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BA-Sarajevo: IPA — support to coordination and implementation of public administration reform (PAR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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225842-2012 published in OJEU S 136, 18.07.2012

deadline for submission of tenders Monday, August 20, 2012

Contract notice (Original) of Service contract in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The contractor belongs to European Institution/Agency or International Organisation (PHARE, TACIS and countries of Central and Eastern Europe)

Common procurement vocabulary (CPV):

Main object:

71356200 Technical assistance services

1. Publication reference:

EuropeAid/132748/C/SER/BA.

2. Procedure:

Restricted.

3. Programme:

IPA.

4. Financing:

Budget line.

5. Contracting authority:

European Union

6. Nature of contract:

Fee-based.

7. Contract description:

The purpose of the contract is to provide technical assistance to strengthen the State's, Entities' and Brcko District's capacities to coordinate, manage and supervise implementation of the public administration reform strategy and action plan.

The main beneficiaries are the PAR Coordinator's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, PAR coordinators of the Entities and Brcko District and the members of the implementing structure for PAR strategy action plan implementation, members of the working group for sectoral reforms and other actors in the coordination/implementation structure for action plan 2. The PAR Coordinator's Office is coordinating a formal inter-governmental structure established for the implementation of PAR in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the managerial (PAR coordinators) and the implementation (supervisory teams, working groups etc.) levels.

Indirect project beneficiaries are managerial and other civil servants from institutions that are identified as bearers of activities in the revised action plan 1 and action plan 2.

The project entails 2 components, or areas of intervention. The first is about strengthening horizontal capacities of administration and the second deals with vertical ones. 2 main segments of intervention and project activities are the establishment and development of the system for coordinating, planning, implementing and monitoring of PAR and the capacity building of the actors included in coordinating, planning, monitoring and implementing the PAR strategy.

8. Numbers and titles of lots:

The contract is divided into lots: No, 1 lot only.

9. Budget:

Maximum budget: 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 legal persons (participating either individually or in a grouping (consortium) of candidates) which are established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country or territory of the regions covered and/or authorised by the specific instruments applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed (see also item 29 below). Participation is also open to international organisations. The participation of natural persons is governed by the specific instruments applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed.

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 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 having a different composition than the ones on the application forms will be excluded from this restricted tender procedure, unless prior approval from the contracting authority has been obtained — see 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 'Practical Guide to contract procedures for EU external actions'.

16. Subcontracting:

Subcontracting is not allowed.

17. Number of candidates to be shortlisted:

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. 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:

3.9.2012.

19. Provisional commencement date of the contract:

3.1.2013.

20. Initial period of implementation of tasks:

Duration in months: 12.

Selection and award criteria

21. Selection criteria:

Same criteria for legal and natural person.

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:

1) Economic and financial capacity of candidate:

In the case of the applicant being a public body equivalent information should be provided:

1. the annual turnover of the candidate must exceed 1 000 000 EUR for each of the last 3 years (2011, 2010, 2009).

2) Professional capacity of candidate:

1. at least 10 staff currently work for the applicant in fields related to this contract.

3) Technical capacity of candidate:

1. the candidate has worked successfully on at least 2 projects in the PAR area, each with a budget of at least 1 000 000 EUR where the proportion of the candidate was at least 50 %. Those projects must have been completed within 3 years prior to the submission deadline.

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. Some examples of when it may not be considered appropriate by the contracting authority are when the tenderers rely in majority on the capacities of other entities or when they rely on key criteria. If the candidate relies on other entities 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 an undertaking 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 and notably that of nationality, as the economic operator. Furthermore, the data for this third entity for the relevant selection criterion should be included in the tender in a separate document. Proof of the capacity will also have to be furnished when requested by the contracting authority.

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 applications for the tender procedure. The only factors which will be taken into consideration during this re-examination are:

— number of relevant projects per criterion 3)1,

— total value of the proportion carried out by the candidate in projects eligible per criterion 3)1.

22. Award criteria:

Best value for money.

Application

23. Deadline for receipt of applications:

20.8.2012 (15:00), Central European Time.

Any application received 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 at the following Internet address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/services/index_en.htm

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 exclusively to the contracting authority in the following language: English

— either by recorded delivery (official postal service) to:

Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Skenderija 3a, 71000 Sarajevo, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA,

— or hand delivered (including courier services) directly to the contracting authority in return for a signed and dated receipt to:

Procurement Section.

Opening hours: Monday–Thursday: 8:30–17:30; Friday: 8:30–14:00.

As in abovementioned address.

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.

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 applications 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 communications for this tender procedure and contract must be in English.

28. Date of publication of contract forecast notice:

27.3.2012.

Notice number in OJ: 2012/S 60-096513.

29. Legal basis:

Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA).

30. Additional information:

The present procedure ('Support to coordination and implementation of public administration reform (PAR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina') is launched with a 'suspensive clause' (reference Section 2.4.12 and 2.3.6 of the 'Practical Guide to contract procedures for EU external actions'). The procedure shall invariably be cancelled if the Financing Agreement for IPA 2011 national programme component 1 — Bosnia and Herzegovina is not signed.

Please note that the awarding of the contract is subject to the condition of the prior conclusion of a financing agreement, which does not modify the elements of the procurement procedure (this will be the case, for instance, if the budgetary envelope initially foreseen is different or if the timeframe, the nature or the condition of the implementation are altered).

If the precedent condition is not met, the contracting authority will either abandon the procurement or cancel the award procedure without the candidates or tenderers being entitled to claim any compensation.

31. Date of dispatch of this notice:

6.7.2012.