Ethics council of Norwegian government fund tenders ESG data and screening

The Council on Ethics for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund has tendered a four-year, NOK4m (€492,733) environmental, social and governance (ESG) company monitoring and screening contract.
The council, an independent body which decides on the exclusion or observation of companies from the NOK4.7trn fund’s investment universe, is seeking access to a database of companies’ ESG performance, the identification of companies at risk of breaching guidelines, and screening of companies.
The contract is divided into lots. The first covers the database and company monitoring. The database will be used to gather preliminary information on companies which may be involved in serious or systematic human rights violations, severe environmental damage, gross corruption and other violations of fundamental ethical norms. There is an emphasis on third-party criticism.The Council will also use the database to produce internal watch-lists in order to identify companies for in-depth study. The database should include information from sources in at least English, Spanish, French, Chinese and Russian and there should be a substantial overlap with the indexes employed by the fund.

Lot two refers to screening: continuous monitoring of 9,000 companies in the fund’s universe relating to weapons that violate fundamental humanitarian principles, tobacco involvement or the export of arms to certain states (e.g. Myanmar/Burma).

Applicants are encouraged to apply for all three services collectively, although applications for screening services (exclusively) or database and identification (together) will also be accepted.

The deadline for receipt of tenders or requests to participate is November 13. The contract will go to “the most economically advantageous tender” in terms of the criteria stated. Link