Tender Information
Development of a Synthetic
Greenlandic Text-to-Speech System
Synscenter Refsnæs – The National Centre for
Visually Impaired Children and Youth in Denmark
June26, 2013
Version 1.1
Status: Final
Contents
1Introduction
2Contracting Entity
3Object of the Contract
4The Tender Material
5Requirements to Proposals
6Evaluation Criteria
7Duration of the Contract
8Formalities Regarding Submission of Proposals
8.1Alternate Proposals
8.2Deadline for Submission of Proposals
8.3Submission of Proposals
8.4Language and Currency of Proposals
8.5Compensation
8.6Minimum Bid Acceptance Period
8.7Opening of Proposals
8.8Return of Proposals
9Questions Regarding the Tender Material
10Reservations
11Confidentiality, Anonymity and Secrecy
12Announcement of Result and Stand-still Period
13Contract
14Annulment of Tender
15Time Schedule for Tender Process
16Document Summary and Check List
1Introduction
This document forms part of the tender material for a public tender call for the development of a synthetic Greenlandictext-to-speech software system. Throughout this document, the term Greenlandic is used to describe the Kalaallisut or West Greenlandic dialect that has been the official language of Greenland since 2009. The tender is conductedas an open procedure call in accordance withDirective 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 31, 2004(reference 2013-072953).
This document contains important information on the procedure of the tender, how proposals should be structured and submitted, and how the various parts of the proposals will be evaluated. Applicants are encouraged to pay close attention to these instructions.
The tender material can be found in electronic format at
2Contracting Entity
The contracting entity is Synscenter Refsnæs, The National Centre for Visually Impaired Children and Youth in Denmark. Synscenter Refsnæs is an institution in Region Zealand.
Synscenter Refsnæs
Kystvejen 112
DK-4400 Kalundborg
Denmark
The tender is conducted by Sensus ApS on behalf of Synscenter Refsnæs. All communication regarding the tender should be addressed to Sensus:
Sensus ApS
Torvet 3-5, 2.tv.
DK-3400 Hillerød
Denmark
Att.: Lars Ballieu Christensen
Email:
The tender material as well as anonymised questions and answers will be published at
3Object of the Contract
The object of the tender is the development of a synthetic Greenlandic text-to-speech software system capable of converting text in the Kalaallisut/West Greenlandic dialect into spoken audio. As a minimum, the software system must work in accordance with the Microsoft Speech API 5 specification (SAPI 5).
4The Tender Material
The tender material consists of this document and its three addenda. The addenda are enclosed as three separate documents.
Addendum A provides background and contextual information on the project of which this tender is part.
Addendum B contains a collection of mandatory templates for providing information in connection with this tender.
Addendum C is the contract that will be used in the project. The contract contains a set of appendices that must be completed by the applicant as part of the proposal, including the following:
Appendix 1: Time schedule
Appendix 2: Requirements specification
Appendix 3: Specification of prices
Appendix 4: Payment schedule
Appendix 5: Specification of software, documentation and training
Appendix 6: General description of the solution
Appendix 7: The customer's participation
Appendix 8: Specification of warranty and maintenance
Appendix 9: Test specification
Appendix 10: Licence terms
Appendix 11: Project organisation
Appendix 12: Quality Assurance
Appendix 13: Service level objectives
5Requirements to Proposals
This chapter describes the proposal documents that must be submitted in order to participate in the tender, as well as the requirements to these documents.
As a minimum requirement in order to be eligible, the following information must be provided:
- General information about the applicant including internal references, name, form of incorporation, address, company registration number and contact person of the applicant. Template 1 in Addendum B must be used to provide this information.
- General description of the applicant in maximum 1,500 words. The description should include general information of competencies and experiences with similar projects. Template 2 in Addendum B must be used to provide this information.
- Solemn declaration concerning outstanding debts to the public sector. Template 3 in Addendum B must be used to provide this information.
- Solemn declaration concerning the public procurement directive. Template 4 in Addendum B must be used to provide this information.
- Key figures of the applicant for the past three accounting years in terms of net turnover, results before tax, assets and net capital. Template 5 in Addendum B must be used to provide this information, and the information must be supported by annual reports or a signed auditor’s report.
- Declaration concerning the applicant’s net turnover relating to deliveries similar to the object of this contract. Template 6 in Addendum B must be used to provide this information.
- Statement of maximum of 5 references of deliveries similar to the object of this contract. Template 7 in Addendum B must be used to provide this information.
- Declaration of the average annual manpower of the applicant and the number of managerial staff of the last 3 years (2010, 2011 and 2012). Template 8 in Addendum B must be used to provide this information.
- Insurance policy or other documentation for relevant business insurance and product liability insurance. Template 9 in Addendum B must be used to provide this information.
- Declaration of support from subcontractors and/or parent companies. In case the applicant relies on financial figures, references or similar from subcontractors and/or parent companies, information and documentation on these should be provided. Template 10 in Addendum B must be used to provide this information.
- Declaration concerning consortium formation. In case the proposal is submitted by a consortium, this declaration must be provided. Template 11 in Addendum B must be used to provide this information.
Note that some requirements in the Requirement Specification (Appendix 2 to the Contract in Addendum C) contain minimum compliance levels that must be fulfilled in order for the proposal to be eligible.
In order to participate in the competitive evaluation of proposals, the following information must be provided:
- All appendices to Addendum C (the contract) must be completed. Brief guidelines for the completion of the appendices are provided at the top of each appendix.
Throughout all appendices, [text in square brackets and marked in yellow] is used to indicate sections that must be completed by the applicant. Plain text not marked in yellow should not be deleted or edited. Applications should also note that there is size limitations in terms of the maximum number of words to some sections and are requested to observe these restrictions.
Unless otherwise indicated, all sections of all appendices and templates must be completed by the applicant.
6Evaluation Criteria
Eligible proposals will be evaluated according to the following overall criteria and proportional weight:
- Fulfilment of requirements (50%)
- Model of collaboration (30%)
- Price (20%)
Fulfilment of requirements: The Requirements Specification found as Appendix 2 to Addendum C (the contract) lists all formal requirements to the voice with an indication of the importance of each requirement. Note that for some of the requirements, minimum levels of compliance are listed. For each requirement, applicants can either state that the proposed solution is in full compliance with the requirement or that the proposed solution is not in compliance with the requirement. Statements of full compliance must be supported by a detailed description of how the proposed solution satisfies the requirement.
Each requirement in the Requirements Specification is listed in one of the following four categories:
- M – Minimum requirement. Failure to fulfil these requirements will render the proposal ineligible.
- C - Crucial requirements. In the evaluation, responses to these requirements are weighted with a factor of 9 to match the importance of C-requirements.
- I - Important requirements. In the evaluation, responses to these requirements are weighted with a factor of 3 to match the importance of I-requirements.
- D - Desirable requirements. In the evaluation, responses to these requirements are weighted with a factor of 1 to match the importance of D-requirements.
Model of collaboration: The model of collaboration will be evaluated based on the information providedin the following appendices to Addendum C (the contract):
- Appendix 11: Project Organisation. This appendix should provide information on how the project should be organised with CVs of the key staff (project management, lead development) that will participate in the project. The appendix should also include information on proposed interfaces between the parties throughout the proposed project. In case of consortium formations, the appendix should include information on the roles and responsibilities of each consortium member and how project management and project coordination amongst consortium partners are expected to be organised.
- Appendix 7: Customer’s Participation. This appendix should provide detailed information on how the customer and local stakeholders in Greenland are expected to participate in status meetings, as well as in activities during implementation, pilot, hand-over, training and test.The appendix should include information on required competencies of those representing the customer as well as on the expected workload, work location and key tasks.
- Appendix 1: Time Schedule. In addition to providing a detailed time schedule for the project with key tasks, mile stones and deadlines, the time schedule should reflect the requested customer participation.
- Appendix 6: General Description of the Solution. This appendix should include a description of the proposed solution in a format and language that is comprehensible to the customer’s project participants.
- Appendix 9: Test Specification. The test specification defines how the solution will be tested. Specifically it should include information on how the applicant will ensure that the delivered solution complies with the requirements specification (Appendix 2) and how it should be measured that the delivered solution meets the service level objectives (Appendix 13).
- Appendix 12: Quality Assurance: This appendix should include information on the applicant’s Quality Assurance system and quality procedures, and how it intends to ensure that the speech quality requirements are met.
- Appendix 13: Service Level Objectives: This appendix should include a suitable set of service level objectives and appropriate metrics for the main service level parameters of the solution: Time-to-speech, Interoperability and Ease-of-Installation.
Price: In the evaluation, the evaluation of the best value for money is based on a combination of the two other categories, the overall proposed price, the proposed payment schedule, the description of the overall delivery of software, documentation and training, the warranty and maintenance terms and the proposed licenses terms. The price must be specified in Appendix 3 to Addendum C (the contract). The payment schedule must be specified in Appendix 4. The overall delivery in terms of software, documentation and training must be specified in Appendix 5. The Warranty and Maintenance terms must be specified in Appendix 8. The license terms must be specified in Appendix 10.
7Duration of the Contract
Commencing on the date the contract is awarded, the contract is expected to run for 27 months. This includes a 12 months development phase, a three months phase of testing and final hand-over to local stakeholders in Greenland and a 12 months warranty period. During the first half of the warranty period, the supplier is required to provide quality improvements to the voice and its pronunciations, based in part on user input. Below is a summary of the overall project schedule:
2013 / 2014 / 2015Q1 / Q2 / Q3 / Q4 / Q1 / Q2 / Q3 / Q4 / Q1 / Q2 / Q3 / Q4
1. Tender process
2. Implementation
3. Pilot testing
4. Hand-over and final version
5. Quality improvements
6. Warranty
8Formalities Regarding Submission of Proposals
8.1Alternate Proposals
Alternate or variant proposals will not be accepted.
8.2Deadline for Submission of Proposals
Proposals must be received by Sensus no later than July 12, 2013. Proposals received after the deadline will not be accepted.
Acknowledgement of timely receipt of proposals will subsequently be issued by Sensus.
8.3Submission of Proposals
The tender shall not be made by email. The tender shall be submitted in 1 signed original in paper form and 2 copies in paper form as well as 1 electronic version in a common format (e.g., Microsoft Word, RTF, ODT or PDF) on a USB stick or similar media. The tender shall be delivered in a closed envelope labelled "Tender of a Synthetic Greenlandic Text-to-Speech System" and must be submitted to the following address:
Sensus ApS
Torvet 3-5, 2.tv.
DK-3400 Hillerød
Denmark
Att.: Lars Ballieu Christensen
8.4Languageand Currency of Proposals
Proposals including all templates and appendices must be completed and submitted in English. Annual reports may be submitted in other languages provided a financial summary in English is provided, duly signed by an auditor. Insurance documents may be may be submitted in other languages.
All prices must be all-inclusive in Euro, excluding only national VAT.
Responses in other languages and/or other currencies will not be accepted.
8.5Compensation
Proposals are prepared at the expense of the applicants, and no compensation will be offered.
8.6Minimum Bid Acceptance Period
Applicants must confirm that the submitted proposal is valid for a minimum of three months counting from the deadline of submission.
8.7Opening of Proposals
Proposals will be opened by Synscenter Refsnæs and Sensus. Applicants will not be able to participate in the opening of proposals.
8.8Return of Proposals
Proposals will not be returned to applicants.
9Questions Regarding the Tender Material
Questions regarding the tender material can mailed to Sensus at the following address: .
Any such questions will be anonymised and answers subsequently published at
A Q&A session is not scheduled for this tender.
Applicants are urged to post questions regarding the tender material as early as possible. Applicants cannot expect answers to questions submitted later than six days prior to the deadline of submission.
10Reservations
Reservations relating to the contract (Addendum C) or any of its appendices are not accepted as the contents of the documents are considered as minimum requirements.
11Confidentiality, Anonymity and Secrecy
Questions from potential applicants will be anonymised before they are published, and the identity of questioners will be kept confidential.
All information provided as part of proposals will be kept confidential to the widest possible extent within the limits of the law. Exceptions to this confidentiality statement are situations where the contracting entity is required by law to pass on information to third parties. Applicants are encouraged to mark sections of information that are considered sensitive and/or confidential as business confidential.
Applicants are to keep information obtained as part of the tender process confidential and not to disclose such information to third parties.
12Announcement of Result and Stand-still Period
All applicants participating in the tender process will be informed simultaneously and in writing of the result of the tender process. This will be followed by a 10-day stand-still period.
The notification to the winning applicant is not a binding promise that a contract will be awarded to the applicant. There is neither contract nor any promise thereof before a possible contract has been signed by the contracting entity and the selected applicant.
13Contract
The contract is a revised version of the Danish standard contract for smaller IT acquisitions, K01. As part of the revision, only appendices not relevant to the current project have been removed.
The contract and is appendices are enclosed as Addendum C.
14Annulment of Tender
Synscenter Refsnæs reserves the right to cancel the tender and/or reject all proposals without stating a reason.
15Time Schedule for Tender Process
The expected time schedule for the tender process is outlined below[1].
May 30, 2013 / Announcement of tender. Publication of tender materialAugust10, 2013 / Deadline for submitting questions to the tender material
August 16 12, 2013 / Deadline for submission of proposals
August 30, 2013 / Announcement of result
Commencement of stand-still period
September 10, 2013 / Anticipated signature of contract
16Document Summary and Check List
The list below summarises the documents required to submit a response to this tender. Applicants are encouraged to use the summary as a checklist prior to submission.
No / Document / Check1 / Cover letter with confirmations (1) that the proposal does not include reservations to the contract (Addendum C).
2 / Completed Template 1 from Addendum B with general information about the applicant
3 / Completed Template 2 from Addendum B with a general description of the applicant in maximum 1,500 words.
4 / Completed Template 3 from Addendum B: Solemn declaration concerning outstanding debts to the public
5 / Completed Template 4 from Addendum B: Solemn declaration concerning the public procurement directive.
6 / Completed Template 5 from Addendum B with key financial figures for the past three accounting years.
7 / Annual reports or a signed auditor’s report confirming the figures in Template 5.
8 / Completed Template 6 from Addendum B: Declaration concerning the applicant’s net turnover relating to deliveries similar to this public procedure.
9 / Completed Template 7 from Addendum B with a list of a maximum of references of deliveries similar to this public procedure.
10 / Completed Template 8 from Addendum B with a declaration of the average annual manpower of the applicant and the number of managerial staff of the last 3 years (2010, 2011 and 2012).
11 / Completed Template 9 from Addendum B with information about and a copy of insurance policy or other documentation for relevant business insurance and product liability insurance
12 / In case applicant relies on financial figures, references or similar from subcontractors and/or parent companies: Completed Template 10 of Addendum B with information about subcontractors and/or parent companies.
13 / In case applicant relies on financial figures, references or similar from subcontractors and/or parent companies: Documents supporting the information in Template 10.
14 / In case the applicant is a consortium: Completed Template 11 of Addendum B: Declaration concerning consortium formation.
15 / Completed cover page of Contract in Addendum C (printed information only)
16 / Completed Appendix 1 to Contract in Addendum C: Time schedule
17 / Completed Appendix 2 to Contract in Addendum C: Requirements specification
18 / Completed Appendix 3 to Contract in Addendum C: Specification of prices
19 / Completed Appendix 4 to Contract in Addendum C: Payment schedule
20 / Completed Appendix 5 to Contract in Addendum C: Specification of software, documentation and training
21 / Completed Appendix 6 to Contract in Addendum C: General description of the solution
22 / Completed Appendix 7 to Contract in Addendum C: The customer's participation
23 / Completed Appendix 8 to Contract in Addendum C: Specification of warranty and maintenance
24 / Completed Appendix 9 to Contract in Addendum C: Test specification
25 / Completed Appendix 10 to Contract in Addendum C: Licence terms
26 / Completed Appendix 11 to Contract in Addendum C: Project organisation
27 / Completed Appendix 12 to Contract in Addendum C: Quality Assurance
28 / Completed Appendix 13 to Contract in Addendum C:Service level objectives
1
[1]The dates have been updated to reflect the 5 weeks postponement of the submission deadline announced in TED on June 26, 2013.