Location — Europe (non-EU)/Ukraine
1.Publication reference:
EuropeAid/137860/DH/SER/UA.
4.Financing:
21.030202/financing agreement ENI/2015/037-834.
5.Contracting authority:
European Union, represented by the European Commission on behalf of and for the account of the partner country, Kyiv, UKRAINE.
Contract specification
6.Nature of contract:
Fee-based.
7.Contract description:
The purposes of this contract are as follows:
— contribute to the reform of the infrastructure cycle management, including planning, approval, procurement, implementation, maintenance and to the application of legislative, administrative, operational, and organisational improvements in line with the European best practice and EU legislation,
— reduce the procedural and administrative obstacles for efficient and effective planning, preparation, implementation and maintenance of infrastructure projects, with a special focus on transparency and accountability issues.
8.Number and titles of lots:
1 lot only.
9.Maximum budget:
2 500 000 EUR.
10.Scope for additional services:
The contracting authority may, at its own discretion, extend the project in duration and/or scope subject to the availability of funding up to a maximum not exceeding the length and value of the initial contract. Any extension of the contract would be subject to satisfactory performance by the contractor.
Conditions of participation
11.Eligibility:
Participation is open to all natural persons who are nationals of, and legal persons (participating either individually or in a grouping — consortium — of tenderers) which are effectively established in, a Member State of the European Union or in an eligible country or territory as defined under the Regulation (EU) No 236/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11.3.2014 laying down common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Union's instruments for financing external action (CIR) for the applicable instrument under which the contract is financed (see also heading 29 below). Participation is also open to international organisations.
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 1 application can be submitted by a natural or legal person whatever the form of participation (as an individual legal entity or as a leader or member of a consortium submitting an application). In the event that a natural or legal person submits more than 1 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 shortlisted application forms will be excluded from this restricted tender procedure unless prior approval from the contracting authority has been obtained (see ‘Practical Guide’ — PRAG 2.4.3). Shortlisted 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 PRAG.
16.Subcontracting:
Subcontracting is allowed.
17.Number of candidates to be shortlisted:
On the basis of the applications received, between 4 and 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:
15.12.2016.
19.Provisional commencement date of the contract:
1.4.2017.
20.Initial period of implementation of tasks:
Duration in months: 36.
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 specified otherwise. The selection criteria will not be applied to natural persons and single-member companies when they are subcontractors:
1) Economic and financial capacity of candidate (based on item 3 of the application form). In the case of the candidate being a public body, equivalent information should be provided. The reference period which will be taken into account will be the last 3 years for which accounts have been closed:
• the average annual turnover of the candidate must exceed 800 000 EUR,
• current ratio (current assets/current liabilities) in the last year for which accounts have been closed must be at least 1. In case of a consortium this criterion must be fulfilled by each member.
2) Professional capacity of candidate (based on items 4 and 5 of the application form). The reference period which will be taken into account will be the last 3 years from the submission deadline:
• at least 10 permanent staff were working during the past 2 years and are currently working for the candidate in the fields related to this contract — transport infrastructure cycle management.
3) Technical capacity of candidate (based on items 5 and 6 of the application form). The reference period which will be taken into account will be the last 3 years from the submission deadline:
a) the candidate has provided services in the relevant field (preparation of transport infrastructure project according to the EU legislation) under at least 1 contract and its share of the contract is at least 1 000 000 EUR. The contract was implemented at any moment during the period stated above. In order to be considered compliant with the requirement, the candidate shall have provided services in all the following areas:
• preparation of feasibility study according to the EU legislation, and
• preparation of cost-benefit analysis according to the EU legislation, and
• preparation of tender documents according to the EU legislation.
The project's source of funding or geographical location is not limited to EU-funded projects or EU territory;
b) the candidate has provided services in the field related to this contract (capacity building in transport sector) under at least 1 contract and its share of the contract is at least 1 000 000 EUR. The contract was implemented at any moment during the period stated above.
Candidates/tenderers are allowed to refer either to contracts completed within the reference period (although started earlier) or to contracts not yet completed. In the first case the contract will be considered in its whole if proper evidence of performance is provided (statement or certificate from the entity which awarded the contract, proof of final payment). In the case of contracts still ongoing only the portion satisfactorily completed during the reference period will be taken into consideration. This portion will have to be supported by documentary evidence (similarly to projects completed) also detailing its value and the nature of the services provided.
If a candidate/tenderer has implemented the contract in a consortium, the percentage that the candidate/tenderer has successfully completed must be clear from the documentary evidence, together with a description of the nature of the services provided.
Previous experience which caused breach of contract and termination by a contracting authority shall not be used as 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 a commitment on the part of those entities to place those resources at its disposal. Such entities, for instance the parent company of the economic operator, must respect the same rules of eligibility — notably that of nationality — and must fulfil the same relevant selection criteria as the economic operator. 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 economic and financial criteria, the entities upon whose capacity the tenderer relies, become jointly and severally liable for the performance of the contract.
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 8 best candidates. The only factors which will be taken into consideration during this re-examination are:
1) the number of contracts compliant with the requirements of item 21.3;
2) the cumulative value of the services carried out by the candidate under the contracts compliant with the requirements of item 21.3.
The 2 above factors will be applied in the order of precedence; i.e. all eligible candidates will first be assessed against factor 1) and ranked accordingly. Factor 2) will only be applied if some candidates are ranked equally for factor 1) and will only concern these candidates.
22.Award criteria:
Best price-quality ratio.
Application
23.Deadline for receipt of applications:
1.12.2016 (17:00), Kyiv time.
Any application received by the contracting authority after this deadline will not be considered.
24.Application format and details to be provided:
Applications must be submitted using the standard application form, the format and instructions of which must be strictly observed. The application form is available from the following Internet address:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/annexes.do?group=B
The application must be accompanied by a declaration of honour on exclusion and selection criteria using the template available from the following Internet address:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/annexes.do?chapterTitleCode=A
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 in a sealed envelope:
— either by recorded delivery (official postal service) to:
Head of the Finance, Contracts and Audit Section, Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, 101 Volodymyrska Str., 01033 Kyiv, UKRAINE.
In this case, the delivery record is proof of compliance with the time limit for receipt,
— or hand delivered (including courier services) directly to the contracting authority in return for a signed and dated receipt to:
Head of the Finance, Contracts and Audit Section, Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, 101 Volodymyrska Str., 01033 Kyiv, UKRAINE.
In this case, the acknowledgment of receipt is proof of compliance with the time limit for receipt.
The contract title and the publication reference (see item 1 above) must be clearly marked on the envelope containing the application and must always be mentioned in all subsequent correspondence with the contracting authority.
Applications submitted by any other means will not be considered.
By submitting an application candidates agree to receive notification of the outcome of the procedure by electronic means. Such notification shall be deemed to have been received on the date upon which the contracting authority sends it to the electronic address referred to in the application.
26.Alteration or withdrawal of applications:
Candidates may alter or withdraw their applications by written notification prior to the deadline for submission of applications. No application may be altered after this deadline.
Any such notification of alteration or withdrawal shall be prepared and submitted in accordance with item 25. The outer envelope (and the relevant inner envelope if used) must be marked ‘Alteration’ or ‘Withdrawal’ as appropriate.
27.Operational language:
All written communication for this tender procedure and contract must be in English.
28.Date of publication of prior information notice:
19.2.2016.
29.Legal basis:
Regulation (EU) No 236/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11.3.2014 laying down common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Union's instruments for financing external action.
Regulation (EU) No 232/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11.3.2014 establishing a European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI Regulation).
30.Additional information:
None.