main equipment, tools and services needed to build up the National SOC
  • [Building up and running the National SOC] A grant will also be available to cover, among others, the preparatory activities for setting up the National SOC, its interaction and cooperation with other stakeholders, as well as the running/operating costs involved, enabling the effective operation of the National SOC, e.g., using the equipment, tools and services purchased through the joint procurement. These will also indicate milestones and deliverables to monitor progress. 

Applications shall be made to both workstreams. Applications will be object of evaluations procedures. Grants will only be awarded to applicants that have succeeded the evaluation of the joint procurement action. 

These actions aim at creating or strengthening national SOCs, which occupy a central role in ensuring the (cyber-)security of national authorities, providers of critical infrastructures and essential services. 

SOCs are tasked with monitoring, understanding and proactively managing cybersecurity threats. In light of the crucial operative role of SOCs for ensuring cybersecurity in the Union, the nature of the technologies involved as well as the sensitivity of the information handled, SOCs must be protected against possible dependencies and vulnerabilities in cybersecurity to pre-empt foreign influence and control. As previously noted, participation of non-EU entities entails the risk of highly sensitive information about security infrastructure, risks and incidents being subject to legislation or pressure that obliges those non-EU entities to disclose this information to non-EU governments, with an unpredictable security risk. Therefore, based on the outlined security reasons, the actions relating to SOCs are subject to Article 12(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/694, in consistency with WP 2021/2022.

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Expected results

  • World-class National SOCs across the Union, strengthened with state-of-the-art technology, acting as clearinghouses for detecting, gathering and storing data on cybersecurity threats, analysing this data, and sharing and reporting CTI, reviews and analyses.
  • Threat intelligence and situational awareness capabilities and capacity building supporting strengthened collaboration between cybersecurity actors, including private and public actors.

Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Iceland (Ísland), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Liechtenstein, Montenegro (Црна Гора), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна)

eligible entities

Education and training institution, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Mandatory partnership

No

Project Partnership

Only entities designated at Member State level as National SOCs are allowed to apply for funding and the project should be mono-beneficiary.

The target stakeholders under a) and b) above are public bodies acting as National SOCs linked to a “call for expression of interest to deploy and operate National SOC platforms to improve the detection of cybersecurity threats and share cybersecurity data in the EU”. Actions under Proposals for grants shall complement submission for the successful applicants to this call for expression of interest.

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be:

  • legal entities (public or private bodies)
  • established in one of the eligible countries:
    • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
    • listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Digital Europe Programme (list of participating countries)

Specific cases:

Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self-employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person).

International organisations — International organisations are not eligible, unless they are International organisations of European Interest within the meaning of Article 2 of the Digital Europe Regulation (i.e. international organisations the majority of whose members are Member States or whose headquarters are in a Member State).

EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.

Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.

Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’.

other eligibility criteria

Please be aware that all topics of this call are subject to restrictions due to security, therefore entities must not be directly or indirectly controlled from a country that is not an eligible country. 

All entities will have to fill in and submit a declaration on ownership and control. 

Moreover: 

  • participation in any capacity (as beneficiary, affiliated entity, associated partner, subcontractor or recipient of financial support to third parties) is limited to entities established in and controlled from eligible countries
  • project activities (included subcontracted work) must take place in eligible countries (see section geographic location below and section 10)
  • the Grant Agreement may provide for IPR restrictions (see section 10). 

Finally, for the topics DIGITAL-ECCC-2024-DEPLOY-CYBER-07-SOC and DIGITAL ECCC-2024-DEPLOY-CYBER-07-SOCPLAT grants will only be awarded to applicants that have succeeded the evaluation of the joint procurement action. 

Financial Support to Third Parties is not allowed.

Additional information

Topics

Digitalisation, Digital Society, ICT, 
Justice, Safety & Security

Relevance for EU Macro-Region

EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region

UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

project duration

36 months

Additional Information

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System (accessible via the Topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section. Paper submissions are NOT possible.

Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents:

  • Application Form Part A — contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)
  • Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project (to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded)
  • Mandatory annexes and supporting documents (to be uploaded):
    • detailed budget table/calculator:

      Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System (accessible via the Topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section. Paper submissions are NOT possible.

      Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents:

    • Application Form Part A — contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)
    • Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project (to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded)
    • Mandatory annexes and supporting documents (to be uploaded):
      • detailed budget table/calculator: not applicable
      • CVs of core project team: not applicable
      • activity reports of last year: not applicable
      • list of previous projetcts: not applicable
      • ownership control declarations (including for associated partners and subcontractors): applicable
      • Other annex: for Topic DIGITAL-ECCC-2024-DEPLOY-CYBER-07-SOC the appointment decision from the Member State designating the entity to act as National SOC: applicable

Proposals are limited to maximum 70 pages (Part B).

Call documents

Cal document DIGITAL-ECCC-2024-DEPLOY-CYBER-07Cal document DIGITAL-ECCC-2024-DEPLOY-CYBER-07(665kB)

Contact

European Commission, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
Website

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