November 2017

Annex A

Market analysis for Marine Operations products and services development

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Annex A

Title of project: / Market analysis for Marine Operations products and services development
Date and time for return of tenders: / Wednesday, 6th December 2017 @ 0900 Hours
Contract Reference No: / C17-0240-1169
Address for tender submission: / 1 electronic copy to be sent to
PLEASE DO NOT SEND TENDERS DIRECTLY TOBETH FLAVELL, MARK LEWIS,DORA IANTOSCA OR GORDON GREEN VIA THEIR PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESSES, AS THIS WILL INVALIDATE YOUR TENDER
Tender responses must be less than 10 MB in size.
On receipt of your tender, you will receive an automated e-mail to confirm receipt by JNCC Support Co. If you do not receive this automated email, please contact, in the following order:
Sue Wenlock (00 44 1733 866880)
Chris Downes (00 44 1733 866877)
Contacts for technical information relating to this project specification: / Beth Flavell
Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Email:
Tel: 01733 866952
OR
Mark Lewis
Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Email:
Tel: 01224 266578
Contact for any queries regarding the tendering procedure: / Dora Iantosca or Gordon Green
Finance Team
Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Email:
Tel: 01733 866894 or 01733 866806
Proposed start-date: / 15 January 2018
Proposed end-date: / 16 March 2018

Market analysis for Marine Operations products and services development

Contents

1.Joint Nature Conservation Committee

2.Project Aims

3.Project Background

4.Project Objectives

5.Project Tasks

6.Outputs

7.Dissemination

8.Timescale

9.Health and safety

10.Product specification

11.Project management

12.Instructions for tender submission

13.Evaluation Criteria

14.Payment

15.Additional Contractor requirements

1.Joint Nature Conservation Committee

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is the statutory adviser tothe UK Government and devolved administrations on UKand international nature conservation. Its work contributes to maintaining and enriching biological diversity, conserving geological features and sustaining natural systems.

Our role is to provide evidence, information and advice so that decisions are made that protect natural resources and systems. Our specific role is to work on nature conservation issues that affect the UK as a whole and internationally:

  • advising Government on the development and implementation of policies for, or affecting, nature conservation in the UK and internationally;
  • providing advice and disseminate knowledge on nature conservation issues affecting the UK and internationally;
  • establishing common standards throughout the UK for nature conservation, including monitoring, research, and the analysis of results; and
  • commissioning or supporting research which it deems relevant to these functions.

Background to JNCC can be found on the JNCC website:

2.Project Aims

The Marine Operations Directorate of JNCC is looking to develop its products and services linked to its skills resource and the strategic aims of the organisation (JNCC Strategy 2017-2020).

The aim of the project is to undertake an analysis of market opportunitiesto inform action planning for high-level income generation priorities that the Directorate has already identified.It will identify customer demand for products and services, market rates, likely partners and competitors, priority customer contacts, and help us better define the products and services we can market.

3.Project Background

JNCC recognises that the skills and experience of its staff have application beyond its statutory functions, and already works with partners in the UK and around the world to support nature conservation and sustainable resource management ambitions.

We seek to diversify our funding and increase income from non-government source to maximise the usefulness and impact of JNCC as a centre of scientific and technical expertise, to establish a sustainable financial footing, and to ensure a resilient and flexible workforce,

We aim to optimise the use of JNCC’s evidence and expertise, providing services to, and partnering with, a wide range of organisations in both the private and public sectors in the UK and overseas on a commercial basis.

The Marine Operations Directorate has three major functions:

  • Monitoring, assessment, conservation and management advice for marine species;
  • Collation of evidence for the designation and management of marine protected areas; and
  • Evidence and advice to support marine industry regulation.

3.1 JNCC’s existing goods and services

Delivery of these functions means that JNCC staff have expertise in:

  • ecological monitoring and research methods;
  • data collection, management, analysis and presentation, including for spatial data (Geographical Information Systems and Earth Observations);
  • synthesis of scientific results for use by decision-makers;
  • evidence quality assurance;
  • information management;
  • assessment of statutory (regulatory) and government policy needs;
  • advice to support statutory and non-statutory decisions;
  • decision-support tools;
  • stakeholder engagement and communications;
  • training for stakeholders on systems and methods.

3.2 Priorities for future goods and service development

The following priorities have been identified by the Marine Operations Directorate for developing products and services that can be marketed:

  • Assessment methodology packages & training, including for marine industries;
  • Fisheries data products and servicese.g. establishing data collection and analysis protocols especially for UK Overseas Territories and internationally
  • Training and certification for practitionerson a range of marine elements, including Marine Protected Area identification and selection, species survey and monitoring methods
  • Marine surveyor and mitigation courses, assessment and certification(including further development of marine mammal mitigation (MMO) courses -
  • Development and training on marine pollution response systems, especially for UKOverseas Territories and internationally.

The priorities could include delivery both in the UK and internationally.

4.Project Objectives

To meet the overall aim of this project (Section 2), the objectives are to:

1)Identify the most marketable products and services already available within JNCC (see list in section 3.1) and provide recommendations on gaps in the market for these, appropriate market rates for different customers, recommendations regarding future market scenarios,likely partners and competitors and,where possible,prioritycustomers.

2)Identify customer demand for products and services that could be developed based on JNCC’s skillset and provide recommendations on gaps in the market for these, appropriate market rates for different customers, recommendations regarding future market scenarios, likely partners and competitors and,where possible, priority customers. This should start by a broad review of goods and services, but should then focus on the priority areas listed in section 3.2.

3)Work with JNCC to prepare a delivery and marketing plan for the most marketable goods and services identified through objectives 1 and 2, providing recommendations on how best to develop theproducts and services, and thebest methods for communicating these to markets. Provide a forecast of market rates and potential income projections.

5.Project Tasks

We envisage four main tasks to complete the work:

1)Close working with selected JNCC staff from across the Marine Operations Directorate to ensure a good understanding of existing and possible products and services. For existing products, develop an understanding of which customers we supply these to and the potential for additional marketing, including international.

2)Review similar products and services to those identified in task 1 that are on the market, and explore who delivers them, who pays for them, market rates and potential future market scenarios;

Pending the outcome of tasks 1 and 2, a meeting will be held between the contractor and JNCC to identify the priority areas to be considered in more detail during tasks 3 and 4.

3)Undertake discussions with potential customers (or focus groups) to help refine an understanding of the demand for products and services. This is likely to be focused on just a few priorities to ensure sufficient depth of review;

4)Provide recommendations on how JNCC could refine and develop our products and services, the range of suitable market rates, who we should be working with, and who our main customers might be (including key contact information).Based on the outcomes of the more focused discussions within task 3, provide a more detailed assessment around the most effective delivery package for products or services.

Throughout the tasks, we would aim for the contractor to work with a member of JNCC staff on the development of the methodology for undertaking the review, and allow the member of staff the opportunity to shadow elements of the work to gain an understanding of the process. JNCC will cover the costs of any shadowing activity as this will be a development opportunity for the staff member.

6.Outputs

This contract is to support business development in JNCC and as such there will be two main outputs:

  • A report addressing the objectives and detailed tasks, with the technical details from the reviews and any interviews appended (this will be a comprehensive report that will not be published);
  • A 1-day Q&A meeting with relevant JNCC staff, presenting the findings and answering queries about the outcomes from the work.

7.Dissemination

The report produced under this contract will be a JNCC product and shall not be published or disseminated without the written permission of JNCC. Parts of the report may at some point be published on the JNCC website, and all material supplied as part of this contract shall remain copyright of JNCC.

8.Timescale

Provisional dates for delivery of the contact outputs are set out below. Exact dates are to be agreed at start-up meeting based on Contractor and JNCC staff availability.

Milestones / Provisional dates
Start-up meeting (Aberdeen; in person) / Week beginning 15 January
Virtual meeting following delivery of task 1 / 31 January 2018
Virtual meeting following delivery of task 2 / 14 February 2018
Virtual meeting following completion of tasks 3 and 4 / 28 February 2018
Draft report submitted to Project Officer for comment / 5 March 2018
1 day Q&A meeting with JNCC staff (Aberdeen; in person) / 7 March 2018
Project report finalised and delivered / 16 March 2018

9.Health and safety

The Contractor is expected to follow appropriate Health & Safety procedures and undertake appropriate risk assessments, evidence of which should be supplied to JNCC. (NB under no circumstances should any work or service commence prior to the receipt of written approval of the risk assessment by JNCC H&S advisor)

Any incidents occurring within the contract should be reported immediately to JNCC.

10.Product specification

The final report must adhere to the JNCC report template and house style guidance stated otherwise. The draft and final reports should be provided electronically via email both as a Microsoft Word document and an Adobe PDF.

11.Project management

The Contractor shall nominate a project manager, who shall be responsible for ensuring the project is completed satisfactorily and who shall be the main contact point for JNCC.

JNCC’s main contact points will be:

Beth Flavell

Email:

Tel: +44 (0)1733 866952

Mark Lewis

Email:

Tel: +44 (0)1224 266578

12.Instructions for tender submission

It’s JNCC’s expectation that the financial range for this project is £15,000 - £20,000.

The tender submission should include the following:

  • A brief summary of the potential Contractor’s experience in relation to the requirements of this contract;
  • A proposed approach for achieving the objectives of the contract (and delivering the detailed tasks identified within each objective). This should be sufficiently detailed allow assessment against the evaluation criteria (Section 13);
  • A detailed project plan (including Gantt chart), including the proposed work programme and an estimate of time required to achieve each objective;
  • A draft Table of Contents for the final report;
  • Details of Quality Control procedures to be followed (see requirements of JNCC Evidence Quality Policy );
  • Details of the Contractor’s own internal Quality Management System;
  • Details of the Project Team, including their roles and experience, an estimate of their time input into each task, and CVs of all personnel involved in the contract;
  • Availability of the Project Team for a start-up meeting in Aberdeen as specified in the timetable (Section 8);
  • Overall quote for the contract, to include:
  • Daily rates for all members of the Project Team;
  • Rates for attending required meetingsin Aberdeen (costs for travel and accommodation are attached and should be used. These rates are analogous to the civil service rates);
  • Costs and time allocation should be clearly allocated to specific tasks within this contract; and
  • VAT if applicable. The contractor is to specify whether VAT at the prevailing rate would be applicable to this project and to provide their company’s VAT registration number.
  • The following documentation:
  • Copies of health and safety policy statements where available or a note regarding such items as lone working, emergency procedures and accident reporting;
  • Copies of current public and employer liability insurance certificates; and
  • Copies of any appropriate risk assessments.
  • Copies of any environmental policies should you have them

In addition, note that the tender submission should provide sufficient information to allow assessment against the criteria outlined in Section 13.

13.Evaluation Criteria

JNCC are not bound to accept the lowest priced or any tender. Having the technical expertise and experience to complete the work to a high standard, and being able to complete it within the timescale, are of the essence for this contract.

Tenders will be evaluated using the following criteria:

 / EVALUATION CRITERIA / Max Score / Score
1. Quality of proposal, (50% of the total for the three assessment categories)
Clarity of proposal (particularly work plan and deliverables) / 10
Understanding of, and relevance to, the project requirements, including familiarity with JNCC’s marine role / 10
Soundness and logicality of methods / 7
Realism and measurability of milestones / 6
Identification and proposed solutions to potential problems/risks / 6
Serious weaknesses which threaten success / 6
Probability of success / 5
Sub Totals / 50
2. Details of Contractor (25 % of the three assessment categories)
Expertise, experience and balance of team / 9
Risks if important team members drop out / 7
Adequacy of subcontractors (if any) / 9
Sub Totals / 25
3. Cost (25% of the total for the three assessment categories)
Transparency and correctness of presentation / 6
Fairness/reasonableness for the level of work and expertise required / 6
Appropriateness of ratio of senior to junior staff time / 6
Clarity of each team member’s contribution and value added / 7
Sub Totals / 25
Total score / 100

14.Payment

Payment will be made on completion of the objectives, following the submission of an invoice(s), and based on satisfactory undertaking of the contractual elements to the agreed standard of the JNCC Project Officer.

15.Additional Contractor requirements

All tenderers are requested to carefully read the Terms and Conditions applying to this contract. Payment will only be made upon delivery of key milestones.

It is assumed that all costs associated with the production of figures, reproduction of photographs and the final report are accounted for within the rates and fees given.

The Contractor is expected to supply all necessary equipment, software, licences etc. to carry out the obligations required under the contract.

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