The collaboration among EIPA, the College of Europe, and eXact learning solutions came about during 2011, when the European Commission's Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security (DG HR) issued a tender entitled "(Multiple) Framework contract for provision of staff training and related consultancy services to all the European Union Institutions, bodies and agencies."

The consortium, named "EU Governance Training, Consultancy and eLearning Services", was awarded a contract for Lot 6 of the project - "EU Governance matters". The four-year framework agreement includes the following services:

• consultancy to prepare tailor-made (face-to-face and eLearning) training courses
• delivery of training courses run by a trainer
• consultancy on managing and mentoring blended-learning projects
• provision of a standard "EU Governance matters" face-to-face training catalogue
• provision of a standard "EU Governance matters" eLearning catalogue and its integration within existing LMS platforms by means of innovative LCMS and DR solutions.

The modules will provide learners - who tend to be widely distributed geographically, with different professional profiles and not completely experienced in using PCs and/or eLearning for their training needs - with a clear understanding of the various topics related to EU Governance. In addition, the learning materials have to cater for the individual learning needs of a multilingual audience - and so provide an intuitive multimedia interface as well as pedagogically sound training interactions.

According to EIPA's Lot 6 project leader Edward Best, "We selected eXact learning solutions after a Europe-wide selection process, given the growing demand from our installed base to move towards blended learning and add state-of-the-art eLearning materials to our existing classroom-based courses."