Service procurement notice
1. Publication reference: EuropeAid/126978/C/SER/AL.
2. Procedure: Restricted.
3. Programme: Cards 2006.
4. Financing: 22.02.02.02 completion of Cards assistance.
5. Contracting authority: European Community, represented by the European
Commission on behalf of, and for the account of, Albania.
Contract specification
6. Nature of contract: Fee-based.
7. Contract description: This contract aims at:
- improving the capacity of the Albanian Institute of Statistics and its
regional offices to produce sustainable and reliable regional data
following NUTS regulations (nomenclature of territorial units for
statistics - EU standards in regional statistics),
- improving regional analytical systems and procedures, in order to:
(i) inform the process of decentralisation;
(ii) enhance the viability of the regional development strategies; and
(iii) move towards compatibility of Albanian regional breakdowns with
those of the EU Member States.
8. Numbers and titles of lots: Not applicable.
9. Maximum budget: EUR 600 000.
10. Scope for additional services: The contracting authority may, at its
own discretion, extend the project in duration and/or scope subject to the
availability of funding, up to a maximum not exceeding the length and
value of the initial contract. Any extension of the contract would be
subject to satisfactory performance by the contractor.
Conditions of participation
11. Eligibility: Participation is open to all legal persons participating
either individually or in a grouping (consortium) of candidates 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 the specific
instruments applicable to the programme under which the contract is
financed (see also item 30 below). Participation is also open to
international organisations. The participation of natural persons is
governed by the specific instruments applicable to the programme under
which the contract is financed.
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.
The participation of an ineligible natural or legal person (as per item
11) 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: No more than one application can be submitted
by a natural or legal person whatever the form of participation (as an
individual legal entity or as leader or member of a consortium submitting
an application). In the event that a natural or legal person submits more
than one application, all applications in which that person has
participated will be excluded.
14. Shortlist alliances prohibited: Any tenders received from tenderers
comprising firms other than those mentioned in the shortlisted application
forms will be excluded from this restricted tender procedure. Shortlisted
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 2.3.3 of the ‘Practical Guide to contract procedures for
EC external actions’.
16. Subcontracting: Subcontracting will not be allowed.
17. Number of candidates to be shortlisted: On the basis of the
applications received, 4-8 candidates 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 4, the contracting
authority may invite the candidates who satisfy the criteria to submit a
tender.
Provisional timetable
18. Provisional date of invitation to tender: 20.4.2009.
19. Provisional commencement date of the contract: 1.8.2009.
20. Initial period of implementation of tasks and possible extension of
the contract: 12 months. Extension of the contract duration will be
accepted as per item number 10.
Selection and award criteria
21. Selection 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):
(a) The average annual turnover of the candidate must exceed EUR 600 000
in each of the last 3 years (2008, 2007, 2006).
(b) The averages of cash and cash equivalents at the beginning and end of
each of the last 3 years must be positive (2008, 2007, 2006).
2) Professional capacity of candidate (based on items 4 and 5 of the
application form):
(a) At least 10 staff currently work for the applicant in fields related
to this contract; and
(b) at least 20 % of all staff currently working for the candidate in
fields related to this contract are permanent.
3) Technical capacity of candidate (based on items 5 and 6 of the
application form):
(a) In the past 5 years the candidate has worked successfully on at least
2 projects, each of them with a budget of at least EUR 500 000 (the
proportion carried out by the candidate will be taken into consideration),
in the fields of statistics.
An economic operator may, where appropriate and for a particular contract,
rely on the capacities of other entities, regardless of the legal nature
of the links which it has with them. It must in that case prove to the
contracting authority that it will have at its disposal the resources
necessary for performance of the contract, for example by producing an
undertaking on the part of those entities to place those resources at its
disposal. Such entities must respect the same rules of eligibility and
notably that of nationality, as the economic operator.
If more than 8 eligible candidates meet the above selection criteria, the
relative strengths and weaknesses of the applications of these candidates
must be re-examined to identify the 8 best applications for the tender
procedure. The only factors which will be taken into consideration during
this re-examination are:
1) The number of projects responding to technical capacity criterion (a)
and subsidiarily (if the number of candidates re-examined is still higher
than 8):
2) The total amount in euro of the projects listed under the comparative
criterion 1) above.
22. Award criteria: Best value for money.
Application
23. Deadline for receipt of applications: 2.4.2009 (16:00), Central
European Time.
Any application received after this deadline will not be considered.
24. Application format and details to be provided: Applications must be
submitted using the standard application form (available from the
following Internet address:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/services/index_en.htm)
, 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:
Delegation of the European Commission to Albania, Contracts, Finance and
Audit Section, Rruga e Durrësit, 127-1, Tirana, Albania,
- or hand delivered (including courier services) directly to the
contracting authority in return for a signed and dated receipt to:
Delegation of the European Commission to Albania, Contracts, Finance and
Audit Section, Rruga e Durrësit, 127-1, Tirana, Albania.
The contract title and the publication reference (see item 1 above) must
be clearly marked on the envelope containing the application and must be
mentioned in all subsequent correspondence with the contracting authority.
Applications submitted by any other means will not be considered.
26. Alteration or withdrawal of applications: Candidates may alter or
withdraw their applications by written notification prior to the deadline
for submission of applications. No application may be altered after this
deadline. Any such notification of alteration or withdrawal shall be
prepared and submitted in accordance with Item 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. Additional information: Not applicable.
29. Date of publication of contract forecast: 17.4.2008.
30. Legal basis: Council Regulation (EC) No 2666/2000 of 5.12.2000 (OJ L
306, 7.12.2000, p. 1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2112/2005 of
21.11.2005 (OJ L 344, 27.12.2005, p. 23).
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