CALL FOR TENDER HOME/2013/ISEC/PR/014-A2-LOTS 1, 2, 3 and 4 ...

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Q2: - To be sure to have all documents related to the call, can you send us all the tender ... organisation to participa
CALL FOR TENDER HOME/2013/ISEC/PR/014-A2-LOTS 1, 2, 3 and 4 – Q & A's Q1: - As regards the Declaration by the Tenderer relating to the exclusion criteria (Annex 1) and the Documents certifying economic and financial capacity, must all documents be submitted by all members of the consortium? A1: - The Declaration by the Tenderer relating to the exclusion criteria (annex 1) and the Documents certifying economic and financial capacity, must indeed be submitted by all members of the consortium in case of joint tenders, as well as by any subcontractor declared for 20% of the services. Please refer to the following sections of the specifications: III.3 …Tenders can be submitted by groupings of service providers/suppliers who will not be required to adopt a particular legal form prior to the contract being awarded. However, the Commission will require the grouping: Either to have the contract signed by all members of the grouping. In this case, one of them will be responsible for the receipt and processing of payments for members of grouping, for managing the service administration and for coordination of the contract; or to have the contract signed by a team leader, which has been duly authorised by the other members to bind each of them (a power of attorney will be attached to the contract according to the template provided by the Commission)…. IV.1 …Tenders must be signed by the tenderer or his duly authorised representative. In case of joint tender, the cover letter must be signed by a duly authorised representative for each tenderer, or by a single tenderer duly authorised by other tenderers (with power of attorney)… V.1 …All tenderers shall provide a declaration on their honour (see Annex 1), duly signed and dated by an authorised representative, stating that they are not in one of the situations of exclusion listed in the Annex 1. The declaration on honour is also required for identified subcontractors whose intended share of the contract is above 20%. V.2 …The evidence requested should be provided by each member of the group in case of joint tender and identified subcontractor whose intended share of the contract is above 20%. However a consolidated assessment will be made to verify compliance with the minimum capacity levels… Q2: - To be sure to have all documents related to the call, can you send us all the tender documents and form, necessary in order to submit the tender correctly. A2: - The tendering specifications are published on the DG HOME webpage of the Europa website. They should be downloaded. You are invited to regularly visit this webpage as any complementary information, such Q&A's on the tender, will be published under the same link. Q3: - We would like to have a confirmation about the possibility for a Public University based in a Member State to participate to the call for tender, or, if the tender is open only to private economic operators.

A3: - Call for tender HOME/2013/ISEC/PR/014-A2 (4 lots) is open to any public university satisfying to the exclusion and selection criteria. If you submit a tender, please provide a copy of the legal status of the University in the administrative folder. Q4: - We would like to have a confirmation about the possibility for a intergovernmental organisation to participate to the call for tender and which contractual conditions would apply in such case? A4: -As regards inter-governmental organisations, the criterion for access to a procurement procedure is whether the organisation falls within the scope of the Treaties (FR 119.1). An inter-governmental organisation does not fall within the scope of the Treaties because it is established by its own Treaty. Based on the tender specifications, the participation is open to all natural and legal persons coming within the scope of the Treaties. It does not provide for specific access to intergovernmental organisations. Therefore, such a tender would not be admissible. In case an international organization is exceptionally admitted to a procurement procedure (which should be clearly specified in the tender specifications - and is not the case in our call for tender), it would act as an economic operator and should accept the terms and conditions of the contract as specified in the call for tenders including applicable law. Q5: - The specifications and instructions for preparing a tender in response to the call in subject prescribe the use of some templates added in annex to the Technical Specifications. However, this document is only available in .pdf format. A5: - Annex 1 (Declaration of honour on exclusion criteria and absence of conflict of interest), Annex 2 (Simplified Balance Sheet and Simplified Profit & Loss Account) and Annex 3 (Financial Offer Form) are available online http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/homeaffairs/financing/tenders/2013/2013_08_en.htm Annex 4 is not be provided in word format as it relates to the contract and that the terms and conditions cannot be negotiated and so modified. Q6: -Is a legal entity established in Norway eligible for the tender as a non-EU MS? Could you please clarify whether our office in Norway can participate for this tender or not?

A6: - We refer to section III.1 : Participation in this tender procedure is open on equal terms to all natural and legal persons coming within the scope of the Treaties and to all natural and legal persons in a third country which has a special agreement with the Union in the field of public procurement on the conditions laid down in that agreement. Where the Multilateral Agreement on Government Procurement concluded within the WTO applies, the participation to the call for tender is also open to nationals of the countries that have ratified this Agreement, on the conditions it lays down. The attention of the tenderers is drawn on the exclusion, selection and award criteria described hereunder in this document and to the evidence that they have to provide when submitting a tender. Q7: - According to the tender specifications, “Categorisation of all case law should ensure that the information described below in an user friendly, clear and comprehensive template. The use of database software such as Microsoft Excel or similar competitor products is strongly advised. All information should be in English. The contracted is expected to translate the case law decision into English, in consultation with the Commission on the type of decisions.” We understand that only the aggregation of the case law should be translated (i.e. the content of the Excel file), not the actual decisions themselves. A7: - Given the differences between the Member States when it comes to the structure, content and length of Court decisions, it is requested to translate in EN only the aggregation of the case law not the actual decisions. Q8: - Regarding the above mentioned tender I would like to enquire if: 1. Membership of the informal network of “National Rapporteurs or equivalent mechanisms” established June 2009 is deemed incompatible and/or will constitute a conflict of interest with the position of (national) expert in the team delivering the services for one of the lots 1 – 4. http://ec.europa.eu/antitrafficking/section.action?sectionPath=National+Rapporteurs§ionType=MAP&page=1&r esetBreadcrumb=false 2. Membership of the EU Group of Experts on Trafficking in human beings, appointed on the basis of Commission Decision 2011/502/EU is deemed incompatible and/or will constitute a conflict of interest with the position of (national) expert in the team delivering the services for one of the lots 1 – 4. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:207:0014:0021:EN:PDF

A8: - Your attention should be in particular drawn to the provisions of sections III.1, III.3, V.1 and V.2 of the specifications in order to assess the issue depending on the exact intended role of the expert in the proposed organisation and in the delivery of the requested services.

The Commission’s Evaluation Committee will assess this issue in all the tenders, paying attention to the specific provisions and details of the proposals, as well as the terms of Commission Decision 2011/502/EU and of the document establishing the informal network of “National Rapporteurs or equivalent mechanisms”. Note that each tenderer, their joint partners and their subcontractors should individually satisfy to the exclusion and selection criteria as mentioned in sections V.1 and V.2 of the specifications. Therefore, before deciding to be part of a proposal, any expert of the groups, you are referring to, should also assess himself if he satisfies to section V.1 of the specifications. Please also note that subcontracting services should be declared and that any person/expert involved in the delivery of services but being not in the payroll of one of the partners is defined as a subcontractor. In order to facilitate your own prior assessment, we remind here what would be considered as a conflict of interest: A conflict of interest occurs when the impartial and objective exercise of the tasks/services, or observance of the principles of competition, non-discrimination against or equality of treatment of candidates is compromised. A conflict of interest may arise where, for instance, an expert (or company) has obtained information leading to an unfair advantage in subsequent or related procedures. For instance, any firm or expert that had access to information related to the specifications before the launch of the procurement, would be excluded from participating to the tender, unless they can prove to the Contracting Authority that their initial involvement does not constitute unfair competition. The grounds for exclusion must be considered case by case and any exclusion must be based on an actual risk of conflict based on the specific circumstances of the case in question. Any automatic exclusion would deprive the tenderer of the right to present supporting evidence which might remove suspicion of a conflict of interest. Q9: - On p. 24 (d) it is stated that the study should evaluate the impact of awareness raising campaigns. However, on p. 26 (I.4.8) it is stated that the task is to analyse evaluated, monitored and assessed awareness raising campaigns (rather than evaluate the campaigns from the beginning). Is it correct to understand, based on p. 26 that the study team will not be expected to conduct a thorough evaluation of existing awareness raising campaigns, but rather to analyse and report on campaigns, where evaluations or monitoring have already been carried out, and where data on impacts exists? A9: - The specific objectives and tasks described under chapter I.4.4 of the specifications should be taken into account. Thus the study should indeed evaluate the impact of awareness raising campaigns.

The text under item d) in paragraph I.4.8. (Deliverables, Review cycle and Duration) should therefore be read in the same way as in I.4.4 and the study should evaluate the impact of awareness raising campaigns. Q10: - Can you confirm that there is no obligatory template to submit the tender? Which length if expected? A10: - Section IV describes which content and structure is expected. In addition, some templates are provided in Annexes 1, 2 and 3. Each tenderer should carefully read all terms and conditions of the specifications and their annexes. The LEF (legal entity form), the BAF (Bank Account Form) and Annexes 1, 2 and 3 of the specifications should be filled and provided under the required template. If needed, the template in Annex may be extended (lines, columns) to detail the financial proposal. C.V. of proposed team members should be provided as requested in section V.2.2. on page 38. Tenderers should provide with their offer detailed curriculum vitae of each staff member responsible for carrying out the work, including his or her educational background, degrees and diplomas, professional experience, research work, publications and linguistic skills. The CV's shall be presented, preferably, in accordance to the Commission Recommendation on a common European format for curricula vitae, published in OJ L79 of 22 March 2002, p. 66. No specific length is expected but the tender should provide a clear and exhaustive view as requested in section IV of the specifications. Q11: - Lot 1: The excel database to be developed with the related case-law must be in English.In which language should be delivered the interim and final reports? A11: - According to section I.1.8 of the specifications, the deliverables must be submitted in English.

Q12: - We are considering the possibility to take part in two different proposals, leadered by two different organisations. We would like to know if it implies any problem.

A12: - Participation as tenderer or partner in different tenders for the same Lot is not allowed. This is only possible as a subcontractor. Participation to several lots is allowed provided that the terms and conditions of the specifications are strictly respected and that the tenderers provide separate tenders for each Lot. Q13: - We were looking to seek clarification on the following section, as we are unclear on the requirements: I.2.3. Scope and geographical coverage

The study should cover practices in the 28 Member States of the European Union, but should not be focused on any specific Member State. We would like to know if: 1) Case studies need to be conducted for each individual member state, or regionally, or EUwide? There is a confusion as it states that it should not be focused on any specific Member State, while asking to cover practices in all Member States. 2) If we do need case studies on all 28 Member States, are we required to include 28 individual experts from each Member State in the proposal? Or will a core team of experts suffice, which either covers geographical regions/requirements or sources national experts at a later stage. A13: - 1) The study should focus on all Member States and examine the case law and practices as per specifications in all MS – this is the very objective of the study to have an overview of the situation in all MS. 2) Each tenderer should propose his own team organisation. He has indeed the choice between including 28 individual experts from each Member State or to compose a core team of experts, providing that all terms and conditions of the specifications are respected. The proposed team organisation should be able to deliver the required services with the expected level of quality and within the contractual timeframe. It is really up to candidate tenderers to make an offer including a suggestion on the methodology used to obtain the results. This aspect of the tender will be assessed by the Evaluation committee. Q14: -In order to realize country reports we are thinking about identifying one national expert/researcher for Each Member States at a later stage through a specific international call managed by the consortium. In this case we will not indicate the names of each national expert in Annex 3, but only the profile of the expert / researcher who will be identified in case of the contract will be awarded. Is this methodology possible and consistent with what is required by Annex 3? A14: -The experts proposed in your team organization should be identified and their CV's should be provided in the tender. These aspects will be analyzed when assessing the technical capacity as mentioned under section V.2.2 of the specifications, item criteria relating to the team delivering the services. As a complementary information, the definition of the profiles of the expert/researchers by the tenderer will facilitate, when occurring, the replacement of any expert who might become unavailable during the course of the contract. Tenders that are not identifying the members of the team organization will be incomplete as the assessment of the technical capacity would not be possible due to the missing information.

Q15: -In Tender Specifications is specified that the Tenders must be written in one of the official languages of the European Union. All tenders must include three sections: 1) Administrative information and documents related to the exclusion and selection criteria; 2) Technical proposal; 3) Financial proposal. Could we submit all the documents required in any EU language with the exception of Annex n. 1, Annex n. 2 and Annex n.. 3, that will be completed in English, in line with the language of the template provided? A15: -As announced in the contract notice, any tenderer may submit his offer and Annexes in any EU official languages. Your attention is drawn on the provisions of section V.2.2. of the specifications and more specifically item "For all Lots" bullet 3 which says that "The tenderer must prove capacity to draft reports in professional level and proofread English." There is no obligation to draft the tender in English as the capacity to draft reports in professional level and proofread English should be demonstrated by any mean by the tenderer. A way to demonstrate such capacity might namely be, but not exclusively, to draft the technical proposal in English.