CONTRACT SPECIFICATION

Transcription

1 SERVICE PROCUREMENT NOTICE Contract title: Multiple Framework contract to recruit short-term services in the exclusive interest of third countries benefiting from European Union external aid. Location - Any country 1. Publication reference EuropeAid/132633/C/SER/Multi 2. Procedure Restricted 3. Program All European Union (EU) External Aid Programs. The list of EU External Aid Programs is published as Annex n A2a under the General Annexes to the Practical Guide to Contract Procedures for EU external actions, at Each Program listed in that Annex constitutes an EU External Aid Program, with the exception of the Financing instrument for cooperation with industrialized and other high-income countries and territories (Council Regulation (EC) N 1934/2006). 4. Financing The Framework Contract (FWC) has a 0 (zero) EUR value. Specific Contracts can be financed by all operational budget lines of EU External Aid Programs and European Development Funds. 5. Contracting Authority European Union, represented by the European Commission on behalf of and for the account of the Beneficiary Third Countries of the EU External Aid. 6. Nature of contract CONTRACT SPECIFICATION Multiple Framework Contract with reopened competition at the level of each assignment. The Specific Contracts for an assignment can be either global price or fee-based. 7. Contract description The FWC will provide short-term operational services for the exclusive benefit of Third Countries receiving EU External Aid. Framework Contracts will be concluded with several successful tenderers per Lot, for an initial period of 2 years, with possibility of extension with maximum additional 2 years. The technical domains covered relate to the Lots described under item 8. During the implementation period of the FWC, for each individual assignment, several Framework Contractors within the relevant Lot will be invited to submit an offer. When submitting an offer for a Specific Contract, the Framework Contractor will respect the maximum prices on which basis it won the Framework Contract and which will be published on EuropeAid s internet. The Contracting authority will choose the offer with best value for money for the assignment on the basis of the technical quality of the offer and the price of the services, and will conclude a Specific Contract with that Framework Contractor. Page 1

2 8. Number and titles of lots The FWC consists of 12 Lots. The detailed description of each Lot, divided in a Part A 'Expertise common to all lots' and a Part B 'Technical description', is published with the present procurement notice under reference number at the following address (hereafter referred as "EuropeAid Funding website"): on that website, select first Calls for proposals & Procurement notices, secondly Search by reference, and thirdly fill in the reference number Part A 'Expertise common to all Lots' consists for all Lots (except for Lot 5) of the same 11 Sectors (hereafter referred to as "A-Sectors"). Part B 'Technical description' is different for each Lot and contains Sectors specific to the Lot (hereafter referred to as "B-Sectors"). The number of minimum B-Sectors indicated hereunder refers to the professional and technical selection criteria indicated in item Lot 1: Rural development indicative annual budget: 16 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 8; - Lot 2: Transport and Infrastructures indicative annual budget: 21 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 8; - Lot 3: Telecommunications and Information technologies indicative annual budget: 3 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 8; - Lot 4: Energy and Nuclear safety indicative annual budget: 5 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 7; - Lot 5: Conferences indicative annual budget: 3 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 5; - Lot 6: Environment indicative annual budget: 7 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 10; - Lot 7: Governance and Home Affairs indicative annual budget: 19 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 13; - Lot 8: Health indicative annual budget: 6 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 12; - Lot 9: Culture, Education, Employment and Social indicative annual budget: 12 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 18; - Lot 10: Trade, Standards and Private sector indicative annual budget: 24 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 22; - Lot 11: Macro economy, Statistics and Public finance management indicative annual budget: 19 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 10; - Lot 12: Humanitarian Aid, Crisis Management and Post-Crisis assistance indicative annual budget: 3 MEUR minimum number of B-Sectors: 14; 9. Maximum budget The Framework contract will be concluded at 0 (zero) Euro. An indicative annual budget is given for each Lot in item 8 above. Page 2

3 10. Scope for additional services The multiple Framework contract will be concluded for an initial period of 2 years, with possibility of extension with maximum additional 2 years. 11. Eligibility - FWC tender: CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION For non-leading members in a grouping (consortium) of candidates, participation in the FWC tender is open to all natural and legal persons, which are established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country or territory of the regions covered and/or authorised by one of any EU External Aid Programs. Participation is also open to International Organisations. For lead firms in a grouping (consortium) of candidates or candidates participating individually, participation in the FWC tender is open to natural or legal persons which are established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country eligible for all EU External Aid Programs. Participation is also open to International Organisations. - Specific Contract: For each Specific Contract, the eligibility in terms of nationality will be governed by the specific EU External Aid Program under which the Specific Contract will be financed. In case a consortium member will not be eligible for the Program, this member will not be eligible to participate for that particular assignment. 12. Candidature All eligible natural and legal persons (as per item 11 above) or groupings of such persons (consortia) may apply. A consortium may be a permanent, legally-established grouping or a grouping which has been constituted informally for a specific tender procedure. All members of a consortium (i.e., the leader and all other members) are jointly and severally liable to the Contracting Authority. A member, including the leader, must be in itself a natural or legal person. The participation of an ineligible natural or legal person will result in the automatic exclusion of that person. In particular, if that ineligible person belongs to a consortium, the whole consortium will be excluded. 13. Number of applications Within one lot: No more than 1 application per Lot can be submitted by a natural or legal person whatever the form of participation (as an individual applicant or as leader or member of a consortium submitting an application). A legal group can not be represented within one Lot in more than one application. A natural or legal person member of a legal group (for example an EEIG), can not participate individually in an application and through the legal group in a second application for the same Lot. In the event that a natural or legal person submits more than one application per Lot, all applications in which that person has participated will be excluded. For all Lots: The candidates may submit applications for 4 Lots maximum either as an individual applicant or as leader of a consortium submitting an application. There is no limit of applications as member of a consortium. Page 3

4 14. Shortlist alliances prohibited Any tenders received from tenderers having a different composition than the ones on the application forms will be excluded from this restricted tender procedure, unless prior approval from the Contracting Authority has been obtained (see Practical Guide to contract procedures for EU external actions, point 2.4.3, at Short-listed candidates may not form alliances or subcontract to each other for the contract in question. 15. Grounds for exclusion As part of the application form, candidates must submit a signed declaration, included in the standard application form, to the effect that they are not in any of the exclusion situations listed in Section of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EU external actions. 16. Sub-contracting Sub-contracting of the management services to be provided at the level of the Framework Contract, is not allowed. Subcontracting is allowed for the short-term technical assistance to be mobilised at the level of the Specific Contracts, provided prior approval is obtained from the contracting authority. 17. Number of candidates to be short-listed 8 to 14 candidates for the lots 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 12 and 12 to 18 candidates for the lots 1, 2, 7, 9, 10 and 11 will be invited to submit detailed tenders for this contract. If the number of eligible candidates meeting the selection criteria is less than the minimum of 8 or 12 respectively, the Contracting Authority may invite the candidates who satisfy the criteria to submit a tender. 18. Provisional date of invitation to tender December 2012 PROVISIONAL TIMETABLE 19. Provisional commencement date of the contract August Initial period of implementation of tasks, and possible extension August 2013 to August 2015, with possible extension up to August Selection criteria SELECTION AND AWARD CRITERIA The following selection criteria will be applied to candidates. In the case of applications submitted by a consortium, these selection criteria will be applied to the consortium as a whole: 1) Economic and financial capacity of candidate (based on item 3 of the Application form) The candidate's average annual turnover for the last three years must exceed the indicative annual budget of the Lot, indicated in point 8. Page 4

5 2) Professional capacity of candidate (based on item 4 of the Application form and its Annex 1) The candidate must employ at the date of the application minimum 24 (for Lot 5: 5) permanent experts who cover at least the minimum number of B-Sectors of the Lot, indicated in point 8. 3) Technical capacity of candidate (based on item 6 of the Application form and its Annex 3) The candidate must have implemented minimum 24 reference projects which together cover at least: - 8 A-sectors (for Lot 5: this criterion is not applicable), and - the minimum number of B-Sectors of the Lot, indicated in point 8, and - minimum 1 reference project per B-heading, if Part B 'Technical description' of the Lot contains headings (ie Lots 3, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11), and - minimum 2 reference projects per geographical zone (based on item b of the Application form s Annex 3): a) Neighbourhood countries b) Latin-American and Caribbean countries c) Asian and Pacific countries d) sub-saharan African countries - e) Pre-accession countries, and Reference projects must fulfil the following conditions: - be finalized within 3 years before the final date for submission of the applications; and - be carried out in the interest of a Beneficiary Country of an EU External Aid Program (cf. point 3), and - be minimum for 30% of the overall contract value carried out by the candidate itself (based on item e of the Application form s Annex 3). For the definition of the geographical zones: a) Neighbourhood countries: see Annex to Regulation No 1638/2006; b) Latin-American countries: see Annex I to Regulation No 1905/2006 Caribbean countries: see the non-eu signatories to the Cotonou Agreement and Annex IA to Decision No 2001/822; c) Asian countries: see Annex I to Regulation 1905/2006 Pacific countries: see the non-eu signatories to the Cotonou Agreement and Annex IA to Decision No 2001/822; d) sub-saharan African countries: see the non-eu signatories to the Cotonou Agreement; e) Pre-accession countries: see Annex I to Regulation No 1085/2006; These EU External Aid Programs can be found at the website indicated at point 3 above. 4) Additional selection criteria If more than the maximum number of eligible candidates as fixed in item 17 meets the above selection criteria, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the applications of these candidates must be re-examined to identify the foreseen maximum number of best applications for the tender procedure. The additional criterion which will be taken into consideration during this re-examination is: - the highest average amount carried out by the candidate in the accepted reference projects (based on item e of the Application form s Annex 3). 22. Award criteria Best value for money on the basis of the award criteria specified in the tender dossier which will be sent to short-listed candidates. APPLICATION 23. Deadline for receipt of applications 16:00 Central European Time on Friday 31 August Any application received after this deadline will not be considered. Page 5

6 24. Application format and details to be provided Applications must be submitted using the Application form and its Annexes, published under reference number on the EuropeAid Funding website (see point 8), whose format and instructions must be strictly observed. Any additional documentation (brochure, letter, etc) sent with an application will not be taken into consideration. 25. How applications may be submitted Applications must be submitted in English exclusively to the Contracting Authority: EITHER by recorded delivery (official postal service) to : European Commission EuropeAid - Unit R8 Carla Osorio L-41 03/30 Avenue du Bourget 1 B Bruxelles OR hand delivered (including courier services) directly to the Contracting Authority in return for a signed and dated receipt to: European Commission EuropeAid - Unit R8 Carla Osorio L-41 03/30 Avenue du Bourget 1 B-1049 Bruxelles In case of hand delivery, please note that the Commission's central mail department is open from (8:00) to (17:00) from Monday to Thursday and from (8:00) to (16:00) on Friday; it is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Commission holidays. The Publication reference (EuropeAid/132633/C/SER/Multi), Contract title and Lot number must be clearly marked on the envelope containing the application and must always be mentioned in all subsequent correspondence with the Contracting Authority. The indication "NOT TO BE OPENED BEFORE THE OPENING SESSION" must also be indicated on the envelope. Applications submitted by any other means will not be considered. In case a candidate applies for more than 1 Lot, separate envelopes are to be submitted per Lot. 26. Alteration or withdrawal of applications Candidates may alter or withdraw their applications by written notification prior to the deadline for submission of tenders. No application may be altered after this deadline. Any such notification of alteration or withdrawal shall be prepared and submitted in accordance with Clause 25. The outer envelope (and the relevant inner envelope if used) must be marked 'Alteration' or 'Withdrawal' as appropriate. 27. Operational language All written communications for this tender procedure and contract must be in English. 28. Date of publication of contract forecast notice Date: 06/03/2012 Page 6

7 Notice number in OJ: S45 ref EN 29. Legal basis A Specific Contract for an individual assignment will use the legal basis of the EU external aid Programme financing the related assignment. The FWC tender is governed by Part II, Title IV, of the Financial Regulation No 1605/ Additional information Candidates may submit questions only in writing up to Friday 6 July 2012 at 13:00 Central European Time, specifying in the subject of their , the Publication reference (EuropeAid/132633/C/SER/Multi), the Contract title and the Lot number to the following EuropeAid-R8-call-for-tenders@ec.europa.eu No further clarifications will be given to questions received after this date. Each question must start with an indication of the paragraph of the procurement notice documents to which the question relates. Clarifications, together with the questions received, will be published at the latest on Friday 3 August 2012 under the reference number "132633" at the following address: No further clarifications will be given after this date. 31. Date of dispatch of this notice Date: Page 7