Invitation to tender No 10230
Open procedure
Indexing and legal analysis of European Union documents
SPECIFICATIONS
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Publications Office of the European Union
2010
Invitation to tender No 10 230 — Indexing and legal analysis of European Union documents 49/157
Invitation to tender No 10 230 — Specifications — Contents
Contents
1. Preliminary information concerning the Invitation to Tender 5
1.1. Presentation of the contracting authority 5
1.1.1. Presentation of the Publications Office of the European Union 5
1.2. Nature of the Contract 6
1.2.1. Type of the Contract 6
1.2.2. Temporary exclusion 7
1.2.3. Estimated value of the Contract 7
1.3. Subject and background of the Contract 7
1.4. Starting date of the Contract and duration of the work/Contract 7
1.5. Price 8
1.6. Terms of payment 8
1.7. Financial guarantees 8
1.8. Place of performance 8
1.9. General Conditions for the submission of tenders 9
1.10. Period of validity of the tender 9
1.11. Site visit 9
1.12. Date and place of opening of the tenders 9
2. SUBMISSION OF THE BID AND ITS ASSESSMENT 11
2.1. Assessment of the tender and award of the Contract 11
2.2. Form and content of bids 11
2.3. Structure of the bid 12
2.4. Section One: Administrative details 12
2.5. Section Two: Exclusion criteria 14
2.5.1. Documents relating to the exclusion criteria 14
2.5.2. Grounds for exclusion 14
2.5.3. Administrative and financial penalties 15
2.6. Section Three: Selection criteria 16
2.6.1. Financial and economic capacity of the tenderer 16
2.6.1.1. Documents to be provided concerning financial and economic capacity 16
2.6.1.2. Assessment of financial and economic capacity 16
2.6.2. Technical and professional capacity of the tenderer 17
2.6.2.1. Documents to be provided concerning technical and professional capacity 17
2.6.2.2. Assessment of technical and professional capacity 18
2.7. Section Four: Award criteria – technical bid 18
2.7.1. Documents to be provided with regard to the technical award criteria 18
2.7.2. Evaluation of the technical award criteria 19
2.8. Section Five: Award criteria – Financial bid 19
2.8.1. Documents relating to the award criteria 19
2.8.2. Evaluation of the financial award criteria 21
2.9. Final assessment 21
2.10. Information for tenderers 21
2.11. Award of the Contract 22
3. Joint bids and subcontracting 23
3.1. Tenders submitted in association with other companies 23
3.1.1. Joint bid 23
3.1.2. Subcontracting 23
3.2. Documents to be submitted – Joint bid 24
3.3. Documents to be submitted – Subcontracting 26
3.4. Evaluation of joint bids or bids including subcontracting 27
3.4.1. Exclusion criteria 27
3.4.2. Selection criteria 27
3.4.2.1. Joint bid 27
3.4.2.2. Subcontracting 27
3.4.3. Award criteria 28
4. Technical specifications 29
4.1. Introduction 29
4.1.1. Purpose of the Contract 29
4.1.2. Background 29
4.1.3. Notice and prenotice 30
4.2. Treated documents 30
4.2.1.1. Official Journal of the European Union 31
4.2.1.2. Institution's documents 32
4.2.1.3. European Parliament's collection 32
4.3. Tasks to be performed 33
4.3.1. Types of tasks 33
4.3.2. Routine production – Daily production 34
4.3.2.1. Reception of a prenotice 34
4.3.2.1.1. Metadata of the prenotice 34
4.3.2.1.2. Task "Validation of prenoticee" 35
4.3.2.1.3. Task "title input" 35
4.3.2.1.4. Task "Initialisation of notices (48 hours delivery)" (prenotice creation) 36
4.3.2.2. Indexing 36
4.3.2.2.1. Indexing tools 36
4.3.2.2.2. Indexing methodology 37
4.3.2.2.3. Tasks "Document indexing (1 or2 tools)" and "Document indexing (3 tools)" 37
4.3.2.2.4. Task "Validation of document indexing" 38
4.3.2.2.5. Maintenance and development of the tools 38
4.3.2.3. Content analysis 38
4.3.2.3.1. Metadata of the content analysis 38
4.3.2.3.2. Content analysis method 39
4.3.2.3.3. Task "Content analysis" 39
4.3.2.4. Revision / update of notice (document indexing or content analysis) 39
4.3.2.4.1. On-going and corrective maintenance 40
4.3.2.4.2. Task "Revision / update of notice" 40
4.3.3. Routine production – Backlog production 41
4.3.4. Ad hoc projects 41
4.4. List of deliverables 41
4.5. Production conditions 42
4.5.1. Production deadlines 42
4.5.1.1. Daily production delay 42
4.5.1.2. Backlog production delay 42
4.5.1.3. Ad hoc project delay 42
4.5.1.4. Delay for error correction 42
4.5.1.5. Summary – Liquidated damages 43
4.5.2. Acceptation procedure of the deliverables 43
4.5.2.1. Quantitative acceptation 43
4.5.2.2. Qualitative acceptation 44
4.5.2.2.1. Automatic controls at reception 44
4.5.2.2.2. Manual controls at reception 44
4.5.2.2.3. Manual controls after reception 45
4.5.2.3. Definition of poor quality or defects 45
4.5.3. Coordination and monitoring 45
4.5.3.1. Reporting 45
4.5.3.2. Coordination 46
4.5.3.3. Invoicing 46
4.5.4. Staff profiles 47
4.5.4.1. Production management 47
4.5.4.2. Indexing and legal knowledge 47
4.5.4.3. Language skills 47
4.5.5. Technical infrastructure 47
4.5.5.1. IT-production environment 47
4.5.5.2. Method of transmission 47
4.5.5.3. Formats and standards 48
4.5.5.4. Special IT-developments 48
4.6. Start-up period 48
4.6.1. Purpose and functioning 48
4.6.2. Invoicing of the start-up period 49
4.7. Working methods 49
4.7.1. Routine production services 49
4.7.2. Fixed price services 49
4.8. Changes planned and foreseeable during the term of the Contract 50
5. Annexes 51
5.1. List of annexes 51
5.2. Administrative Annexes 53
1. Financial bid – Price schedule and specimen quotation (to be completed) 54
2A Financial identification form 57
2B Legal entity form 58
2C Agreement /power of attorney 60
2D Guarantee -model 64
3 Form for Identification of the tenderer 65
4 Questionnaire for Joint bids and subcontracting 67
5 List of documents to be provided 69
6 Declaration on the grounds for exclusion 71
7 Technical questionnaire regarding the selection criteria 73
8 Questionnaire regarding the award criteria 77
9A CV-forms 83
9B CV summary 87
5.3. Technical annexes (Publications Office) 88
10 Tasks to be performed by document type 90
11 Number of notices published on EUR-Lex 91
12 EUR-Lex indexing (Database fields) 92
13 EUR-Lex Links – Indexing (Database fields with links) 104
14 Technical specifications – Case studies 1-5 (Examples of creation of notices) 109
15 Technical specifications – Links (Management of juridical links) 119
16 Technical specifications – Revision and queries 123
17 Examples of notices 132
18 Technical specifications – Invoicing control system 133
19 Structure of the production database (PROCAT) 136
20 Modules of communication (Data flow) 141
21 Communication formats (Dtd's) 151
22 Example – file table 152
23 Transaction volet analysis 153
Invitation to tender No 10 230 — Indexing and legal analysis of European Union documents 49/157
Invitation to tender No 10 230 — Specifications — 1. Preliminary information concerning the Invitation to Tender
1. Preliminary information concerning the Invitation to Tender
These Specifications follow the publication of a Contract notice in OJ S (see reference in the invitation letter).
1.1. Presentation of the contracting authority
This invitation to tender has been issued by the Publications Office of the European Union, who will sign the contract and monitor its implementation. But the contract might be used by other European Institutions (like the European Parliament) or Agencies.
Please note also that by virtue of the Treaty of Lisbon, "the Union shall replace and succeed the European Community".
1.1.1. Presentation of the Publications Office of the European Union
The Publications Office of the European Union (2, rue Mercier, L-2985 Luxembourg) (hereinafter referred to as "the Publications Office") is the publishing house of the European institutions in the broad sense, responsible for producing and distributing, on all media and by all means, all the publications of the European Union. The way the Publications Office is organised and operates is laid down by Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom (Official Journal of the European Union, L168, 30.6.2009, p. 41-47). It is managed by a Management Committee in which each Institution is represented by its Secretary-General. The Office is administratively attached to the European Commission. More information can be found on the Publications Office website: http://publications.europa.eu/.
As a publisher, the Publications Office has a duty to offer the highest quality service to its customers – the originating departments of the institutions and other bodies of the European Union – and to its public – the people of the European Union and throughout the world who are interested in European affairs. In the field of new technologies, the Publications Office must place itself in the forefront of the publishing profession.
Under the Treaty of the European Union, the publication of certain titles, such as the Official Journal of the European Union or the General Report on the Activities of the European Union, is a legal obligation.
Useful addresses:
Publications Office website / http://publications.europa.euEU Bookshop: the Union’s online bookshop / http://bookshop.europa.eu
EUROVOC: Multilingual thesaurus / http://eurovoc.europa.eu
CORDIS: Community Research and Development Information Service / http://cordis.europa.eu
EUR-Lex: Portal for accessing EU law / http://eur-lex.europa.eu
EU Whoiswho: Directory of the European Institutions / http://europa.eu/whoiswho/whoiswho.html
TED: Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union / http://ted.europa.eu
SIMAP: Information portal on European public contracts / http://simap.europa.eu
DG MARKT: Site of the Internal Market DG / http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market
Other useful links / http://europa.eu/geninfo/info/index_fr.htm
1.2. Nature of the Contract
1.2.1. Type of the Contract
The Contract is a multiple ”cascade” Framework Service Contract entitled:
Indexing and legal analysis of European Union documents.
As the exact implementing conditions, quantities and/or delivery times cannot be indicated in advance, the Commission intends to conclude a Framework Contract which will establish the basic terms for a series of order forms or specific contracts to be concluded over its duration. Framework Contracts impose no direct obligation on the Commission whatsoever. Only their implementation by way of specific contracts and/or order forms is binding on the Commission.
The Framework Contract shall be concluded in a form of separate but identical contracts with three economical operators at most provided that that there are enough economic operators who satisfy the selection criteria and/or eligible tenders satisfying the award criteria.
After the evaluation of tenders, the successful tenders will be ranked in descending order with a view to establishing the list of contractors and the sequence in which they will be offered work when orders are placed. Unless indicated otherwise (temporary exclusion) when placing an order, the Commission will firstly contact the contractor at the top of the list and, if he is unavailable for reasons which do not involve terminating the contract, the second contractor will be contacted and then, if necessary, and under the same conditions, the third one. For more detailed arrangements, please see Article I.1.4 of the Contract.
The cascade of the Contract is a passive cascade, which means that where the first Contractor on the list is unavailable or temporarily excluded, a start-up period (see point 4.6) of up to two (2) months from the date on which the cascade is activated will be granted to the tenderer who is second on the list and then, if necessary, to the third tenderer on the list, under the same conditions.
1.2.2. Temporary exclusion
The Contractor involved in the production of electronic documents for which (pre)notices are checked or corrected in the frame of this contract, either directly or in other ways, such as through subcontracting or through ownership of another company, will be excluded from the validation and correction tasks of (pre)notices concerning the documents of their own production and/or of the production of the company they are involved with. If the Commission finds grounds for this temporary exclusion, it shall ask the next Contractor on the list to execute the tasks.
The Contractor will ensure that the same obligation is complied with by his staff and other agents and any company associated with him in the performance of this Contract, including any subcontractors.
The Contractor has to inform the Commission immediately of any situation involving or likely to lead to a conflict of interests during the performance of this Contract.
1.2.3. Estimated value of the Contract
The estimate of the Contract is EUR 1600000, over a maximum of four years.
1.3. Subject and background of the Contract
The subject of this invitation to tender is to select up to 3 Contractors (cascading contract) who will produce and deliver electronic metadata by indexing and providing a legal and documentary analysis of legislative, administrative or policy oriented documents from the EU institutions or related bodies.
For further information on the tasks to be performed, tenderers should refer to point 4 “Technical specifications”.
1.4. Starting date of the Contract and duration of the work/Contract
The Contract is foreseen to be signed around April-May 2010. There will be a start-up period of up to three (3) months. The Publication’s Office target date for the beginning of the production is 20th July 2010.
The Contract will run for twelve months from the date of beginning of the production, and may be renewed, in accordance with Article 1.2.5 of the Contract up to a maximum of 4 years.
1.5. Price
· Prices must be all-inclusive and expressed in euros. For tenderers in countries which are not part of the euro zone, the price quoted may not be revised in line with exchange rate movements.
· Prices may only be revised in accordance with Article I.3 of the Contract. Please note that the price revision is conditional to a request which must be submitted at the latest three months before the anniversary date of the entry into force of the Contract. If the request is justified and timely, the revised prices will be applicable from the anniversary of the entry into force of the Contract. Revisions of prices will be calculated to the same number of decimal places as was stipulated in the initial price schedule, and the revised prices are also to have the same number of decimal places (point 2.8.1).
For details of how to submit the financial bid in the price schedule and the specimen quotation, see point 2.8.1.
1.6. Terms of payment
Payments will be made in accordance with Article I.5 of the draft Framework Contract. Invoices will be issued as the services are performed and will be subject to an acceptance sheet for deliveries issued by the Publications Office.
1.7. Financial guarantees
The first Contractor shall be required to provide a guarantee for performance of one hundred thousand euros (EUR 100 000), in compliance with article I.5.3. of the draft Contract within 10 working days from when the Contract is signed by the Publications Office. The other Contractors shall be required to provide a guarantee before they receive an order form or specific Contract. The guarantee has to comply with the model in Annex 2D.