FC.16.COM.0008.1.0 - Provision of Graphic Design, Layout, Printing and Related Services
FC.16.COM.0008.1.0 - Provision of graphic design, layout, printing and related services
Ref. 2016/S 033-052421
Questions & Answers
Date / Question / Answer19/02/2016 / Point 12.4 of the tender specifications mentions that tenderers are expected to provide a list of main clients “including three references”. How are these three references different from the “description and evidence of at least 2 and maximum 4 contracts or projects” mentioned in a previous point? Are these references referring to certificates issued by the clients of said contracts or projects? / References refer to reference letters from clients.
Yes, certificates issued by the clients are accepted.
19/02/2016 / Concerning the three scenarios requested, is our understanding correct that no textual descriptions need to be supplied as part of these scenarios, with the exception of a statement relating to the turnaround time required to complete each scenario? / Correct, the only description relates to the turnaround time. The files with prepared scenarios should be submitted electronically in the formats specified in point 13.2.
19/02/2016 / The InDesign files provided for scenario 2 and for scenario3 include no fonts.
The figure included in scenario 2 is not provided in a usable format (e.g. indd, .jpeg). Will you make the figure and the fonts available? / We are not providing fonts with the InDesign files. Point 13.2 mentions 'The job requested in this task should be preferably delivered in the corporate font used by the EMCDDA (Trivia) or in the closest font.'
The figure for scenario 2 was indeed not included. The new zip file of Annex 4 with the figure in jpg format has been uploaded in the EMCCDA website.
19/02/2016 / The tender specifications make no indication of the quality/price ratio for the final evaluation of tenders. Can you please clarify what this ratio will be? / The evaluation method to define the best price-quality ratio is described in point 13.3 of the specifications.
19/02/2016 / Can you please confirm that information provided in Annex 6 is not part of the financial evaluation? / Yes, Annex 6 is not part of the financial evaluation of offers.
As stated in point 14 of the specifications the price that will be considered to evaluate the financial offer will be the total price of tasks 1,2 and 3 specified in Annex 5.
19/02/2016 / The first item in Annex 6 refers to Graphic design of a graph, chart, etc. Price and turnaround time very much depend on the scope of the project. Can you please confirm that this refers to a single graph or chart and to design in one single language? / Yes, it refers to design of a single graph for turnaround time.
For the price we are asking for price per hour for graphic design work.
19/02/2016 / The second item in Annex 6 refers to Graphic design of a vector graphic. Are tenderers’ price and turnaround estimates expected to be base on the graphic design of one single icon?
19/02/2016 / The third item in Annex 6 refers to Photos and the processing and reworking of photos. Can you please clarify the level of processing and reworking required? / Simple processing e.g. resizing, cropping, applying colour wash, adding copyright information on the image, small visual corrections (blurring out elements), creation of photo collages.
25/02/16 / The table in Annex 5 includes a “Total price” column, which appears to imply that figures to be included in this column are the result of a multiplication or addition of figures included in previous columns. For task 1, task 2 and task 3 (Layout) this appears to refer to a multiplication of “Turnaround-time for 1st proof” by “Price per hour”. Yet, the scenario foresees two further proofs for each of the three tasks. The time required for the implementation of two further proofs as well as the time required for the formatting of final output are necessarily not included in estimates for the “Turnaround-time for 1st proof”. Therefore, can you please clarify:
a)Does “Total price” for task 1, task 2 and task 3 (Layout) correspond to the multiplication of “Turnaround-time for 1st proof” by “Price per hour” and therefore only to the total price of activities up to the delivery of first proofs and NOT to any of the sub-tasks following delivery of the first proof? Or are the three columns completely unrelated?
b)Do you expect tenderers to complete column “Turnaround-time for 1st proof” with time estimates in number of hours. / a)It's not a multiplication. Turnaround time for 1st proof is an indication of how quickly the job can be done. Price per hour should be a fixed rate you charge for a certain task (graphic design or layout), whereas the total price should cover all tasks described in the specifications column, i.e. including tasks to be performed until 3rd proof.
b) That depends on the task, shorter tasks can be put in hours, longer tasks in days.
25/02/16 / .For tasks 2 and 3, can you please confirm our understanding that this refers to the layout of reports based on existing templates and NOT to original design, including for the cover pages of these reports? / The price estimate should cover the complete task.
25/02/16 / Tasks 2 and 3 include a provision for “Composition, insertion and processing of illustrations, photos, graphical charts and tables (on the basis of data supplied)”. Can you clarify approximately how many such items will need to be treated for each of the two reports? / Task 2: 6 graphical elements, task 3: 60 graphical elements. The annex file has been changed accordingly.
25/02/16 / For task 3, can you please confirm our understanding that “Author's corrections on the first proof (up to 30% on the content)” are applicable only to the first, original language version and NOT to each of the other 23 language versions? / As mentioned in the task 3, the whole price estimate applies to all languages.
26/02/2016 / To calculate the delivery cost to France, the information about the French address is missing in the tender documentation. Could you please share the Lens storage centre address? / The address of the Lens storage centre is:
62221 Noyelles-sous-Lens – France
26/02/2016 / Economic and financial capacity criteria - according to our country´s regulatory, the last financial years (for which accounts are closed) are 2013 and 2014. To fill these two years into the Annex 3 template, we would need to re-write the title of the columns (currently both of them contain the date 31/Dec/15). Please confirm, that the acorrectly filled-inAnnex 3 table (containing complete data for 2013 and 2014), will be accepted as an adequate proof of the firm´s capacity to perform this contract. / Yes, Annex 3 with data for 2013 and 2014 will be accepted.
Yes, you may re-write the title of columns with 2013 and 2014.
26/02/2016 / Annex 6 (Financial proposal - Indicative price list): For the Printing part, third column (Turn-around time for printing) - do you refer to the time for printing only or to the time needed both to print and deliver the printed materials to Lisbon and Lens? If we´re supposed to fill the summarized time for printing and delivery, the time (and price) differs for a standard and an express delivery. Unfortunately, the template doesn´t allow to differentiate these two types of delivery. Could/should we add extra columns for express delivery? Or to propose two separate tables - one for a standard delivery and one for an express delivery? / Please focus on the price for standard delivery. Turnaround time refers to printing only.
26/02/2016 / Annex 5 (Financial evaluation of offers - Price evaluation scenario):3) Layout and printing of a multilingual long report, fourth column (Turn-around time for 1st proof/printing) - do you refer to the time for printing only or to the time needed both to print and deliver the printed materials to Lisbon and Lens? Please confirm that the printing of a multilingual long report will be evaluated for time-around printing only (for the time-around for printing evaluation criteria) and would not discriminate the non-Portuguese and non-French contractors. / Same as above, turnaround time refers to printing only.
26/02/2016 / Annex 5 (Financial evaluation of offers - Price evaluation scenario):3) Layout and printing of a multilingual long report. Please confirm that the general specifications of 100 pages refers to 96 inner pages and 4 cover pages, which is 100 pages in total. / Yes, inner pages and cover pages.
26/02/2016 / We usually hire some profiles (graphic designers, DTP operators...) for contracts because the best experts are usually freelancing. Is this practice acceptable for you? Is there for example some fixed ratio for number of employees and freelancers in the project team? / Yes, freelancers are accepted in the project team.
There is no fixed ratio for number of employees and freelancers in the project team.
The contractor will remain responsible for the quality of the work provided by freelancers.
26/02/2016 / Are freelancers considered as subcontractors? Or is there a special category for them? What exactly (which forms/supporting documents?) they have to enclose to the tender? / Freelancers are not considered as subcontractors and there is no special category for them. No documents are required from freelancers.
The contractor will remain responsible for the quality of the work provided by freelancers.
26/02/2016 / What exactly you mean by "services covering a multi-lingual dimension" (in "12.4 Technical and professional capacity criteria and evidence"). / Ability to layout manuscripts in different languages, taking into account linguistic specificities.
01/03/2016 / Could you please clarify if for Scenario number 2 and 3 we are allowed to improve the layout template? / It is not the main purpose of the scenarios. If changes are made, please explain the scope and reasoning.
01/03/2016 / For Scenario number 3 the reference states that “the layout of these should follow the InDesing template provided” nonetheless, for Scenario 2 no such statement is included. / The instruction applies also for scenario 3.
01/03/2016 / In connection with Scenario 1, are tenderers expected to develop these graphical elements strictly on the basis of the source materials provided, even if it is felt that some information is missing from the presentation? / Yes, please use source material provided. For the second graphic, please come up with a graphical solution, that's the purpose of the exercise.
01/03/2016 / In connection with Scenario 3, can you confirm that tenderers are not expected to design a cover page for the manuscript provided, since this represents a section of a larger document and not a stand-alone document? / Yes, there is no need to design cover page, only pages provided in the template and manuscript.
01/03/2016 / Can you confirm whether tenderers need to separate their proposals between one folder for all administrative documents and technical proposal, and one folder for the financial proposal (Annex 5 and Annex 6), and that these folders need to be submitted in separate envelopes? / There is no specific requirement for presentation of proposals/folders.
04/03/2016 / Do you expect from the tenderer some kind of text-correction or proof reading or even translation? We are asking because in article 4.1. (Graphic design for print and online media) there is a request for „every service or design concept the tenderer shall provide electronic proofs and organise improvement rounds, depending on the content and language of the document“. And in article 4.2. (Layout services) you ask for „layout services which involve the creation of ready-to-print files from files delivered by the EMCDDA in different formats. The tenderer is expected to support the EMCDDA in the development and production of the layouts of its main communication outputs, demonstrating a strong level of creativity, in line with the agency’s corporate and visual identity. The agency will provide the successful tenderer with documents, tables and images in a range of formats. The service will involve the submission of proofs and author’s corrections ending with delivery of web pdfs containing bookmarks and hyperlinks and, if required, ready-to print files“.
So could you be more specific in description of required work with texts? / After providing the first electronic proof (both in case of graphic design or layout), the tenderer will be requested to incorporate author's (EMCDDA's) corrections on the proofs resulting from a proofreading done by the EMCDDA. No specific translation or proofreading services are required from the tenderer, outside the normal quality control procedure we expect the company to have in place.
04/03/2016 / Financial offer:
1)In the price offer it is requested to provide a price for the layout of a brochure (4 pages) for EN language according to the master version. There are no requirements in the price offer for the graphic design of a master version. Can you please confirm?
2) / By master version we mean the design template.
04/03/2016 / Financial offer:
1)What difference do you make between a chart and a graph? (Task: Graphic design of a leaflet (master version)
2)How many fold lines will be included in the leaflet? (Task: Graphic design of a leaflet (master version)
3)For task Layout of a leaflet (2 pages) according to master version, it stipulated that it is English only. Can you please confirm? In case of positive answer, what is the language of the master version?
4)It is required to provide lay out of 50 pages report and to print manual of 50 pages. We think that it should be 48 or 52 pages. Can you please clarify?
5) / We don't distinguish between chart and graph, normally we use the terms interchangeably.
Our brochures/leaflets are usually in A4 or A5, with no folding, 2 pages (recto-verso).
Yes, English only. By master version we mean the design template.
The number of pages is given as an orientation for typical lengths of the reports produced. Providing price for 52 is fine.
04/03/2016 / Tender specifications document:
Section 13.2 Scenarios, says “All samples should be provided in digital format as requested in each scenario”.
Although, according to the invitation letter, point 3., “proposals must be submitted exclusively on paper, in one original and 3 copies”.
Should we attach a CD/DVD with all developed scenarios? If yes, should we attached a CD/DVD to each one of the 3 copies also?
Annex 5:
Task 3) Layout and printing of a multilingual long report
Regarding quality control of each deliverable, we understand proofreading must be performed in order to guarantee the document is fully compliant with the quality standards. However, this will increase turn-around time for 1st proof as well as total price for task 3). Do you expect tenderers to provide proofreading services in all 23 languages (besides English), or proofreading will be performed by EMCDDA and integrated on author’s corrections and further proofs?
Tender specifications document:
Section 12. Selection criteria says “The tenderer (and each member of the group in case of joint tender) must declare whether it is a Small orMedium Size Enterprise in accordance with Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC. This information is used for statistical purposes only.”
Are microenterprises allowed to present a proposal? / Yes, please attach CD/DVD or USB stick with the developed scenarios. There is no need to attach additional copies, one is fine.
Quality control in terms of the layout of a new linguistic version is required from the successful tenderer. Multilingual proofreading is normally done by the EMCDDA and integrated in the author's corrections.
The information requested about small or medium size companies under Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC is for statistical purposes only.
All enterprises, including microenterprises are allowed to present a proposal for this call for tender.
07/03/2016 / Financial offer:
For the layout of a report (20 pages or 100 pages-24 languages versions). We understand that the length of each report for each language is 20 or 100 pages. Can you please confirm? At the beginning of Annex 6 it is mentioned that the number of pages refers to the final lay-out pages.
For the price do you expect a price covering the layout of one report in one language or for the layout of 24 reports (covering 24 languages)? / Yes, length of each report for each language is 20 or 100 pages. The price list in Annex 6 is indicative and should give an idea of typical products and services expected, but is not exhaustive.
The price should cover layout of all 24 languages.
07/03/2016 / Referring to the document of maximum 5000 words that the tenderer has to submit to describe project management and quality assurance, canwe attach some other documents asAnnexes(tables, figures, etc..) in addition to the document of 5000 words? / Yes, thatwill be acceptable.
07/03/2016 / We would link to know how the financial offer will be used in case of contract award. / In case of award of contract, the financial offer that will be used is Annex 6 (Financial proposal – indicative price list for products and services.
Annex 5 – Financial evaluation of offers (Price evaluationscenario) is theprice that will be considered to evaluate the financial offer of tenderers and that will determine the tender which offers the best price-quality ratio. Tenderers’ attention is drawn to the fact that the sole objective of the price evaluation scenario is to provide a fair, non-discriminatory basis for comparing the financial offers. (see point 14 of the specifications).
07/03/2016 / We understand that in case of the item “Lay out of a report in a given template -20 pages in EN” (for instance):
The price for designing chart, graph map and table, vector graphic, searching and retouching photos are not including in the item “lay out of a report in a given template”.
The first three tasks of the financial offer will be used to price the graphic design of graphs, tables, charts, maps, vectors graphic and photos (searching, processing and reworking).
In case of negative answer, in order to provide a price estimate, can you please let us know how many:
-graphs, tables, maps, charts should be designed per pages
-vector graphics should be designed per page·
-photos should be selected, processed and reworked per page.
- / Your understanding is correct, designing graphical elements to be included in a report should be priced by using the 'Graphic design' price table. 'Layout' price table includes 'composition, insertion and processing' of graphical elements within the report template which does not equal creation/designing.