Public
document to be completed by the Contracting Authority
SERVICE
PROCUREMENT NOTICE
ENPI (European Neighborhood
Policy Instrument) South
Mediterranean Environment
Programme
ENPI South
1. Publication reference
EuropeAid/127372/C/SER/Multi
2. Procedure
Restricted
3. Programme
ENPI
4. Financing
Budget line 19.080101 European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument
(ENPI) financial co-operation with Mediterranean countries
5. Contracting Authority
European Community, represented by
the European Commission on behalf of and for the account of the beneficiary
country/countries
CONTRACT SPECIFICATION
6. Nature of contract
Fee-based
7. Contract description
Beneficiary countries
The beneficiary
countries are the ENPI Southern Partner countries and territories, namely:
The Horizon 2020 (H2020)
Initiative[1]
that the present project aims at supporting is developed under the cooperation
framework of the Union for the Mediterranean, which also involves the following
countries:
Overall objective
This main objective of
the project is to support the implementation of H2020 with a special focus on
environmental mainstreaming.
It aims to address the
following problems:
- low political priority given to the environment ;
- insufficient integration of environment in the different sector
policies (agriculture, tourism, transport or energy) and lack of inclusion of the
different actors from local to international level;
- Insufficient capacities and resources at institutional and civil
society level.
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to promote integration of environment issues
in other sectors policies; and to support the implementation of the Horizon
2020 Initiative Road Map through capacity building and awareness raising
activities.
8. Number and titles of lots
N/A
9. Maximum budget
EUR 4.500.000
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
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 consortia (as per item 11 above) may apply. The candidate consortia shall
be composed of at least one National Authority
(Ministry or Agency) relevant to the objectives of the project from an EU
Member State and at least one similar Authority from an ENPI South Partner
country or territory (Algeria,
Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, occupied Palestinian territory, Syria,
and Tunisia). In addition, the Consortia may
include other eligible partners (for example, from the civil society or the
private sector).
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 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 short-listed application forms will be
excluded from this restricted tender procedure. 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
2.3.3 of the Practical Guide
to contract procedures for EC external actions
16. Sub-contracting
Sub-contracting is allowed for up to 30 % of the
contract value.
17. Number of candidates to be short-listed
On
the basis of the applications received, between 4 and 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
April 20th 2009
19. Provisional commencement date of the contract
1st of September 2009
20. Initial period of implementation of tasks and
possible extension of the contract
3 years with a possible
extension.
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 – please adapt the
standard columns in order to indicate the figures for the years 2006, 2007 and
2008)
(a) The average annual turnover (or managed
budget) of the leader of the consortium must have exceeded EUR 1.500.000
in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
2) Professional capacity of the candidate (based on items 4 and 5 of the
application form).
(a) At least 10
permanent staff currently work for the consortium (considered as a whole) in
fields related to the objectives of the contract (as described in 7).
3) Technical capacity of candidate
(based on items 5 and 6 of the application form)
(a) The candidate has played a
central role in at least three international co-operation programs covering the
fields relevant to the objectives of the project in the past 10 years
(from 1999 onwards). The candidate's participation in these programs (i.e. by
one or more of its members) must be significant (i.e. of a proportion of at
least 50%). The contracts implementing these projects should have been signed
at the latest on 1st September 2008.
(b) The candidate has implemented at
least 3 programs related to environmental mainstreaming and/or environment
protection in the Mediterranean region.
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
reexamined to identify the eight best applications for the tender
procedure. The only factor which will be
taken into consideration during this re-examination is the number of
cooperation projects executed in fields related to this contract in the past
five years, i.e. since 2004.
22. Award criteria
Best value for money, to be
assessed according to
the terms of the tender dossier annexed to the letter of invitation to tender
to be sent to short-listed candidates
APPLICATION
23. Deadline for
receipt of applications
03/04/2009,
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 :
European Commission
Europe-Aid Cooperation Office
Finance Contracts and Audit Unit EuropeAid A5
J-54 01/230
B-1049
·
OR hand delivered
(including courier services) directly to the Contracting Authority in return
for a signed and dated receipt to:
European Commission
Service du Courrier Central
Europe-Aid Cooperation Office
Finance Contracts and Audit Unit EuropeAid A5
J- 54 01/230
Avenue du Bourget, 3
B- 1140 Brussels,
N.B. This department is open from 08.00 to 17.00 Monday
to Thursday, and from 08.00 to 16.00 on Friday. It is closed on Saturdays, Sundays
and Commission holidays
The Contract title and the
Publication reference (see item 1 above) must be clearly marked on the envelope
containing the application and must always 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
N/A
29. Date of publication of contract forecast
30/07/2008
30. Legal basis
Regulation
EC n 1638/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24.10.06- ENPI