Congo-Brazzaville: EDF - Technical assistance with implementing the actions of the Programme to strengthen trade and entrepreneurial capacities II (PRCCE II)

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Congo-Brazzaville: EDF - Technical assistance with implementing the actions of the Programme to strengthen trade and entrepreneurial capacities II (PRCCE II)

Congo-Brazzaville: EDF - Technical assistance with implementing the actions of the Programme to strengthen trade and entrepreneurial capacities II (PRCCE II) has been closed on 03 Nov 2019. It no longer accepts any bids. For further information, you can contact the Government of the Republic of the Congo

Bellow, you can find more information about this project:

Location: Congo (DRC)

General information

Donor:

Government of the Republic of the Congo

Industry:

Consumer Goods & Services

Status:

Closed

Timeline

Published:

02 Apr 2019

Deadline:

03 Nov 2019

Value:

Not available

Contacts

Email: [email protected]

Description

Republic of the Congo

Service contract notice

1.Publication reference

EuropeAid/139773/IH/SER/CG

2.Procedure

Restricted

3.Programme title

11th EDF. Programme to strengthen trade and entrepreneurial capacities II (Programme de renforcement des capacités commerciales et entrepreneuriales II – PRCCE II)

4.Financing

Financing agreement: FED/2016/038-622

5.Contracting authority

The Government of the Republic of the Congo represented by the EDF National Authorising Officer, Ministry of Planning, Statistics and Regional Integration, Brazzaville, Congo.

Details may be requested from the Contracting Authority at the following email address: [email protected] no later than 21 days before the deadline for submission of tenders listed in section 23 below.

Clarifications will be published on the website of DG International Cooperation and Development at the latest 5 days before the deadline for submission.

Contract specifications

6.Nature of contract

Unit price

7.Contract description

The PRCCE II, with a total budget of 12 400 000 EUR, is structured around the following components, results and actions:
Component 1: strengthening the private sector and the sustainable development of SMEs
— Result R.1.1 SME support — Cluster cheques
Action A.1.1.1 support for the national anchoring institution
Action A1.1.2 direct support for SMEs — deployment of cluster cheques
— Result R.1.2 Clusters
Action A.1.2.1 structuring value chains and clusters
Component 2: improving the business climate
— Result R.2.1 Helpdesk — platform for popularising administrative, legal and tax procedures related to business life
Action A.2.1.1 Helpdesk design and implementation
— Result R.2.2 OHADA
Action A.2.2.1 support for the application of OHADA Treaty law
Action A.2.2.2 support for CCIAM — chambers of commerce.
— Result R. 2.3 CEMACO — Arbitration and Mediation Centre of Congo
Action A.2.3.1 support for the operationalisation of the Pointe-Noire antenna of CEMACO
Action A.2.3.2 support for the operationalisation of the Brazzaville antenna of CEMACO.
Component 3: supporting the implementation of the policy to support trade and competitiveness of the economy
— Result R.3.1 trade and sectoral policies and strategies:
Action A3.1.1 development of sectoral strategies and their management tools
Action A3.1.2 support for competition and market regulation.
— Result R.3.2 trade negotiations:
Action A.3.2.1 support for CNCSNM — Trade Negotiations Committee
Action A.3.2.2 support for EPA negotiations.
— Result R.3.3 standardisation:
Action A.3.3.1 institutional support for the Congolese standardisation and quality agency
Action A.3.3.2 laboratory capacity building.
Three contractors are involved in the implementation of the programme. International technical assistance, known as AT-IBF, has been contracted since 15.9.2017, and has been supporting the national authorities in drawing up the activities of the programme. The Pointe-Noire Chamber of Commerce (CCIAM PNR) has signed a subsidy with the EU for the implementation of certain activities of Component 2.
This contract concerns the provision of a second technical assistance team to be known as AT2. The team will be made up of 2 main experts over an estimated period of 33 months (in addition to senior and junior non-permanent technical assistance).
The second technical assistance team (AT2), which is the subject of this contract, will be particularly responsible for action A.1.1.2 SME support - cluster cheques, and all of the actions of component 3.
Activity A.1.1.2, support for SMEs - cluster cheques, includes support for the management, production, quality, distribution and marketing of the products and services of companies in the target clusters, and the implementation of collective projects.
Component 3 includes strengthening management tools for sectoral policies and the quality infrastructure.

8.Number and titles of lots

Single lot

9.Maximum budget

4 400 000 EUR

10.

The contracting authority may, at its own discretion, extend the project duration and/or contract scope subject to availability of funding up to the estimated amount of 4 400 000 EUR. Any renewal of the contract is subject to satisfactory performance of the tasks by the contractor.

Conditions of participation

11.Eligibility

Participation in the contract is open on equal terms to natural persons and legal entities participating either individually or as part of a grouping — consortium — of tenderers that are established in one of the Member States of the European Union, an ACP State or in a country or territory authorised by the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement, under which the programme is financed (see also point 29 below). Participation is also open to international organisations.
It should be stressed that, as from the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union, the rules on access to the Union's procurement procedures for economic operators established in third countries will apply to candidates and tenderers from the United Kingdom, depending on the outcome of the negotiations. If this access is not provided for by the legal provisions in force at the time of award of the contract, United Kingdom applicants and tenderers may be excluded from the procurement procedure.

12.Application

Any eligible natural person or legal entity (as defined in point 11 above) or grouping of said parties (consortium) may apply.
A consortium may be a permanent, legally-established grouping or a grouping constituted informally for a specific tender procedure. All the members of a consortium (i.e. the lead company and all other members) will be jointly and severally liable vis-à-vis the contracting authority.
Should an ineligible natural person or legal entity (as defined in point 11) take part, the application concerned will be automatically rejected. If said party belongs to a consortium, its disqualification will entail the disqualification of the consortium as a whole.

13.Number of applications

Natural persons or legal entities may submit one application only, irrespective of whether they take part as a sole legal entity, or as a lead company or member of a consortium submitting an application. Should a natural person or legal entity submit more than one application, all the applications involving the said party will be disqualified.

14.Prohibition on alliances between shortlisted tenderers

Tenders which include companies not mentioned on the application forms used to compile the shortlist will be disqualified from this restricted procedure unless prior approval from the contracting authority has been obtained (see section 2.6.3 of the Practical Guide). Candidates invited to tender 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 described in section 2.6.10.1 of the Practical Guide.
Candidates included in the lists of EU restrictive measures (see Section 2.4. of the PRAG) at the moment of the award decision cannot be awarded the contract.

16.Sub-contracting

Subcontracting is allowed.

17.Number of candidates invited to tender

On the basis of the applications received, at least 4 and at most 8 candidates will be invited to submit detailed tenders for this contract. Should the number of eligible candidates meeting the selection criteria be less than the minimum of 4, the contracting authority may invite the candidates which satisfy the criteria to submit a tender.

Provisional schedule for activities

18.Scheduled date for dispatch of invitations to tender

March 2019

19.Commencement date of the contract

September 2019

20.Implementation period for the tasks

33 months, being September 2019 – June 2022

Selection and award criteria

21.Selection criteria

The following selection criteria will apply to candidates. Where applications are submitted by a consortium, the selection criteria will apply to the consortium as a whole, unless specifically stipulated otherwise. The selection criteria will not apply to natural persons and single-member companies working as subcontractors.
1) Candidate's economic and financial capacity (details to be given in section 3 of the application form). Should the candidate be a public body, equivalent information must be provided. The reference period taken into account will correspond to the last 3 financial years for which accounts have been closed.
— the candidate's average annual turnover must exceed the maximum annualised budget for the contract, i.e. the maximum budget given in the contract notice divided by the initial duration of the contract in years, if this exceeds 1 year (the minimum annual turnover does not exceed twice the estimated annual contract value, except where duly justified in the tender dossier); and,
— the general liquidity ratio (short-term assets/short-term liabilities) for the last financial year for which accounts have been closed must be at least 1. In the case of a consortium, this criterion must be met by each of its members.
2) Candidate's professional capacity (details to be given in sections 4 and 5 of the application form). The reference period will correspond to the 3 financial years prior to the submission deadline,
— at least 10 people from the candidate’s staff are currently working in areas relevant to the current market: private sector support, SME capacity building, and support for trade policy;
3) Candidate's technical capacity (details to be given in sections 5 and 6 of the application form). The reference period will cover the 3 financial periods prior to the submission deadline.
The tenderer has provided services under at least two contracts in sub-Saharan Africa with a budget at least equivalent to that of this contract and in the following fields: support for the private sector, and support for SMEs.
These contracts must have been carried out at any time during the reference period of three years before the date for submission of tenders. This means that the project the candidate refers to could have been started or completed at any time during the period given. However, it need not necessarily have been completed during this period, or have been performed during the whole of said period.

Candidates may refer to either a project completed during the reference period (although started before this period), or part of a contract that has not yet been fully performed. In the 1^st case, the project will be considered in its entirety, subject to proof that it was performed satisfactorily (declaration from the relevant contracting authority, proof of final payment). In the 2^nd scenario, only the part of the contract properly undertaken during the reference period (even if it was started before) will be taken into consideration, to the extent that documentary proof of the satisfactory performance of the same are submitted (the same as for completed projects). These documents must enable the determination of the value of the portion of the contract referred to.

If the project referred to was implemented by a consortium, in the event that a selection criterion relating to the relevance of the experience is used, the supporting documents must clearly show the proportion completed by the candidate, as well as a description of the nature of the services provided. Documentary evidence is not required at the application stage, but will be requested with the invitation to tender.
Any previous experience involving a breach of contract and termination by a contracting authority cannot be used as a reference.
An economic operator may, if necessary and for a specific contract, make use of the capacities of other entities irrespective of the legal nature of the connection between itself and said entities. As an example, the contracting authority may consider it inappropriate if the tender relies, for the main part, on the capacities of other entities, or calls on them for key criteria. If the tenderer relies on the capacities of other entities, it must in this case provide the contracting authority with proof that it will have the resources needed to perform the contract by, for example, producing a written commitment undertaken by said entities to place such resources at its disposal. Such entities, e.g. the economic operator's parent company, must observe the same eligibility rules — notably regarding nationality — and must meet the same selection criteria as those that the economic operator has met to prove its own capacities. Furthermore, the information relating to this third party entity/these third party entities for the relevant selection criteria must be included in a separate document. Proof of the capacity of this entity must also be furnished when requested by the contracting authority.
With regard to technical and professional criteria, an economic operator may only rely on the capacities of other entities where the latter will perform the works or services for which these capacities are required.
With regard to the economic and financial criteria, the entities whose capacities the tenderer uses will become jointly and severally liable for the performance of the contract.
If more than 8 applications prove to be eligible, i.e. meet all the selection criteria, then the strengths and weaknesses of these candidates' applications will need to be re-examined to determine which 8 applications for the invitation to tender are the most suitable. The only additional comparative criteria which will be considered in this re-examination are, in order:
— comparison criterion 1: The highest number of projects that meet criterion 3,
— comparison criterion 2: the highest cumulative value of all projects that meet criterion 3.
NB: the second additional comparison criterion will only be applied if the number of eligible applications remains above eight after the application of the first additional comparison criterion.

22.Award criteria

The best price-quality ratio.

Application

23.Deadline for receipt of applications

The candidate’s attention is drawn to the fact that there are 2 different systems for sending the application: by post or by courier service, or delivered by hand.

In the first case, the application must be sent before the deadline for submission, the postmark or deposit receipt being proof (1), and in the 2^nd case, the acknowledgement of receipt given at the time of delivery of the application will serve as proof.

11.3.2019 at 12:00, local time in Brazzaville.
Applications submitted to the contracting authority after the deadline will not be considered.
The contracting authority may, for reasons of administrative efficiency, reject any application submitted on time to the postal service but received, for reasons beyond its control, after the effective date of approval of the pre-selection report, if the fact of accepting applications submitted in time but arriving late may excessively delay the evaluation process, or call into question decisions already taken and communicated.
(1) The use of registered mail is recommended in case the postmark is not readable.

24.Format of the application and details to be provided

The standard application form must be used for applications. The instructions and format of this form must be strictly adhered to. This application form is available from the following web address:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/annexes.do?chapterTitleCode=B

The application must be accompanied by a solemn declaration, concerning the exclusion and selection criteria, using the template available from the following web address:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/annexes.do?chapterTitleCode=A

Any additional documentation (brochure, letter, etc.) sent with the application will not be taken into consideration.

25.Application submission procedures

Applications must be submitted in French only and sent to the contracting authority:
— either by post or by courier service, in which case the evidence will be constituted by the postmark or the date of the deposit slip, to the following address:
Monsieur Aimé Blaise Nitoumbi, directeur général par intérim à la direction générale du partenariat au développement et ordonnateur national suppléant du FED, ministère du plan, de la statistique et de l'intégration régionale, S/c délégation de l'Union européenne en République du Congo — section finances et contrats, croisement rue Duplex — rue de la Libération de Paris

Quartier Blanche Gomes — BP 2149, Brazzaville, REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, [email protected]

Tel. + 242 05 500 24 00,
— or hand delivered by the candidate in person or by its agent directly to the premises of the Contracting Authority in return for a signed and dated receipt, in which case the evidence shall be constituted by this acknowledgement of receipt, to the following address:
Monsieur Aimé Blaise Nitoumbi, directeur général par intérim à la direction générale du partenariat au développement et ordonnateur national suppléant du FED, ministère du plan, de la statistique et de l'intégration régionale, S/c délégation de l'Union européenne en République du Congo — section finances et contrats, croisement rue Duplex — rue de la Libération de Paris

Quartier Blanche Gomes — BP 2149, Brazzaville, REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, [email protected]

Tel. + 242 05 500 24 00.
Office opening hours: Monday to Thursday, 8:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:00; and Friday, 8:00 to 13:00.
The contract title and the contract notice number (see point 1 above) must be clearly marked on the envelope containing the application, and must be quoted in all subsequent correspondence with the contracting authority.
Applications submitted in any other way will not be considered.
When submitting their proposals, candidates agree to receive notification of the result of the procedure by electronic means. The notification will be deemed to have been received on the day the contracting authority sends it to the email address stated in the application.

26.Alteration or withdrawal of applications

Candidates may amend or withdraw their application by giving written notification before the deadline for submission of applications. Applications cannot be amended once this deadline has passed.
Notice of amendment or withdrawal must be submitted and sent as per the instructions given in point 25. The word 'Modification' (amendment) or 'Retrait' (withdrawal), as applicable, must be written on the outside envelope (and on the inner envelope, where applicable).

27.Working language

All correspondence concerning this invitation to tender procedure and contract must be in French.

28.Date of publication of prior information notice

12.7.2018

29.Legal basis (2)

Annex IV to the Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part, signed in Cotonou on 23.6.2000 as amended in Luxembourg on 25.6.2005 and in Ouagadougou on 22.6.2010. Reference is made to Annex IV as revised by Decision No 1/2014 of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers of 20.6.2014.
(2) Please indicate any specification that may have an impact on the rules of participation (e.g. geographical specificity, short-term or long-term thematic specificity).

30.Additional information

It is planned to enlist more than 5 000 man-days of senior and junior non-main experts, and the indicative amount of incidental expenses provided for in the contract is 500 000 EUR.

http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:51783-2019:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0&tabId=2

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