Public document to be completed by the Contracting Authority
SERVICE PROCUREMENT NOTICE
The Sustainable Management of Marine Fishery
Location: Montenegro
1. Publication reference
EuropeAid/128947/C/SER/ME
2. Procedure
International Restricted
3. Programme
IPA 2009
4. Financing
2009 National IPA Programme
5. Contracting Authority
European Community, represented by the European Commission, on behalf of and for the account of the beneficiary country
CONTRACT SPECIFICATION
6. Nature of contract
Fee-based
7. Contract description
The project will assist the Fishery Administration of Montenegro together with fish processors, fishermen, retailers, environmentalists and consumers to effectively manage the harvest of marine fishery resources within the context of the Common Fisheries Policy. The experts will support designing of the upcoming projects being in line with EU standards on marine management with full participation of the beneficiary.
The Service contract shall provide the following:
- Assistance in strengthening fishery management planning;
- Assistance in specific training activities;
- Assistance to the Institute for Marine Biology in Kotor in its capacity building including research cruises and fishery stock assessment;
- Complete a socio-economic survey of the fishery sector in Montenegro.
8. Numbers and titles of lots
One Lot
9. Maximum budget
€ 560,000
10. Scope for additional services
The Contracting Authority may, at its own discretion, extend the project in duration and/or scope, by up to a maximum not exceeding the value and duration of the initial contract, subject to availability of funding. Any extension of the contract would be subject to a satisfactory performance by the Consultant.
CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION
11. Eligibility
Article 19(1) of the Council Regulation (EC) n°1085/2006 "Participation in the award of procurement or grant contracts financed under this Regulation shall be open to all natural persons who are nationals of and legal persons who are established in a Member State, a country that is a beneficiary of this Regulation, a country that is a beneficiary of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument, or a Member State of the European Economic Area".(2) "Participation in the award of procurement or grant contracts financed under this Regulation shall also be open to all natural persons who are nationals of and legal persons who are established in any country other than those referred to in paragraph 1, where reciprocal access to their external assistance has been established."
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 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 will be allowed and the maximum percentage of the contract value which may be sub-contracted shall be 30%.
17. Number of candidates to be short-listed
On the basis of the applications received, between 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
March 2010
19. Provisional commencement date of the contract
June 2010
20. Initial period of execution and possible extension of the contract
18 months, with 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, unless expressly specified otherwise below:
1) Economic and financial standing of candidate [based on item 3 of the application form]. In the event of an applicant being a public body, equivalent information should be provided.
(a) The average annual turnover of the Candidate for the last three (3) years for which accounts have been closed shall amount at least to 1,000,000 EUR.
(b) The firm or the Leader of the consortium should have been operational for the last three years.
2) Professional capacity of candidate [based on items 4 and 5 of the application form]
The Candidate has a total of at least four (4) permanent staff, currently and on average in each of the three (3) years as per the Application Form, working in fields associated to fishery services.
3) Technical capacity of candidate [based on items 5 and 6 of the application form]
(a) The candidate has successfully completed during the last three (3) years (ending on the deadline for submission of applications) at least one (1) project covering the following fields of specialisation:
(i) Fishery including strengthening of the institutions dealing with Fishery (Inspection services and/or Fishery administration and/or Research Services and/or assistance in fishery management) in EU member state, candidate or potential candidate country;
(ii) Alignment of Fishery legislation with EU Acquis and/or introduction of international standards in EU member state, candidate or potential candidate country;
(iii) Provision of training for Fishery Services in EU member state, candidate or potential candidate country.
A project may cover one or more of these fields, but all fields have to be covered by the projects. The total cumulative value of services carried out by the Candidate under such projects shall amount to at least EUR 550,000.
(b) The candidate has successfully completed during the last three (3) years (ending on the deadline for submission of applications) at least one (1) Technical Assistance or Institution Building project. The value of services carried out by the Candidate under this project shall amount to at least EUR 550,000.
For the purposes of this short-listing procedure, a project is considered “completed” if the Final report is approved or if equivalent evidence of completion of project activities is available, e.g. proof of final payment received.
All applicants shall mind the presentation of dates in each and every reference in section 6 of the application form. Start and end dates for each and every reference must indicate at least the month and the year.
In section 6 of the application form, subsection “type of services provided”, all applicants shall exclusively describe the activities carried out by the relevant member of the consortium as per his percentage of contribution to the implementation of the action, leaving out the services provided by other members of consortium that was constituted for the implementation of that specific reference.
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. Under the same conditions, a consortium of economic operators may rely on the capacities of members of the consortium or of other entities. The written undertaking must be attached to the Application and must clearly bind sufficient resources of the entity/ies drawn upon at least for the maximum period of implementation of the contract. This/ese entity/ies must also be eligible in accordance with Section 11.e
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 eight best applications for the tender procedure. The only factors which will be taken into consideration during this re-examination are:
Comparative criterion 1):
The higher cumulative value of services carried out by the Candidate under projects compliant with the requirements of criterion 21.3) (a);
Comparative criterion 2):
The higher number of projects compliant with the requirements of criterion 21.3) (a)
The two above comparative criteria will be applied in order of precedence, i.e. all the candidates meeting the selection criteria as per 21. 1), 21. 2) and 21. 3) will first be assessed against the comparative criterion 1) and ranked accordingly. The comparative criterion 2) will only be applied if some candidates at the bottom edge of the shortlist score equally against comparative criterion 1) and will only concern these equally scored candidates.
22. Award criteria
Best value for money.
APPLICATION
23. Deadline for receipt of applications
18 February 2010 at 16.30 hours 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/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 Union to Montenegro
Finance and Contracts Section
Vuka Karadžića 12
81000 Podgorica
Montenegro
· OR hand delivered (including courier services) directly to the Contracting Authority in return for a signed and dated receipt to:
Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro
Finance and Contracts Section
Vuka Karadžića 12
81000 Podgorica
Montenegro
The Contract title and the Publication reference (see item 1 above) must be clearly marked on the envelope containing the application (the outer envelope in the case of a delivery by international courier) 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 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) 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
· Filling in the standard application form
When filling in the standard Application Form, and in particular items 3, 4, 5 and 6 therein, candidates must provide all information necessary to allow the Short-list Panel to assess their compliance with the selection criteria under points 21.1), 21.2) and 21.3) above.
· Supporting documents
Candidates are reminded that, before the award of the contract, the successful Tenderer has to supply documentary proof to support the information submitted in the standard application form in response to the selection criteria specified at point 21 of this Procurement Notice. The Contracting Authority reserves the right to request the following:
· Profit and Loss Accounts/Income Statements, for each of the years for which the annual turnovers have to be presented. The Profit and Loss Accounts/Income Statements, drawn up in line with International Accounting Standards, must be provided with an English translation and conversion of amounts into Euro. The Candidate should be ready to present Profit and Loss Accounts/Income Statements in the required form within 24 hours, upon request from the Contracting Authority during the examination of the Application Form. The Contracting Authority reserves the right to ask for surplus information which certifies the data presented in the forms.
· Proofs on the actual number of staff permanently hired for the time period for which the information shall be provided.
· Proofs and/or additional information concerning scope, value, duration, etc. of projects listed in table 6 of the Application Form (e.g. copy of relevant contracts, client’s references/Final reports, etc.).
If the successful Tenderer fails to provide the evidence of the financial and economic standing and/or of the technical and professional capacity within 15 calendar days following the notification of award, or if the successful Tenderer is found to have provided false information, the award will be considered null and void.
Candidates are also reminded that participation in spite of being in any of the situations listed in Section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions will make them subject to exclusion from tender procedures and contracts in accordance with Section 2.3.5 of the said Practical Guide. Furthermore, provision of inaccurate or incomplete information deliberately in the Application Form will make them subject to financial penalties representing 2% to 10% of the total value of the contract being awarded. This rate may be increased to 4% to 20% in the event of a repeated offence within five years of the first infringement.
· Tax and customs arrangements, visa and permits
Further to Article 26 of the Framework agreement between the Government of Montenegro and the Commission of the European Communities on the rules for cooperation concerning EC financial assistance to Montenegro in the framework of implementation of the assistance under IPA, community financed contracts for services shall not be subject in Montenegro to VAT, documentary stamp or registration duties or fiscal charges having equivalent effect. The Contractor is exempt of custom duties, import taxes, fees and VAT or any other similar taxes levied on goods entering Montenegro for the contract financed by EU. The Contractor’s expatriate staff, from the Member states of the EU or other countries eligible under IPA, executing Community financed contracts shall be exempted from profit and/or income taxes, customs duties, income duties, taxes and other fiscal charges having equivalent effect.